The evening world., 1894-04-24
"CINDERELLA."

Costumes-costumes-costumesl Cart
loads Of them-enough to dazzle the eye
weary the brain, saturate the mind with
color, and overtax the appror!ative fac
ultieS! Compared with these brilliant
clothes that were Introduced to the pub
lie last night at Abbey's Theatre. in the
fairy extravaganza, cinderella" tho
garbs displayed In "Utopia'' are rags
ana tatters. In the scene on the grounds
of the royal palace there was such a
display Of dresses. shown all together.
and with no roper contrast. that the
eye was temporarily injured. 1t was
recklessly magnificent; too fine, In fact.
to leave any artistic impression.
The extravaganza itself does not de-
serve very much attention AS yet. When
1t has been cut Into shreds. when huge
clots of inan!ty and great wads of idlocy
have been removed. 1t will be n most
seemly affair for children. New York
babes, however, would be too old for
some of the jokes and stage business.
Neither Horace Leonard. the author OF
the 'book' toh for the sight OF IL man
who would, in cold type. father such II
bookD nor oscar Barrett. the promo
ter" OF the extravaganza, seem to know
when to stop. They get the ghost of an
idea and work II to death. There was
something amusing In the appearance Of
Il black cat presented by u. Abrahams.
and for a minute or two the audience
deservedly applauded Its antics. But
this cat kept them up for twenty min
utes. until the audience loathed 1t and
grew almost Ill. l watched the faces OF
the people when the cat came back-or
kept coming back. I saw MIR. Abe Hum
mel, most tolerant theatre-goer in New
York, who finds good in everything.
grow suddenly pale. There was also n
little episode with n camera that threat
stage until there was a feeling Of nausea.
All this will. OF course, be remedied.
There will be none Of 1t at the end Of
the week. The spectacle that lasted
until midnight must be brought to the
1O.45 limit. or 1t will be too much for the
children. and 1t can appeal only to the
juvenile element. cinderella" came
from the Lyceum Theatre. London. and
that accounts for its lack Of comic
songs. dances or specialties OF n de-
scription. For New York. however. 1t
might nave captured n few specimens Of
music hall ditties that always go SO well
here. These would have seasoned the
scenery, and occupied the mind while the
eye was greedily devouring the costumes.
They would have been as peps!n to an
ophthalmic Indigestion.
The story of cinderella" was rlgidly
adhered to. but ! have seen better stage
stories on this subject In the English
provinces. The changing OF the pumpkin
and the mice into n coach and horses
was dom wit. 1ut any mechanical ef-
fects. and Cinderella's rags became fine
clothes after Cinderella had left the
stage to change them. Miss Ellaline Ter
riss. a very overlooking young woman
played Cinderella. and Miss Kate Chard
the Prince The naughty sisters
were lmpersonated by Seymour Hicks
and Fred Eastman. whose e..lre ab!ll-
ties seemed to centre In one dance that
they did to death.
The ballet-girls were all young and
pretty, and they wore their clothes
ch%armingly. They were very refreshing
after the Terpsichorean fossils to which
Kiralfy has accustomed lis. For once
there was no museum OF antiquities.
ALAN DALE.