The morning times., 1896-12-15
nGEISHA" IS JlNClY
and VERY JAPANESQUE
New Opera Makes Friends Of a
Big Lafayette Audience.
..Shore Acres" PIeases Old Acquaint-
ances at the NatiOna1-GoOd
Bills at Other Houses. "a

Another of the musical comedies Which
New York has taken ON London's say so
and which 1.-The provinces including Wash
lngton, are expected ITO adulate on these
two seniors approval, If THE Geisha, " first
! given in this. city az 1.-THE sLaiayetta~iaSt
night. There was large audience pres
ent. smart I'm charaCteT,and iii temperament
enthusiastic, If one may guage an audi
ence's mood by its manifestations. Every
song was encored at least once and some
several times. That should spell success.
''1he Geisha' is patterned after the other
English comedies In plot in that it aims at
a story and hunur at the same time, but
In its achievements gets no farther 5lian
the former. The American manufacturers
of this article .et the plot go hangaand
proceed with the fun.Sc
The piece bases it's Feshief claim for ad
mration on is pictorial elegance and
score OF lyrics of praise worthy character
The locale is Japan and the PRODUCER
has done well with his material. The
Gesha are a bevy OF attractive girls who
forego French heels and screen their limbs
with more conslstentj artistic ard hence
enjoyable results thantbe un-Chinese maid
ems in The MandarinE' The comedy re-
calls The Mikado only in IFS Japanese
eI.vlronn ent a md the ccommendable similarity
OF the iibretto To Gilbert's style MI. Owen
Hall has written dainty and enjoyabiy
trlfling verses, Teflecting the meaning in
the metre and displaying an exact poetic
quality in harmony With the Orient. The
music is an occasional suggestion CT the
Japanese but to accompany the librcttlst's
jngles II should have been more tuney ana
definite. There is not soEE that fastened
Itself upon the memory
The cast in most respects is excellent.
Dorothy Murtonas Mimosa, the chierGeisha.
made the hit OF the evening. She is an
accomplishedprima.d donna, andac ccompani,,s
her singing with significant action which
results IN a characterization as well Is a
song. Her voice is rich and mellow, and she
uses Jtpwith expertness, especially in pro-
duCing certain muted tone which Is Singu-
larry pleasing. Violet Lloyd, as Molly,
seemed to please the audience, too. She
is an English girl with the viyacty II
Marie Studholm but without her beauty.
Mark Smith made a humorous Marquis, and
Charles w SWAN: repeated MS perform
ance OF the Chinaman, W hiCn WAS accepted
as authentic before the Geisha arrived. In
one short verse at the end or act one Mr..
Henry Gunson displayed a voice which
seemed To be better than any possessed by
the other men. 1t was a distributed disap-
pointment that he did not sing on any OF
his subsequent appearances.
Eric Scott is handsome, ami actrd as If
he knew re- but he cannot sing, and should
learn that too. A tourist taking notes for
a book OF travel was fortunately suppressed
early.
The scenery was pretty and elaborate, and
the costuming was gorgeous. Miss Morton
wore half a dozen gowns and the profusion
OF eXquisitely embroidered gowns On tie
Gelsna girls was beNildering. II here will
be a matinee tomorr4w.
James A Herne brought back his de-
HghtfGI comedy drama ',ShUre AcreS" TO
The National last night for its third en-
eagement IN Washington Little remains
10 he said ofths play Or ofits performance.
ii Is realistic picture or certain phases
or life, which has It's chief charm not
more in the life represented than III the
representation. 1t ltnprCve as with age
and public appreciation grows more en-
phatic with longer acquaintance.
II Is play which for many reasons
Sonally lis effect is satisfying and Cpti-
mstic. The story is absorbing though the
action is simple; its very simplicity en-
lhrallS one; its characters fastan them
selves upon the credulity aad affection, and
It's effect is so deliclcuSly refreshing / nd
lettering that one cries for very JOY. 1t
should be seen as Il piece of stage craft, or
as such il is perfected example OF an
abused school N ow ercsslse Is there n so
accurate denotcfnent or tie right course
IN realism. Thespeeter ofthe commonplace
Is the bete noir OF the realist, and Mr..
lierne in his text and action reproduces
the absolutely natural without succumbing
10 the me ssenES seem 1neyltaSis VI 4 eo3npae n p
m as a rorfed Il t % hs Il with ha' s s
rt'aand such Is ths Office OF art, TO assist
Mr.Herne' astTnsl 6 Nat remains the sweet
portrait OF original honesty and serenity
given To men with riehtsheartS. His com
paiiy is in 50 me respects changed tut it
is throughout excellent. SRobert Fisher re-
mains To give his steel tempered ortraiture
of Martin Berry, and james I Galloway
repeats with unyarying humur his per
furmance OF Joel Gates, the grass widower.
David Murray plays the short scenes OF
am Warren acceptably, Gay Cramer plays
capt. Ben ii Hutchins with nice apprecia-
tlnn of the requirements of the part, Frank
lin Garland appeared Jaeeeptably as Josiah
Elake, and the ladies' all acquitted them
recollect:ons of others isstheir parts Miss
MurrO- was particularly attractive a.
Helen Berry.
Nstthe least pleasant feature of ..shere
Acres is the children. A s q rule the stage
child is precious aDonination. Mr.
Hernc's juvenile actors are continual
pleasure Their part iii the story ard the
actual differentiation in character com
mend them to favor The staging of the
play is ADEQUATE and the large audience
came early into sympathy with the play
and the players.
The first presentation in this city of
Fltz Webster's "A Breezy Time" live
ly musical farce comedy was accorded
cordial and approving welcome at the
Grand Opera House last night, by an audi
ence which we'll filled that popular play
Rouse. IL laughter and applause furnish
any criterion, the audience was more
than pleased with the play which furnished
fun three hours Of fun.
The entertainment is bright farce, fine
iy costuHed and deliberately mounted, re-
piete with bright lines, a narrow thread
of plot and effective songs and bright
music and up-to-date dances. TIE COM
pany is competent and has in it's ranks q
number of very clever and entertaining
people: While the whole entertainment
gwen is high class, the work Of L. b. FitZ,
with his full 3S7 avoirtiupois stands out
with particular effectiveness.
NulIe the less efteCJlvc but more attrac-
tive IN appearance s the Pretty. VivaciouS
and talented Miss Kathryn Webster, n
Soubrette as pleasing in song as in
dance. and assumes male and female char
dcters equally well. Her song with stere op-
tlcon illustrations was a novelty which
earned an encore
The young ladies of the cast We're all
personally attractive in face and form
and their singing and dancing were pleas
ing features of the show. Among these
were Misses May OlinRer, Camille Smith
and Mile. Duanicta. Miss Emma Mans
field assumed an old maid character which
showed careful study and scored a hit.
Robert Mansfield assumed the character