The sun., 1896-09-22
PLAYS OF FUN AND MUSIC.
THE GOLD me-" n TRATEsTH OF
POLITIOs lND SOCIETY.

EeDonouEh and Herberts Nsw Piece at
the Casino - A Revival of" A Fsrior
| Match" At the Herald sauare-Tho de-
but OF Aana Heid. Paris Bslisaist
At tho Casino last night. q new entertainment
of the Casino kind was put forth, but It did NOT
| take place In tho series of Casino successes
The play was entitled Tho Gold Bug" The
writers were Glen McDonoueh as TO the words
and Victor Herbert as to the notes. Both
are capable OF excellent theatrical work, as
| proven in previous compositions separately. but
their collaboration has not been effectual. They
| have endeavored to make fun and music
| after tho manner OF THE Merry World "
and I'm Gay New York." but hardly
any OF their nonsense 10 laughable, while
the satirizaton OF politics and society is BY no
| means keen. II 10 easy TO Mr.. Nc
DonouRh's Intentions of wit and humor. and
IL 10 difficult to discern the reasons why 90
few OF them are realised in tho perform
ance. All that can he eaid of them
10 that, somehow or other, what he has meant
for fun 10 not funny as Il comes across the foot
liRhts to an audience. True, the company 10
not nearly 80 clever as those usually employed
at the Casino, and such talent as it possesses
docs not seem TO have been fully utilized. The
stage management 10 lax and uncertain. Never
theless, the play itselfis worthless for any pos
sbe purpose Of amusement Several OF Mr..
Herberts tunes are good. but they are lost In
Its general failure.
Tho curtain did not rice until 0 o'clock. An
apologist who camo before the curtain ascribed
the delay to a noh-arrival OF eomo costumes
There were two acts In the piece, with 20 minutes
OF interrnission between them. and yet the pieoo
curtain fell Q little after IL. Tho perform
ance was not prolonged by many oncores, 40 tho
audience became apathctic early, and even the
hna afa ~ ali ,t.h.
silence, while hundreds departed before tho
representation was over.
Under the circumstances It 10 not worth while
to 20 into particulars OF " The Gold Bugs sub
ject matter. The action is placed in washing-
ton: There 10 a Secretary OF the Treasury as a
seekers, Indians from a reservation, sailors on |
SsSs,c eGnEd snor. wsr Tha Tihsp ana girls deyS,cd
the muscniar maidens pre.tiiy and spiritedly.
but. but everything yt and everybody soon be-
story about the NaSa, 'nseasSPy seeretSpy be,ns
q renegade Indian chief, and the last Incoherent
hands Of his tribe. There are many dlscon.
neoted bits of travesty and farcicality. which,
and no doubt the repeilent temper o, Last niEbt's
audience tended to discourage tho persons on
The stage; S t but after making ali such allowance.
sGHE ) He''' impossible to think we'll of Tho Gold
The happy reunion of Messrs. Evans and
doey. which was realized last night at the
Herald Square Theatre, 10 something for which
heareRoers have every reason to be grateful.
dr. Hoey is \ clever comedian, and Mr. Evans,
ince the days OF their first association, has
howcd himself . most capable buffer" be-
ween the public and William Hoey's eccentric
un. II no were merely variety actor he would
70 called "a feeder" and he succeeds in max
HOAy'a human ,1> /
hat he is particularly capable actor
4 his kind. The two comedians camo to-
ether last night in the presence of an
udience which was inclined toward them, not |
My with the spirit Of gratitude at their reap
earance. but with frendliness toward a thea
re that has succeeded in providing during its
hort career an unusually successful sue
ession Of plays. "A Parlor Match"
ne Of Charles Hoyts earlier plays and
heir regulations presented them again together.
Is merits have been made known through sea.
amor IN o william tl%s the aosv nssoss
1aae Ss a,sa3sn.. pSpass saro9ShoHs tho country
. value at tho came time. and Minnie
reneh during these years. was an active repre-
Ght with his old unction; Mr.. Cram was Al !
nys ssnch hi. .,n,1 n%SIs and ready foil and Mis-.
ad 70 the success. Of these antics. There
nd been made obvious efforts to bring the
'ss' NOT xssas sss ,sss os
its .c,ora that II seemed to belong ,
period .se.pes ,ei' ,Ss hot j1.s the
,od,f OF ana STa1s pny' Of ,h. kind
am Hoey "A Parior Match" seemed somewbat
ss emusinE than It used TO be. Why should !
trough a telephone and then take the glass =
1T OF tn" box Mr.. Dixey used to do this ten =
BARS ago. :
Much had been said here about Anna Held {
ho sang In the second act and was presented
J one of the chief features OF the play. Un- I
the piece needed feature. Mile. p
eld. unluckily. came up to some of the pre.
minary promises about her. It was gen.
ally known that she was one of the
Aris cafe chantdnt singers who had succeeded
attracting attention through her looks chiefly \
her photographs revealed them. But she "
ust be good subject for the camera She is j
no sense of the word q beauty. and proved to r
y In fact, rather abnormally gifted with g
small body and an unusually largo head. II
10 has fine eye, but q crook nose 4
d figure too diminutivo in its proportions to Il
y tSs ali the fronsS ma.e ''fa hall 's slnsars ,as
Quality She ssns Sa1i'utS two OF ,onr. any
i, the the -, conventional music hall Type type
en-. But tho audience found nothing about
r that half dozen women have not ALREADY |
own on our music hall stage. One OF her OF
nss, as,r. addressed to % a msmber Of the, or. II
ars ago by Marie vanoni that her own ~. ~,
* Of effectiveness sadly recalled thai al
,ver singer. In song, I've Funny Little v
ay." she wriRgled her shoulders and nbdo. tn
On after tho familiar manner Of the various W
Itimas and Sulikas who have beon trying 10 bi
tisfy the local demand for the ddnse dl psntTs IN
lat was tho first Indication Of feeling or intel
enee that any Of her songs had given But in tu
ese reapscts she was Far behind FouRkra VI
Ilti, Maya. or any of the women who hayo kI
,snitiy ,sin been engaged in exploiting French
r with Yvette Guilbert is an absurdity. She
pleasant young person who might readily
accepted on long vaudeville programme ar
u even there she would never be called a er
auty. N W,
a.