Birmingham age-herald., 1895-01-23
THINGS DRAMATIC.

When Ellen Beach Yaw came to Brming- ham O. Brien's opera house was packed. | The people went to hear what they did not 1 hear.
 Last night only fair audience went to hear what they did not expect to-hear, but | did hear-a fine all around concert made | up of artists that are not seen here every l day.
 Black Patti came here under the repre- | sentatiou of being the most wonderful | singer known to the negro race. She | proved in her performance last night that
 she was everything she had been repre- | sented to be.
 As singer she is artist, and is as far 1 above Yaw as the sky from the carpet. Her
 voice is soft and has melody that IS some- | thing wonderful; she sings with pathos; | has complete mastery of her voice and | shows a remarkable appreciation of her | musical training. Her performance last | night surprised those iu attendance, and l thunderous rounds ot applause greeted her l at the conclusion of each part. If she were | to return in week she would pack the | house.
 | Black Patti is the wonder of her race, but | the wonder of the age is Little Ruby, the | fancy dancer. She is only years and | months old, but the way she dances is call
 culated to startle the world. Her fancy | dancing was for q child the most wonder | fu thing ever seen here, and her interpre- | tation of character dancing is remarkable | for one of her age. Besides that she is | sweet and never fails to make friends With | the audience.
 Fraulein Lilly Vilona as violinist cre-
 ated some impression from the fact that | she was earnest in her work, and did it | much better than was anticipated. Signors Vincenzo Bielletto and M. Dar-
 wall were very good in vocal selections. Fraulein Nina Vilona pianist was a | slight disappointment, but did fairly we'll. "FRIENDS."
 Theater managers have complained dur | ing the past few years that they have been | compelled to go abroad for plays, and that | America was devoid of high order of | drama. This statement has been disproved | by the presentation during the past season | of a number of American written plays of | intrinsic and artistic value, and one that | has caused more comment than any play | written in recent years IS Edwin Milton | Royle's comedy drama, 'Friends,' which | will be seen at the opera house tonight. l MT. Royle is @ native of Salt Lake City. l After graduating at Princeton and the l University of Edinburg, he determined
 that he would write play which was thor | oughIy American. In the play of | 'Friends'' he has succeeded In producing | a play which is destined to take the place | among the few American plays worthy of 0 niche in the temple of fame. The play is l thoroughly simple, and yet to the play | goers fulfils all requirements. It is a | story of true life-not life as seen in the l magnificent mansions of Fifth avenue, | nor yet as it is in the slums of the Bowery, | but life as it exists today in the fast fading | Bohemia. Bohemia to the world at large | is, perhaps, an unknown quantity, for one | lacks an 'open sesame' to enter it's care- | fully guarded portals; but once within one | is charmed and held spellbound by the l delightful realm and those who
 people it. They compose the world of | greatest men and women, and we see them
 through the work of Mir. Royle as they ex- | ist in their own lives. His characters are 1 true to life, and the theme of the play deals l with the modern story of Damon and Pyth- l ias. Two men love the same woman and | one sacrifices himself for his friend. When
 Mir. Royle finished the play of Friends | he could not find manager in New York
 city, the Mecca of the dramatist, to produce l his work. He was not disheartened, how l ever, but maufully went to work and deter | mined that he would produce it himself. 1 With limited means he rented a New York | theater, secured first-class company, and with but little preliminary announcement | rang up the curtain to New York audi euce. The result, as seen the next day in
 the columns of the morning papers, was | very flattering to the author. Since that
 ful seasons on the road, and there is no better paying piece of theatrical property
 than this charming play.
 GLADYS WALLIS.
 "A Girls Way,'' peculiar title, isn't it? | But what field of fun and laughter 1t | opens up for the stage world of today. l A correct dramatic illustration of the l ways of the average American miss of to- 1 day can surely fill the allotted space of two l hours and half with full, wholesome | laughter. Such will be the programme | offered next Thursday at O'Brien's opera
 house, when Miss Gladys Wallis, with the
 assistance of the well-known Patti Rosa Comedy company, will occupy the stage at l that popular place of amusement.
 l In presenting Miss Wallis as stellar at- | traction the management are perfectly
 secure in their position, as this winsome | little lady, although stranger to us here, | has won her way into tho hearts of the | eastern theater-goers by her clever imper- l sonations in 1.-The Senator,' "Money'
 and 'The American Minister, during her four years engagement with MT. William | H. Crane. The organization supporting her is an l old and well established ore, having been l touring the country for a number of sea- | sons, and still retains as it's leading come- | dian popular Joe Cawthorn, whose Ger
 man dialect impersonations have won for | him an enviable position as an emssary | from the shrine of Menus. IA Girls | Way'' may be peculiar, but to others than l the girl herself they are at all times exceed- ingly amusing.
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