The evening world., 1893-12-25
THE VOYAGE or sUzETTE."
Handsomely Staged and Co.'S
tuned, but Rather Tiresome.
Tenor steger to Leave "The AL
eerians "-Other Stage News.

II IL exceedingly doubtful II the large
and gratifying success Of THE Prodigal
Daughter at the American Theatre will
be duplicated with The Voyage OF
suzette,' which was presented at that
house Saturday night. An immense
amount Of money has been spent upon
the new production, but the expenditure
seems like reckless extravaganza, a veri-
table casting of pearls to the swine. The
piece Is described as a Spectacular COM
edy," by Chivot and Daru. adapted by
Charles Alfred Byrne and Louis Harri-
son, but II the piece has any measure
OF success at all 1t will be owing to the
efforts of Manager French. who has
seemed and costumed 1t most magnificent
ly. Exquisite stage pictures, charming
ballets and some expensive people have
all been secured. When the spectacle
was In evidence all went well; it was
during the long stretches Of meaningless
dialogue, and the silly situations that the
audience yawned and longed for relief.
Yet surely the story could have been
tells of the rich Blanchard who Is looking
for his old friend. Verduron, to whom he
had promised half his wealth. He finds
Verduron. and Verduron's daughter, the
lovely Suzette, who Is about to be mar
rIed to the worthless Girafor. Then 1t is
agreed that Suzette shall marry Blanch-
ards son Andre. and she Is quite willing,
as she has no love for Giraflor.
The rest of the play is devoted to plots
and counter-plots.. Girafior abducts SUI
zette, Andre. searches for her. and after
to be exciting, but which are so badly
handled that they are tedious. all ends
we'll. The jokes are poor, consisting for
the riost part of vulgar invective. and
genuine comedy is absolutely wanting.
There are, however, two admirable bal.
let's, some clever acrobats. a queen OF
Of the COOL, old-fashioned harlequinade
and a realistic circus scene. These
may make THE. Voyage of Suzette" q
good thing for children, though a good
story might even ave improved 1t for the
Juvenile mind. Children are not fools
nowadays. The audience was large and
that time, are not disposed to use their
critical powers harshly. And the beau:
tiful stage pictures atoned for a good
The role of Suzette was played by Miss
Sadie Martinez, who Is 80. lovely to look
at that her lack Of any dramatic power
by appearances, Miss Martinot should be
a Judic. a Theo, a Chaumont,. and a
Lolita in happy combination. Yet she
vivacious as dough. Miss Eunice Vance
was lively and agreeable, and Mr.. Fig
man worked hard. Nelson Wheatcroft
hitting terra-cotta wig he looked like the
villain Of a Bowery melodrama. Miss
Maxine Elliott had little to do. which
W VA %tun vincent sf nrhToy IA. Tas
Voyage OF SuZette' needs considerable
pruning. but it will be difficult to know
what not to prune.
There was quite an emotional time at
the Harlem Opera-House Friday, night.
julius .Steger, the tenor OF The Al
gerian,'' whose stage kisses have been
so unduly realistic, received his two
weeks notice, It is said. He was furi-
orT. and rushed into, Marie Tempest's
and to beg her once more to refuse to
appear in the show without him. This
runs smoothly for any length Of time
Miss Tempest demurred. and report says
hat there was a terrible scene. THE
Algerian has six weeks, of one night
stands before 1t goes South, and on Sat
urday rumor had It that Miss Tempest
might probably. return to The Fencing
Master Nothing, however, was known
positively. The emotional episodes of
Friday night were alone discussed.
Alexander salvini has bought a new
play called Marcille, Of Freiburg.",
drama. the scenes of which are laid in
Alsace and Lorraine. Marcille, of Fret
burg, around whom the action Of the
play rPVOlVpS, uOpS not appear Ut all.
Salvini talks of producing the play In
Boston this season.
Nine. Melba was seriously i~ndisposed
Saturday. Her representative, Mr.. Stra-
kosch, wore quite a heightened visage
as he talked of the prima donna's all
ments. He waXed quite pathetic when he
spoke of the terrible trip to Philadelphia,
which gave Media the cold. She was dis
gusted at the ferry-crossing, at the over
heated cars, and at the wholesale dis
comforts of the trip.
Managers are nearly all trying to can
Gel their time in Chicago, or to reduce
II MS much as possible. The reports
from the Windy City get worse and
worse, but II was the news of the bad
business done by that standard attrac-
ton, Joseph jefferson. that made mana
gers feel panicky. When Jefferson fails
to please there Is not much nope for the
small fry.
Lewis Morrison is going to try his
version of Faust" in New York in the
not very distant future. Morrison met
Irving the other day and told him that
he had refrained from presenting
Faust" in New York for the reason
that the metropolis had seen Irving's
version. Mr.. Irving was very much in
terested. and inquired INTO all the de-
tails of Morrison's production.
w. s. Gilbert, the famous librettist, has