The herald., 1896-02-13
AT THE THEATERS

| dena, where they were announced to play
| last night. it occurred to a HERALD man to
| forestall the regular current of events and
witness in lone night town. the per-
| formance of an organization that adver-
| tises to present in every place visited
''product ctions as elaborate in every detail
| as can be witnessed in metropolitan thea
| ters where plays are staged for extended
| runs" hence this review of The Lions
| Mouth, as enacted by Mr.. Warde in Pasa-
| dena last evening.
The play is a story of Italian intrigue,
| carefully elaborated into a consisten and
| stirring drama, and not lacking in felicity
| and poetry of diction. The story itself
| has the tragic elements which mark SO
| much of the history of Venice in the latter
| middle ages, and although the author has
| avoided a tragic ending, he has surely
succeeded in sustaining throughout an nm
| tagging interest. The series of dramatic
| Incidents. which are brought into sequence,
are strongly pictorial, as we'll as dramatic,
| and q chief impression left by witnessing
the play is that of its picturesque con-
trasts. Mr.. Warde, as the i'm
petuous young hero, was graceful,
| effective and convincing. His role,
| by reason of its dissimilaIity to the next
most important character in the cast, that
OF Francesca, played by Mr.. Herman, is an
admirable foil, and the two figures, acted
| as they were last night, set each other OFF to
| excellent advantage. Mr.. Herman renders
| his part in such manner as to make 1t
| stand prominently forth as striking inn
| persona.ion OF scornful arrogance and ma
| lign power. He never for a moment over
| acted, but there was no lack of suggestion
| of dramatic force.
The other members of the supporting
| cast are notably strong in their individual
| work, and. as an entirety, are evenly bal
anced and symmetrical. The fact that
small and prominent parts are alike rem
dered in most satisfactory manner
makes it difficult to single out any for ape-
| cial commendatiou. Miss Gillette was
graceful and forceful as the heroine; Miss
| Moore was captivatngly coque.tish as her
| companion; Mr.. Turner was good as the
doge, Mr.. Ernest Warde made a most
| pleasing impression as young Venetian
| officer, and Mr.. Stevens was noticeable in
] cast where all were good
The production in the way of stage set
| tings-scenery, mountings, costumes and
all the details of surroundings that go to
create a real production-was, in a word,
excellent. Mr.. Warde carries the entire
| scenery and completely fulfills the prom
| ises extended by his advance announce
| ments.
The sale of seats for Mr.. Warde's en-
| gagement at the Los Angeles theater next
! week opens this morning at the box office.
+ = =
| THE BURBANK.-May Nannary and the
| splendid company supporting her are CIV
| ing a most acceptable rendition of the So
| ciety drama Queena. The principal is es-
tablishing herself as competent artist.
| She meets all of the requirements of an
| emotional actress, and the large audiences
which have witnessed her performances
| this week have lavished an abundance Of
| favorable recognition upon the young
| lady. Miss Mollie Stockmeyer is also re-
celving liberal portion of the hearty APP
| probation bestowed upon those taxing part
m a a =
| doing acceptable work and the stage set
| tings III the second and third acts reflect
! credit upon the management and is about
| the best of its kind seen here for some
| time. Queena can be said to be brilliant
success and the play deserves packed
| given every evening this week and at the
| matinee on Saturday afternoon. On Mon
| day night the beautiful southern me,o-
drama, Wife for Wife, will be produced,
and special preparations are being made
for its presentaI0n.
ORPHEUM.-The bill at the Orpheum
this week has proved an unqual-
flied success. Large audiences have
| been the rule every night, with
a number of fashionable box parties
at two of the performances. The aggrega-
ton now gathered at this popular house is
one of the best that has ever been seen in
this city. The Henley sisters have de-
| lighted everybody with their beautiful
| mirror dance. They have novel turn
| which combines the attractiveness of me-
| chanical stage effect with the grace of the
| fancy dance. Fonti Boni brothers brought
down storm of applause at their first ap-
| pearance and they have continued in favor
] ever since. One of them possesses a voice
| with the most peculiar ringing qualities
ever heard in human vocalism. He pro.
| duces no end of laughter with this singular
gift.
Another clever pair of dancers are Hem
ley and Doyle, called the Beau Brummels
of song and dance. Their clog steps are
hard to excel. Gilbert and Goldie have a
| cheerful turn brimming over with fun
The marvellous feats of the De Van Sisters
on the "Lachelle magic" create no end OF
| thrilling interest. Mason and Healy, the
long and short of it, have some new jokes
and their old eccentric way of springing
| them takes immensely.
The climax is reached by Gilmore and
| Leonard in one of the most laughable acts
in the way of pure Irish comedy that ever
reused an audience. Romandy's musical
program is exceptionally good.
| Musical
KRAUss STRING QUARTET.-The third
chamber concert given by the Krauss
string quartet this season was we'll attended
last night at-the Blanchard-F Fitzgerald hall
The program presented was interesting
throughout, and Noskowski's Polish piano
quartet, arranged for three strings ano
piano, was produced for the first time in
this city. Madame Isodora Martinez was
the vocalist and bore off the chief honors o
the evening. The soprano essayed DOM
zetti's exacting and fiorid grand aria from
Lucia, an exhaustive test OF vocaliZatlon
Madame Martinez acquitted herself mos
creditably, but the clear tones OF her voice
were heard to better advantage in the bal
lad, Lovely May. In response to an encore
Madame Martinez gave proof OF her YER
satility and quite captivated Ter audience
by little French ditty with laughing re
frsin.
The opening work of the quartet in Hay
dn's No. Major was rough and uneven
and the first violin was not always abso,
lutely true. The work of the 'cellist showed
up well in the minuetto, and the quarte
had got into much better form in the
finale. The strings suffered from diff
dence in the accompaniment to the llucia
} aria. Bach's Gavotte was taken rather too
slowly and heavily. Mr.. Krauss playee
Ernst's Elegie, with Spohr's Introduction
very effectively and was we'll supported
In the quartets the first violin seems tt
J need n little more attention to and sympa
thy with the other strings This deficienc.
was remedied in Noskowski's number, ant
A. j. Stamm at the piano kept the instru
ments we'll together, the result being {
really impressive production. The con
cert was characterized by painstaking auC
| earnest work and yyaa entirely coynmeuda. a.