The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-11-21
Cold Audience Is Soon Warmed
TO Enthusiasm.
THOUGH THE CAST IS CHANGED.
with Its strongest Members Taken
Away the Company l. still Abie
70 score a success.


play founded upon x. and preJndiced thus
in advance the people Of this city we're
anxious 10 see the play. This predlspos'-
ton ia favor Of IL was disturbed. however,
by statements that the company that made
the pay a success. and was advertised 20
appear here. had Gisbanded at san Fran
cisco. and that the Seattle people were 10
be treated 10 a performance by a san
Francisco troop nasqueradng under the
name OF the Metropolitan Company.
This was only partially true. II is true
that Wilton Larkaye. who had with 50
much painstaking art created ana nu.4t
UP the character Of Svengai. was not OF
those who were TO appear last night. and
this IN Itself was a Disappointment. out
Of the nineteen people in the cast who ap-
peared IN San Francisco, only eight were
IN the company that Is playing the North
ern coast cities.
Another little incident, possibly unavo;d-
able. intensified the half-formed jealousy
that Seattle was being treated as a jay
town. The curtain did not go up until
O'Clock. There was a request for the IN
diligence of the audience on account OF the
heavy stage settings: but when the curtain
went up after the half hours delay and
disclosed an ordinary set scene that SEEM
cd TO he familiar 20 the habitues of the
Seattle theater. disguised as an artist stu
do in the extremely foreign locality of the
Latin quarter OF Paris by a few cheap 'etch-
ings, the audience naturally grew cold and
critical Consequently the witty studio
badinage of Taffy. the Laird. Little Billee
and an excellent Madame Wizard seemed
70 fal fiat. and even the appearance of
TrilbS herself produced scarcely a ripple
of applause The acting too. was none Of
the best in this act, and the movement
seemed slow and numbered with slowly
expressed words that did not ill the idea
OF Du Maurier's characters in any way.
There was slight applause when the cur
tain fell. but this was formal courtesy.
In the next act the movement is more
rapid The actors had been put upon their
metal By the GOODNESS Of the audience; the
audience was becoming interested in the
story Tany proposes TO Trilby. and the
lubberly and handsome gentleman did II
70 the life. while Edith Crane as Trilby
did not act any part OF her role better than
she did that OF the g.rl with a deep friend
ship for the man whose love she could not
accept, because she had already Sven il
TO another. Then Little Billie and Trllby
are engaged. and other students with their
Sr!settes and models come dancing and
shouting into the studio. and there is a
scene Of bright coloTs and white skirts and
Wild revelry that awakened the audience
to lively enthusiasm. There is one of
the dancers who is graceful and an AUDI
cious kicker Of the stars. but for some
reason she was kept in the background
perhaps from a fear that Seattle might be
prudsh even in her youth
Then Mrs Bogot and her clergyman hus-
band make their appearance. and the white
skirts whlsked through the wings. Mrs
BoSot IS Little Bllie's mother. and hears
of his marriage to a model Tafy tries 10
explain. The mother pleads with Trilby
not 10 ruin her son. The parsons prurient
curiosity is furtively cropping among the
nude sketches. and the audience IS in
laughter and tears at the same time. Then
ali doubts disappeared. The audience felt
Il was in the presence of such thorough
actors as Seattle has rarely seen.
Applause and laughter alternated and
mingled with the gentle natural path1s
and equally natural humor depicted until
Trilby was left on the scene alone. the mu-
sic fell and grew creepy and uncanny.
Svengali steals in, and that fearful hyp-
motto eye, green In the limelght glar!ng
glIttering. suake-lke. horr.blei Ugh
Don't take your children to see that. Il
viii give them bad dreams. If Lackaye's
SvengaN eye was more terrible than this
perhaps 1t IS well that he didn't come.
More of this weird hypnotism is seen
in the next scene. there Trilby gains
tremendous round OF applause as she en-
terS dressed for her appearance as the
great singer. \ beautiful woman beauti-
fully gowned is a weak expression of ad-
mirauon. Her mind is gone: she prattles
OF Little Billce: and the pathos Of an
Ophelia is heightened by the wreath OF
white flowers in her fair hair. Then she
sauE-or rather. TO betray a stage secret.
Miss Ruth White sang for her-"Sweet
Alice. Ben Bolt" and no one ever before
imagined there was so much gentle sweet
ness In the ola dittv Scarcely any char
acter on the stage appeais more 10 the
emotions than do these last Scenes in
"Trilby" her meeting again with Little
frr l1a sv.t.
tie BiIlees mother. now in love with her.
and her gradual fading away.
II is unnecessary. almost, 10 pick out
any ~ the performers for special mention
Reuben Fax as Sveneali was particularly
excellent in that ne dos not permit him
self 10 overact the part Of the crafty
hypnctist: Charles II. RicEel as Taffy
was the big. handsome EnElishman. as he
IS such i'm Paris outside OF Du Maurier's
novels and Zou Zou was a typiCally gay
and witty Frenchman. whether at the
Moulin Rogue or in the foyer Of the
CIRQUE des BaShibaZoucks. and Miss Jen-
ME RciGarth Is incompatible as the volu-
bile hustlinE. buNom housckeeper OF the
ouartier-Latiu or any other quarter OF
tho CAV capital
y seems only fair. after the rumors de-
roEatory 70 the company before their an
pearance. TO give the complete cast Here
IL is
Tsny Observation-Disclosures. Charles IT, R,ocel
tn" L1tTd. -...-.-.. ......-.. tGar,cS Canheif
l-iii" ttN.cc..-..-. ....-.---- Ereutou Thorpe
Fencat.---.-....... ........... Reuben FAX
Gerk0 ............-.......... T. W Morrison
Zoa Zou-.....-...-..-E l.. Romayn~ SIMMONS
Antony. ..-...-.-. ......... ,i-tor ~ fa S'f.e
ks1 T7auas E3Eot......- sidney VAIN
A2naEfr Nav ..-.-....... Wallace Morton
l|... t~ .--.-.-..-- ..-.---..- Howard James
Tr.av .........---... Mss va th Crane
MIS- t.l-'t ..--.-..-.. Mss sarah stevens