The herald., 1896-08-09
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| its hideousness covered until it has in
sidiously inveigled the victim to the lure
and caught him in its iron grasp for
| ever.
| Camille, which has always been re-
| garded as a play having moral pur :
| pose, pales into insignificance as moral
| lesson compared with Carmen. In Ca
mile vice wears an alluring front. For
, example. to those whose inclinations
naturally lead them 10 sacrifice every
| thing to their personal comfort, now
fascinating would appear life like that
| of the Lady with the Camellias, OF
| whom it is written: she had carried 10
such height the science of interior COM
fort and self -adulation that nothing
could compare with her dresses, her lin
| en- and the least trifle she used; for the
| decking of her beauty was, by far, the
dearest and most charming occupation
of her life" Would this picture of the
life of this woman, without seeming
| care, be likely to disgust any one with
sybaritic tendencies? True, there is A
reverse to the picture. Camille suffered
| and died, but in her mental sufferings
and bodily sickness she had the comfort
and support of many friends, and her
death was sincerely mourned. Does stern
virtue often have happier fate?
Carmen has no sybaritic surround
ings. She is not an exponent of the
aesthetic side of vice, but a child of the
people. a bold free lance, rejoicing in
her freedom, enjoying the fleeting mo-
ment with all the intensity of her pas
sionate gypsy nature, and yet ever va
guely conscious that a merciless fate
must eventually overtake her and the
law of compensation be satisfied Surely
this fear conveys its lesson. 1t is the
little rift within the lutte, that by ana
by will make the music mute. There
is wholesome moral to Carmen that
the sickly sentimentalities of Camille
could never exploit.
Miss Coghlan has a subtle conception
of the role of Carmen. AS she presents
it, the Characterization remains with
and haunts one. Carmen really lives
and appears to the mind at odd moments
with all der deviltry lurking in the
depths of her dark, liquid, passion
lighted eyes, or playing wantonly on the
curves of her ruddy lips, or in the dim
pies of her peachy cheeks. Yes, it is n
fine Carmen, this creation cf Miss Cogh-
Ian, and one that will live in the men,
ory of those who have seen it by the i'm
pressive truth of it's conception.
Mr.. Warde, as Don Jose in Carmen,
proved somewhat of a disappointment.
1t was not that he did not give a schol-
arly presentment of the unfortunate
Basque soldier: every one familiar with
Mr.. Wardes careful methods knows that
his characters are all we'll conceived,
but, somehow or other, the role did not
seem to fit him. We have been so long
accustomed to Mr.. Warde in heroic roles
that we cannot, all at, once get used II
him in the character of an impaSsioned,
yet weak withal. lover, f1inging honor
and duty away at the beck of a wanton.
When one thinks of him as Lanciotto, or
u ~I-
clined to say to him, with kindly intent:
'Cobbler. stick to thy last"
1t would be both interesting and en-
couraging to those to whom time ap-
pears as an inexorable tyrant in view of
his ravages upon the human counter
ance, to make a careful study of Miss
Coghlan in Carmen. They would dis
cover, for their encouragement, that the
appearance of perpetual youth is at
tainable, and they would be interested
in seeing for themselves how much
careful expression and clever dressing
have to do with the case. A good many
summers have passed over Miss Cogh-
lan's charming head-how many it would
he me ruda d,r to fayyet @ in 1T thf Hee eg IF Gac
or figure to preclude the idea that she is
yet in her early youth.
And what shall be said of Mr.. Warde?
Any one seeing him in the first acts of
Carmen and subsequently in his struS-
gle with Garcia, where~he displays the
supple agility of a boy, would declare
that like Faust, he must have made a
bargain for his youth. Until the last act.
where he Intentionally makes himself
appear older, Mr.. Warde looks not one
day past 80, and is handsome enough to
create sad havoc in the breast of many a
susceptible matinee girl
The dramatic version of Carmen draws
it's sole elements of strength from the
histrionic capabilities of the players
presenting 1t. From literary stand
point, the play is puerile. 1t is the ex
| treme of commonplace, abounding in die
| ton that can best be called claptrap
AS q matter of fact, the new race OF
! play -makers and adapters are sadly
| lacking in literary graces, and few. in
! deed, of the great mass of plays that
! have been projected on the stage of late
years possess any quality of merit ir
this respect; but Carmen is worse thar
| mediocre as an exposition of the ele
gances and effectiveness of the Englist
| language.
Verify. the world has gone mad in tn;
variety line, and, perhaps, so radica
| are the changes in artists heretofort
| conceived ideas that we may yet b.
treated to the announcement of Patt
doing a turn-say. the SuWanee Rive
or Home, Sweet Home, or the Shadow
Song, with calcium effects-at some EN-
terprising vaudeville theater, Will
Nicolini in a little burnt cork sketch OF
the side. Or yet THE De Retzske Broth
ers, operate sketch artists of Europea'
fame" or THE Far-famed NOrdica, tn
delight of the crowned heads of Eu
rope" or "Bernhardt, in the deaf
scene from Camille" may yet greet ou
novelty seeking eyes from the bill
boards of a variety theater. Quie
sabe?
To come down from lesser luminaria
from those above mentioned, who tina
saw Marion Manola some years ag'
when she was the leading lady of Duff
comic opera successes, would ever in
agine that he should find her confinin
her efforts to the giving of an operati
sketch in a vaudeville house? Yet hel
she is, in company with her clever hus
band, delighting Orpheum audience
with her pretty. clear, bell-like voice an
proving a pleasure to many who Woul
never have the patience to sit through a
opera. "And thereby hangs tails"
is written that the time is not far dis
tant when the cream of all production
operate and dramatic, will be skimme
for the delectation of the patrons
vaudeville theaters and the continuano
of an entertainment through sever;
acts will be a thing of the past. Til
state of things will be concession
the growing restlessness and perpetu
boredom of the human race.