The Washington times., 1894-12-03
LONDON PLAYS ANDPLAYERS
Lloyds Now InsureS Certain Receipts
to Concert Managers.
PATHS ONLY APPEARANCE
watkin Mills Coming to the United states-
Sullivan Has Rewritten ''The Contra
bandists''-Ibsen's New Play, Rita ALI
mers." to See the Light of Day in Berlin.

Copyrighted, 1894, by the Associated Press)
LONDON, Dec. 2.-T he theatrical barometer
now stands at ''set fair" in most of the thea
ters, and the concert managers report the
same tales of success. Roughly speaking. all
the important new plays of the season have
turned out well.
A novelty has been heard Of in connec-
tion with Lloyds. II is a common saying that
any risk Can be guarded against there il you
will only pay the premium. Concert insur-
ance. however, must be a new department..
Some gentlemen have been organizing char
ity concert, and, being desirOus Of obtaining
n minimum sum Of $500. applied to Lloyds
underwriters 10 insure them in that amount.
Proper inquiries were made the attractive
powers of the artists engaged were cOnsid-
cred and the risk has been accepted at .
guineas. 1t was clearly matter within the
control of the underwriters and their friends
Lewis Waller and H. Fl. Moren viii open
their season at the Haymarket so soon as NJ.
Tree shall have departed, with new comedy
by Oscar Wide, as vet unchr1stened, Tor
which have been engaged Alfred Bishop.
Charles Brookheld. Charles Hawtree. and
Mines. Fanny BrOugh. Maude Millett, Flor
ence West, Fane Featherston, and Julia Nell
son.
:
Hall on Wednesday last upon the occasion OF
Adelina PATHS only appearance before the
public this season. The diva, who wore
mourning, looked well and sang with her
usual success.
Sir Augustus Harris opened his annual
series OF fancy dress balls at COvent Garden
Friday evening. There was a gorgeous kaleidO-
scopic scene; the house was radiant with
parti-colored draperies, flowers, lights, views
of Monte Carlo. etc. The occasion called
forth an immense crush from Bohemian
London.
Watkin Mills sails for New York Wednes-
nesday next by the Elbe for a tour that viii
last until May. He is to open in Minneapolis
December II, and will appear at Carnegie
Hall in the Christmas performance Of The
Messiah" He is also engaged to appear with
the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
The receipts from the performance Of
'Madame Sans Gene" up to date have tailed
$500, coo.
Sir Arthur Sullivan has completed the whole
of the music for the new version OF Contra
bandists. The OrchestratiOn is fully sketched
out-though, as usual, many details are left
to be filed in at rehearsals. The old version
OF ''Contrabandists" has practically disap-
peared, only five numbers remaining, al OF
which have been placed in act l. The words
and music of act ii are entirely new.
Beerbohm Tree, who is an active member
OI iue NdLlOIhi SUuudy League. uti4Fcftu du
address this week 10 + 200 leaguers at the
Queens Hail upon the occasion Of the annual
meeting of the league. he said that he had
every hope that the coming Parliament
would open the museums and picture gal
leries.
The new Ibsen play, which will probably
first see the light at Berlin, is TO be called
Rita Allmers.' and to even a greater extent
than the Master Builder is the play stamped
with Ibsen's mystery and symbolism. The
scene is again a small village on a Norwegian
ford. Alfred Allmers and his wife have an
only boy, named Eyolof With this child they
live as happily as 1t is possible 10 live TIL the
love which they feel for one another passes
without their knowing il, even to the third
being, in whom they see their own likeness.
But something dreadful, mysterious, sud
denly puts an end TO this happiness. The
mother has the child with her one day. when
it falls and is so injured that It has to 20 on
crutches. The father and mother are affected
in quite different ways by this circumstance.
He feels pity and the pity is turned into d
deep. almost mad love Tor the boy. She, on
the contrary, is horrfad, and her whole be-
ing turns 10 the outer world.
This is described in a short dialogue. in
which the mothers horror at the crutches is
expressed. and her Increasing longing alter
her husband, who in his painful almost crazy
love for his child is lost to his wife lie
sees her looking az their little son with an
evil eye.
most touching scene follows. On
bridge in the background the child is play
ing. Allmers sits lost II thought and listen
ing TO the joyful shou of his child whilst
talking to Rita. lie also asks her If she
believes in the evl eye. She gives an answer
which brings the element of mystery into the
drama. She says she believes now in the evil
eve and most OF all in the evil eve OF the
child At once one hears cries and shouts
and trampinG Of feet. The boy has fallen OF
the bridge and the crutehes float slowly on
the water.
In the second act we see man and wife in a
small narrow alley sitting near the shore.
They are look az out across the iiOrd and are
talking OF their lost child. The mother be-
lieves that their son lies below. Just before the
house; the father does not believe that this IS
the case One must not, he says, forget how
swift the current is here. He is long since
carried out to sea. The father sits and gazes
. at the running water and talks to himself till
suddenly he gazss into his wife's eyes, the evil
eye.
Ibsen, as usual. leaves it to the reader to
think out the rest.