The sun., 1897-11-16
NEW pLAYSoF YESTERDAY.
FoUR DIVERSE COMPOSITIONS By
AMERICAN AUTHORS.

Miss Fitzwell," new farce by II. A. Du Souchet.
The character which she nominally assumed |
was that OF jealous wife. but In fact and all |
the while she was her own unctuously 1ovial |
sclf, cracking jokes as though they were
original and impromptu, singing ballads with
intuitively comic expression, and making all
her work seem so much like play that 1t was
hard to believe that she did not enjoy 1t as
keenly as the audience did. She stood for tho
American wife of an impecunious French
Count, whom she undertook to support
as dressmaker under an assumed name.
The husband at the same time went secretly into
business as manufacturer Of toilet propara-
tions, and, In order to get testimonial from
disreputab!e actress for the efficacy Of his
face powder, he gave her diamond neck
lace. Tho wifo learned Of tho gift, but not
OF its real purport, and. believing that
sho deserved divorce, sent a woman to Da-
kota to impersonate her in the legal proceed
ings. When the misunderstanding had lasted
long enough for tho purposes OF the play 1t
was readily explained away. and the couple
were left happy. In dramatic sense, of course,
nothing at all had happened; and even
considered merely Us n farce the play had been
scant in incident. There had been great deal
OF pother about things that were promised to
occur. but did not, or that occurred off tho
piece cannot be praised highly. Its best merit
most mos OF Which, which was Sa coloqWa . ""' u - ~ '
But Miss Irwin was seen and heard most of
the evening. and that was what the audience
able asscmblage too, and It delgned to be enthu:;
siastic. But the entertainmcnt had to depend
ing Of songs. They were numerous and chiefly
negro. Their themes included bad negroes Of
various types, as usual with the Irwin dit
ties; but several ballads were sentimental, and
these latter were given with careful attention
nd f Zee, dhs play was really At
as we'll as the authors supply Of complica.
tions. and tho third act was simply a moonlit
the principal actress in. Eight Of these compan-
ions were young women who had good looks
tion. Eight others were comedians whom even
ing dress graced pretty well. It seemed as
With an eye to making up e prssontabe social
party. and they did It satisfactorily. They
acted With r. her & as advantaseonsiy @ as the % ma,
with her helpfully in the choruses; However
the success Of the occasion lay almost alto
ality and her cleverncss in singing negro allads.
There was one valuable lesson to be learned
at the Casino last night when 1900" had
its first performance in New York. Lii
brettsts should never fail to put on tho
programme tho number of acts into which
their lbrettos are divided. Herman Lee
Ensign neglected this precaution last night
and after the second act the entire audience, ex
ccpting few persons who were in the secret
rose to leave the house. The situation was
| growing critical when two or three agile ushers
darted into the thick Of the retreating crowd
| and warned them that another act was to fol-
| low. The doorkeeper received the same instruc-
| tions. The result was that some considerable
part of the audience remained for the last act.
| But it was only by accident that they were re-
| strained.
| The librettist OF the new operetta made some
| other mistakes than this one of omission. His
| text was not very sprightly, and the idea Of
| mixing the fanciful customs Of a century hence
| with tho doings of a lot of visitors from Mars
was rather too closely complicated with
| mechanism and invention to give it the right
| atmosphere for comic opera. Indeed, much of
| the humor was childish. and an exodus might
readily have been expected at the end OF the
frst act; but it was avoided. psn improvement
FUN then
piece possessed the eharacteristics Of the
had to bis woli bt st StFks
tsve Kerker who directed the orchestra. kept
| his musicians up to high degree OF enthusiasm.
%pt or are 1 ne nn m & nreyan snSdnrs
of comic opera music. but none Of it was very
exceptional. 1t showed the negative qualities
There Was not great deal for the singers to
do. Hugh Chilvers is an agreeable figure and
Waitznger was as acceptable as usual in her
singing and acting, while Clarisse Agnew
with her that was too strong even for the
Casino. Ferris Hartman Iadded spirit and
to that the rss posse and With that ii,
portuni1ies. popS tie Mathiide Coitrelly in a few few
episodes showed what artistic and I'm.
tGhA aRfr ha 10 nd mi mn rad
the younger women Of her profession. this
thought is rather discouraging Some of the
lines thew had to speak. Their antics frequently
dated from very distant periods of comic opera
about 1900" to suggest that it is ever likely to
see much of this injury. without the possibility
| Of its enduring until the next.
At the Murray Hill last night Tho Magda
lene," a fouract play by Edward NJ. Alfriend
had its first performance. Styled a problem
play, it followed during three acts the suffer
ings of SHINING woman. restoring heI
to happiness in the final act. At first she
was a loyal daughter to a drunken and gaming
father. whom she had for years supported il
his vices. At the beginning of the play she
had fallen into evil ways and, in refusing to
marry man whose suit favored
by her father. the latter forced from hel
confession of her dishonor. In the OLE
mans anger was no sign OF his own responsi
bility for his daughters sin, and she was cas-
off with his curse. The second act found tn,
daughter a step lower in the scale. but unhapp!
among companions who were reckless pleas
ure livers. Here her brother found he
and won her promise to give up he
sinful life. AS she was starting TO
home. word came that her mother was dead
| and in a second scene of this act she was kneel
ing beside her mothers corpse. At this poin
came what was. perhaps. the climax OF tn
plays oyerabundant sombrcness. The father
still unforgiving, and not expecting tina
his daughter would be present, knew her from
her sobbing. All about were friends who ha'
come to participate in the last rites over tn
dead choir boys had sung one hymn and wer
waiting to sing another. ana the clergyma
was on hand. But his advice had n
effect upon the father, who raved an
stormed; and. with sword IN b h@nd, woul
been stayed. The third act ended with tn
cergyman's avowei Of his love for the now re
pentant woman. Then. after his resignation
as pastor had been demanded by his vestryme