The Portland daily press., 1896-09-12
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
The New eight Bells


The spectacular pantomime of "Eight
Bells" was produced at Portland theatre
last night to an audience that tested the
capacity Of the house and that applauded
and perspired for two and half hours.
The management, with great thought
fulness, passed Japanese fans among the
occupants of the orchestra chairs, and
the courtesy was fully Appreciated.
The Byrne Brothers are whole show
in themsel yes. They and their troups of
aorobats keep the audience In roar from
the moment they appear on the stage.
1t doesn't make any difference what they
call their play. 1t might be named
"E our Clocks as well. as Eight Bells, :"
except that the latter Is nautical term
and part of the action Of the panto-
mime-oomedy takes place on a steamer.
In the first act they appear in school
scene as students and guy the school
master Beeswax, and nearly break his
head, perform all manner of pranks
form q pyramaid and tumble into differ
emit stories of house, vault over walls
and fences and like wills O. the wisp
appear and vanish They bring on a
horse that is a marvel of ingenuity, far
ahead of the old heifer in ''Evangeline"
in point of intelligence and ability. and
that horse should be set down as star
performer. In the second act they all
appear on the steamer and this scene
is very realistic. The waves are 1dashinR
all the time, and the ship is rolling hith-
or and thither. but the pranks 60 on all
the same. The third act is not SO good
as the others, but the Roman statuary
pictures and the aorobatic feats are ad-
mirable.
Besides the aorobats we must mention
the remarkable riding by Herbert and
Lane, and the beautiful serpentine dance
on the globes by the Coulson Sisters
The dancers also gave some of the best
skipping rope and clog dancing ever seen
here. The Fanion, May AUD James, were
funny, while James A. Dunn, the musi-
cal prodigy made himself favorite at
once.
The last performance will be seen
tonight. Be sure to 60.
The Last Stroke.
1t was very light audience that gath
cred at City hall last night to see the
great Cuban melodrama Of Morris's
"The Last Stroke" but they mado up in
enthusiasm what il lacked in numbers.
The melo drama is "ripper" from the
rise to the fall of the curtain. 1t
"whoops 'er up for the cause of Cuba
libre, not as in the days OF old "la fdel-
issima isla de Cuba." The story is some
what vague at times, but of course the
star Of liberty is in the ASCENDANT at the
close of the drama. There is battle in
the third act and q court martial and
grand announcement in the fourth act.
There is good deal of pleasing coms-
dy in the play and take it, all in all, is
a very good melo drama. That it is well
played will be we'll understood when
we say that the cast, as will be seen, is
composed of excellent actors, led by
that prominent New York actor Frede.
rick De BelleviIle. This was the cast
Richard Vance, an American citizen,
Eammett @. King
Padre Navarro, Cuban patriot,
Oscar Eagle
Dr.. Nicholas Blake, Unite States
Consul at Caranzat, Cuba,
Scott Cooper
Don Julio Valdez. of the Spanish
secret Service, Frederick De Belleville
Jose Aavsila, confederate offValdez,
r Edgar Forest
Cuba, - Harry Mills
Sergeant Jones, Iohn StanIeton
UIaSiiy OuRady tssss::Otis Turner
,x George Floyd
Ghnos,, Ambrose Peel
Tonzato, Howard Miller
AuS1Ao vance, aieefWards Sister
LoIGia; novice, Esther Lyon
oonohsss A0feInsz' E"ho Is loyal to