The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-09-30
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
shore Acres.

except in the pages OF some prlgnb story.
In way it may be called New Eng
land idyl, just as "Davy Crockett,
which Frank Mayo made famous, was
called a western idyl. Its scenes are laid
right here in Maine, Frenchman's Bay
being the location of Shore Acres, a
name that pertains to part of the place.
The play, therefore, has special interest
for Maine people, and, from the size OF
the audience last night and the hearth
ness of their manifestations of approval,
it is evident that Mr.. Herne's work was
fully appreciated
Shore Acres differs from the most OF
the New England dramas in that it dis
plays the pathetic side of farm life more
than the humorous 1t is very quiet In It's
actions, is devoid of the usual dramatic
climaxes, and yet preserves many strong
dramatic situations. Such for instance
is the scene at the silver wedding dinner,
when Martin Berry and his daughter
Helen nearly came to blows. But it the
sad side of life is rather more prominent
than the humorous there is still enough
of the latte to relieve the pathos and pre-
vent the play taking on too much of
mbreness Such is the scene at the
dinner where good old Uncle Nat
washes the little Berry girls face and
as finish tells her "to blow" The
audience fairly shouted.
The story of the play deals with land
boom at Frenchman's Bay, in which
Josiah Blake, the postmaster, and village
specu1ator takes a hand, and induces
Martin Berry, old Uncle Mats younger
brother to join in by cutting up the farm
into building lots The desire to grow
rich makes Martin Berry almost a fiend
towards his own family, and especially
hard on his daughter Nell, who is in love
with young Sam Warren an embryo
physician. Martin wants Nell to marry
Blake and dismiss Warren, which she re-
fuses to do. Of course all ends well and
Sam and Nell are finally made happy.
There is no william" in the play, where
in the play again differs from others.
But the charm of the piece is the
quaint characterization of Uncle Nat the
old lighthouse keeper and farmer. He
keeps smile ON the lips even when there
is a tear in the eye His description to
his brother Of the point OF land where
their mothers grave lies, was as admira-
BILE a bit of quaint acting as has been
seen on the stage for long time, and his
cooking of the turkey and making of the
gravy was an excellent bit of comedy. In
the latter acts were the strong scenes in
the lighthouse, the "Liddy Ann" in a
sou'easter, and the finale of "me and the
Children ~
The other characters, besides Uncle
Nat, were all well taken and not over
done. Mr.. Craig as Martin Berry, Mr..
David Steele as Joel, Mr.. Franklin Gar
land as Josiah Blake, Mr.. David Murray
I as Sam Warren, Miss Katherine Gray as
Helen and Miss, Grace Clark as Ann
Berry, were particularly good The chill
dren were natural and great feature.
The play was handsomely staged. The
curtain was called at the end of each act.
There will be a matinee today and an
evening performance tonight and we
should Judge from the call for tickets that
the house would be crowded on both
occasions
The Testimonial Concert.
There was a brisk demand for seats,
both Thursday and yesterday, at Stock
BRIDGES, for the testimonial concert to
Misses Knight, Kicker and Philbrook, to
be given at City hall the 9Th of October.
The board showed large advance sale.
We would suggest that subscribers who
desire good seats should secure them at
once. There is no doubt that full
house will greet the ladies on the evening
of the event.
Spider and Fly.
Leavitt's great vaudeville company
will be seen in Spider and Fly at Port
land theatre next Monday and Tuesday.
1t is no easy matter to describe all the
attractive features which have been
crowded into the prologue and three acts
of Spider and Fly" with it's manifold
novelties and host of talented perform
ers, mostly recruited abroad, and its
wealth of beautiful costumes, gorgeous
scenery, armor, mechanical effects,
transformations, sparkling music, novel
speoialties, clever pantomime, brilliant
battles and evolutions.
Kotzschmar-Fellows' Concert.
The Kennebec Journal, speaking of the
Kotzschmar-F Fellows concert in that
city, says:
2 The fine new organ of the church was
heard at it's best under the brilliant
manipulation of Prof. Kotzschmar of
Portland. The prelude by Lutmer was
admirably rendered, and the finale of his
own composition was as good and artistic
an organ selection as has ever been given
in Augusta. Mrs. D. II. Fellows of The
First Parish church, Portland, sang
several solos and divided the honors with
Prof. Kotzschmar. She has magnificent
soprano voice, which was heard to special
advantage in Dudley Bucks Fear 'Ye
Not, 0 Israeli" and Topliffe's Consider
Ye the Lilies"
The Vendetta.
"The Vendetta" is a story of the heart