The evening times., 1895-09-03
PLAYS OF THE WEEK.

A full and friendly house greeted Mr..
obert Downing and h is accomplished wife.
Eugenie Blair. at Aliens Grand Opera
House. where they played the hero and
heroine in Sardou's somber tragedy.
Helena
As usual. when the capabilities of these
actors are so familiar to people here. the
question was not whether their interpreta-
ton of their roles would be artistic, but
what of the new and interesting Sardou
had given 10 an always expectant public.
As in ..Gismonda." the author treads ON
very delicate ground. but in Helena" as
presented last night the delicacy of the
situation and condition is not half SO
obtrusive in the former play
In Helena" the grand motive is the
atonement for wrong done the heroine, by
a practical test on the part of the hero The
sublimity of the injured heroine's character
lies in her forgiveness of the wrorgdoer
for his mercy shown to her conquered party
and fellow citizens.
Love as the basis of it all is rather i'm
Piled than expressed. Everything else in
the drama has been common property for
centuries. the historical incidents being
drawn from the countless wars of the
Gueiphs and Ghibellines.
After the first. second and third aets
Mr. Downing as Duke Orso and Miss Blair
as Helena were called before the curtain.
At the last call Mr. Downing made quite
a clever speech, in which he thanked those
who had assisted him in the production
of the play, and who have been noted here
tofore in The Times.
Not the least attractive feature of the
fI,x.f ffraFr Frlnt ttss
music composed especially for this play by
Mr. A Tregina, of the Marine Band, who
directed the orchestra in person for the
entire week The overture and all of the
extra-act music is also from the pen of
Mr.. Tregina, and the public has at least
q chance TO judge for themselves of his
superior merits as composer ard director.
MI Tregina made close study of four
teenth century music in connection with
the Helena" representation and revived
TO a remarkable degree the spirit of the
epoch. He has adopted the Wagneriaa
''motiv'' method and handles it in a way
TO immensely heigaten the effectiveness
of SarGou's latest tragedy.
The PLAY will be given every night this
week
Inc DcrDy MdScOt. Il
drama with excellent racing. features, was
presented last night at the Academy OF
Music Fine horses on the stage are
always attractive, and the public was
not disappointed with King Faro and Grey
Prince 0f course the feature OF the per-
fornnnce was Miss Katie Rooney as Glenn
johnson, while little Pansy Willard as
Little Tex, the Derby mascot, and Miss
Matte Rooney as Johnny Blue, Jockey,
were exceedingly clever in their acting,
The performance opens with race track
scene. and develops a story OF crime and
the conviction or the wrong man. Tho
gaIlows scene is brought to a climax by the
appearance in the nick of time of Johnny
troduecd in the play are specialties. OF
which buck dancing and Irish limitations
from the leading part
A very amusing concoction of mirth.
music and seasonable novelties was pre-
sented last night by G. E. Miaco's City Club
at the Lyceum Theater The show visits
have about the best combination that they
have ever carried.
The scenery and costumes are good and
the vaudeville entertainments firSt-class-
with eplendid scenic and electrical ef-
fects. The female voices are above the
average and the comedians are funny
Tho first number on the second part
parody songs. Bryant and Fulton follow
in an entertaining sketch, in which Bryant
proves himself n clean comedian and good
actor. The sisters Milburn sing and dance.
Paulo and Dika please with their French
eccentricities and Charles Seaman, who APP
pears for the first time in seven years on
a variety stage, is tnimitable. The per-
formance " inds up with a good studio
bnrlesoue in which all the people take
part.