The evening world., 1893-11-22
1.-THE PRINCESS NICOTINE"

once more Is the poor old buneted
bond-torn, mortgage-squeezed, quarrel
peppered Casino open to the public II
stll has its Moorish appearance and Its
air OF undiluted opulence, probably COW
erlng an aching heart. Yet 1t IL open
again, and 1t has Miss Lillian Russell at
the head OF It's forces The cares that
have wrinkled the beautiful Moorish
playho have not oppressed Miss Rus
sell. While receivers lessees, STOCK
holders, and all the rest OF the strange
paraphernalia were wearing themselves
thin with worry, Miss Russell, placidly,
amiably and simmeringly, has grown fat
There IL no use pretending that she IL
merely plump. She Is absolutely fat. yet
lovely. Not n day, apparently. has been
added to her age, nor an emphasis to
the chubby complacency that she calls
dramatic fervor. Miss Russell Is her old
self. but there is more Of her Every
body will be pleased to hear that, for she
Is charming.
'rhe Princess Nicotine" Is the new
opera. 1t must at once be said that 1t
Is a worthy effort, d legitimate attempt
to give comic opera as 1t used to be
=
horseplay, vulgarity or concert hall
features The line distinguishing the
vaudeville programme and the comic
opera was gradually becoming obliter-
ated. and there were many who mourned
The authors of the present work are
Messrs Byrne. Harrison and Furst, the
last named carrying away the honors
with the music, which Is surprisingly
tuneful. MI. Furst, in all verify, has
never really been heard before. He has
been hiding his light under bushel, and
permitting Mr.. De Koven to rule the
musical roast. The music of THE
Princess Nicotine Is so airy and fasci-
mating that you long for the score TO try
over on the family tea kettle. There Is
good night" song that is gem;
semi-topical song that Is exceedingly
pretty, and number of brightly, win
some airs. The choruses are all well
written, and the only fault to be found
Ia with one or two OF the Spanish num-
bers that seem to have been culled from
other sources in perhaps unconscious
assimilation. Just as the digestion Of
food is an involuntary process, so 1t Is
with the digestion of music. Com
pOBerS, ike COWS, Cne" tle Cuu'
The book of THE Princess Nico-
tine" is the charming story by the
Spanish novelist, Pedro A. de Alarcon,
called THE Cooked Hat" When you
read this novel-if you did-you must
have seen in 1t a comic opera. You
could hear the choruses, picture the
groupings imagine the scenes 1t seemed
burning to lend itself to comic opera
treatment. Messrs. Byrne and Harrison
have made an ingenious adaptation, but
they have forgotten that a comic opera
audience wants to laugh, and there is
scarcely a smile in THE Princess Nico-
tine" Their Don Pedro-the Corregidor
OF the novel-might have been made
amusing, the sort of rule that Gros-
smith used to play at the Savoy Theatre,
London Yet he is a fiabby sort OF per-
son, who seldom evokes smile. and
he goes seriously through the opera
There was chance to make the
Duchess entertaining, but she Is also
dull and heavy. In return for the
wholesale piracy of the plot, the libret-
lists might have made an effort at
originality as far as the humor went.
Yet. THE Princess Nicotine" Is inf
nitely better as 1t is. than as 1t would
be riddled with gags and horseplay. 1t
Is so encouraging TO hear comic opera
that is not a burlesque that criticism is
really almost disarmed
Miss Russell sings very we'll indeed.
No roulades, II you please. Her former
Alpine vocal efforts, undertaken with
out a guide and leading her to disaster,
are omitted. A good deal of her tre-