The sun., 1893-05-23
A HORSE RACE IN A DRAMA.
THoRoUaHBREDs IN A sTEEPIECHAsE
ON THE STAGE.

The Opening OF the New American Theatre
with "The ProdiGai Daughter" y Drury
Lame Exhibition OF Very Fine Realism.
The new American Theatre in Eighth ave-
nuo was opened last evening with a perform-
ance OF Tho Prodigal Daughter" play
which has had London celebrity. and which is
likely to get n great deal OF attention hsre. 1t
is one OF those pieces Of realism that Henry
Pettitt and Augustus Harris make. ut the rate
Of one a year. for uso at the Drury Lane
Theatre. 1t is said that Mr. Harris de-
cides on tho realism that Is to be the
main thing in each OF these works. and
undertakes to devise the means OF rendering
II effective on the stage. Mr. Pettitt provides
tho plot. the characters. and the language
The result OF the collaboration is material
istic rlay. with at least one big. populous. pic
torial episode. In the case OF The Prodlgal
Daughter" horse race was chosen for illus
tration. and there was about as much OF re-
production MS OF imitation in the sporting
event shown on the Drury Lanestage.
The exhibition at the American was q faith
ful duplicate OF the original. A steeplechase
was run by nine thoroughbred horses. with
what looked like turf under their feet, and
with what were genuine jockeys on their
backs. Several OF the fleet and graceful brutes
had won actual races. and all were fit TO be
seen on n real racetrack. The scene represent
ed at first the course at Aintree. England. with
n spacious view OF the grand stand. the quar-
ter, stretch. q water Iumn fence. stone
wall. an excited crowd. and many characteris-
tics OF the few minutes lust previous to an i'm.
rortant race. 1t Ia not too much to sny that
all former representations OF horse races were
put completely out OF consideration hy this
achievement. The horses passed the spccta-
tors three times at increasing epeeh. clearing
the obstacles spirtedly exceptin one instance
OF pretended mishap. In which Jockey was
1, wi n n the waterl and ending with n rush
excited than the mock enthusiasts on the
mind. and the winning rider was npplaudetr
as though he had been hero in some event
4. Horny French was called out several times.
and good reason was given to him to feel sure
that he had started his theatre with big. big
The play which held this exciting horse race
was Of little account relatively; Mr.. Pettitt
oricinaiity ORIG or novelty. They had used only
such materials s are accented over and over
even tried any experiments in the rcadjust-
ment OF ,hem. Tnere was an English squire
T sss th"n S o
There was u yillainous sportsman who to
ruin tho S1uirG. undertook to drug the
to to- put put the jockey out Of the way: The
reader guesses what harGened them Yes.
ay play got into the saddle and rode to victory.
About the meaning ot the title. The Prodi-
gal Daughter = On. the squire naQ one way
ward daughter who eoped with n spendthrift
lover. and. after n course OF riotous living in
Paris she returned to her father like the
prodiCal son in tho PARABLE. to be forgiven.
She had cousin who WAS very good indeed.
and this cousin had u lover who euualed her
in true goodness: but circumstances made 1t
nppear, for n while. tnat this fine fellow was
the companio on Of the prodigal girl in her mis-
behavior
n respect which the matter did not deserve.
:" The Prodigal Daughter" was what. In thcat-
rcnl misuse of terms. is nowadays called
melodrnma. But the scenery was so extern
sive and pictorial throughout. and tho act
ing was so good in the main. that
the play seemed far better than it was.
Leonard Boyne. an engaging light comedian.
made his American debut in the Joint role OF II
lover and IA Jockey. He was nervous to q
nearly disabling degree at first. but he got
control OF himself before the evening was
done J. II. Bnrnos. Julia Arthur. jefferson
DAnCeles. and Helen Dnuvray were in tho
company OF two dozen speakers. and there
was a stageful Of others who yelled In tho
The American Theatre. whom flooded with
electric light and crowded with an audience.
was quite as handsome as anybody could have
expected. The largeness. solidity. and beauty
OF the house have been fully described In THE
Sun. Tho first entertainment sati"iied every
reasonable anticipation. for the steeplechase
was all that had been promised. the acting was
generally excellent. and as for the drama. no
disappointment was caused by its lack Of any.
thing new or strange