Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-20
AMUsEMEKTs.

| NATIONAL THEATER.-Wilton Lack
aye begins an engagement at the New Ma
tional Theater next Monday night. when
| he VIII present new play. entitled THE
| Royal Secret" The play is a romantic
| comedy drama. In this play Mr.. Lackaye
will have the advantage of an attractive
makeup He will not be seen as he was
| last season in a part which hid his hand
some face behind a mask of makeup.
| hideous but effective, but will appear in
| all the silks and satins Of court dress.
This Is his second season as a star and at
| the head Of his own company.
| MI Lackayes appearance will be notable
| a strong. well-selected company and a play
| that Is said to be strong and dramatic aid
| produced upon the highest plane of scenic
| art.
AS the title suggests, the play belongs to
! a period In history which Is full OF dram
attic incidents. The scenes are laid in the
| reign OF King Lonis XIV of France rm,dst
the conflicting affairs of state. This period
| in French history has been thought the
| most picturesque to draw from for the
| making OF a romantic drama, and F. D.
Reinau and w. 7. Price have endeavored
| TO contribute to their work a strong at
mosphere of romance. Incidents in the
reign of Louis XIV. it will he found, have
| merely suggested the happenings Of the
play, and they have dwelled largely upon
their own fertility OF imagination for what
powerful dramatic effects they have pro-
duced Mr.. Lackaye will appear in the
I character OF Mandory. an actor. who is in
| love with his leading actress, Armande.
Inc king Is enamored Vt her. and Mando-
rvs devotion to her results in his becoming
| involved In trouble. Counter plots draw
Mandory into other matters and for n
| time he does not escape from the intriyues
| III which he has become involved. The
piece Is styled a romantic comedy because
tnere are opportunities for the comedian
OF the company to make himself conspicu-
Gus and scenes that provoke laughter.
| Inc company in support of the star num-
oers many who are well known in this
CITY. Edmund Collier. the leading man Of
the organization. has been Il star himself,
! ana was strong second to the late .!ohn
McCulough; James O. Borrows is a comed-
| IAN who has been with the Frohman COM
pany Tor some years, and was in the stock
| company at the Columbia last summer
while Fanny Mcintyre, the leading lady, is
popular and well known in this CITY for the
sooa work she las done here in other COM
paiheS' Alice Evans was the "Bossy'' in
"A IeXas Steer and has done much eff
Iectlve work in Hoyt's other plays. while
| brlt!a Griffin is new stage beauty 9th
| ers IN the company are Ralph Lewis Geo
Donald. Alexander Maurice. John Lancas.
Ter, Russell Wayler, Edwin Wallace. Edwin
Maurice and r. c. Chamberlain.
| COLUMBIA NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. No.
,ier already famous production of Gym
oenne Is to be given its second presenta-
t I'm III washington at the Columbia Thea
*, L.
IONS are that the distinguished actress
VIII be given warm welcome Cymheline
10 10 De a veritable panorama of attractive
S mo ieailstlc pictures, and in the course Of
nse acts no less than fourteen different
scenes are shown. some of which are said
~ nc perfect gems of stage setting The
s u;sh mes ana properties will be in keeping
10 make Cymbeline a most brilliant an5
engaging spectacle anu
THE ACADE.1y ar, ..,,e
envy oilers next week the sensational meIo-
81 anna IN the Name of the Gar" Press
reports OIL this attraction are mite fa.ter
us rro,, noth as a meritorious play and as a
production Each act contains a sensa-
,lonal scenic feature. among which might
De mentioned the rock-bound coast of Rus
sia near Cronstadt, revolving scene of the
Ga,e,,, ana exterior Of the fortress of
Schiusselburg, the fight in the belfry of St
Nlcholas, the grand masked ball of St Pc
lersours, the nihiliSts' den on the N.ya
the time lock and others
The play deals with the troubles existing
between the high and low-born of Russia
at the present time. 1t tells the story of a
young lieutenant in the Russian army who
had formerly been educated at Yale, where
he formed the friendship of a wealthy
young New Yorker. The young lieutenant
! is harassed by. vilIainous relatives, both
on account of his property and the girl he
loves, and the siege of determination fol-
lows him through the entire play. But
through the gallant efforts Of the young
American he thwarts their schemes, MAX
ing perilous leaps and hairbreadth escapes
until finally he finds himself sentenced to
Siberia, when, at the last moment TIE
young American appears upon the scene,
armed with a pardon I'm the Name of the
Gar" Throughout the play a vein
of comedy, interspersed here and there
with an appropriate specially. The cast in
cludes Lettie Allen, Fred. Montague, Jas.
r. Mccain, Jerry keenan,, Lizzie Kendall,
Lillian AmeS and Gus Bruno
GRAND OPERA HOUSE.-The attrac-
ton announced for next week at the Grand
is that highly prosperous play. "on the
Davis and William I. Keogh, and which
may be said to have matter to interest
every class of theatergoer. The fun is all
the more successful for the truth at the
bottom of it. 1t IS true to life. yet extrava-
CANT, like SO much of the humor of the
comic papers. But ION the Bowery' does
not end with it's comedy element 1t has
sensation galore. 1t has its love story, it's
crimes. it's plots its dangers, its rescues
and all the constituents Of the approved
melodrama of life in great city. The es-
CT pc of the hero through the window, the
capture of the old countryman by the blum
dering officer, the check given to the
hero's pursuers by Chuck Connors in the
latter's saloon, the throwing of the deceived
girl into the East river, the leap of Chuck
Connors from the Brooklyn bridge to save
her, the dodge by which the farmer throws
the police off the track, the fire the pier
anu tHe second rescue Dy COnnOrS are all
strikingly effective matters to the ordinary
theatergoer.
Interesting as these things are in them
selves, they are made the more so by their
picturesqueness. That this picturesaueness
should be fully brought out its managers
have given ION the Bowery" most elab-
crate and expensive scenic equipment. The
localities such as to give the scene
painters rare opportunities for reality
Notably is this true of the scene of the
third act. Here is given the most satisfac-
tory representation of Brooklyn bridge
that has ever been put upon the stage
The magnitude and compexity of this
triumph of engineering on a vast scale are
now properly shown for the first time in a
theater. Chuck Connors jumps from the
bridge to the life of a woman who is
the only witness of a crime of which the