Evening star., 1897-01-07
AMUSEMENTS,

Grand Opera SeaSon-NeXt week at the
Lafayette Square Opera House there will
be a brief season of grand opera under
the direction of Mr.. Walter Damrosch
Besides his own German company Mr.
Damrosch will have the aid of some of
the best artists of the Grau Italian troupe
and, in fact, the season will commence
next Thursday night with Gounods g
Faust" with Nine. Melba as Marguerite.
This will be the only night that Melba
will appear, and it will be the only night
remaining operas announced are as fol-
lows: Friday, Die Walkure;" Saturday
nias1 matinee: e:S,o Tannhauser." and Saturday
Gadsky, Eibenschuetz. Powell, Vallmar;
Nessrs. krauss, Msrtens Ernst, Ders-
chuch, kalisch and Fischer. The operas
will be placed on the stage with the same
attention to every detail that characterized
the productions given under Mr. Dam
roschs direction last year, and the orches-
ira Will be the same superb organization
over which he then welded the baton. The
sale OF season tickets is now going on at
the box office of the opera house, and the
sale of single tickets will begin next Mon
day.
Hanlon's "Superba "-"superba" was orig
inally intended to be a pantomime, in
which the silent clown, with gestures and
facial contortions, graphically describes his
wants, and by dumb show performs many
amusing feats, but "Superba" is a panto-
mime no longer. Each year SO much has
been added to 1t In a scenic way that it has
eventuated into spectacle, and notwith-
standing its former pristine loneliness, the
entire summer has been given to recrea ting
it in greater and more elaborate profusion
than ever. All the old scenery has been
discarded and new and more elaborate has
replaced it. There are also clever charac-
ter songs, the newest ballads, dialectic imi-
tatiOQS. graceful hat tic
feats, and comic eccentricities of varied
sorts. The whole Is cemented together with
score or more of very pretty girls, beau
tifully formed and costumed in the latest
end most novel manner. The ballets that
these dancers give are exact reproducti tions
from the latest successes Of the London
Alhambra and the New York Olympia. SO
that one has only to view "Superba to
see all that New York and European cities
are talking about. The famous horse Hal
let, with ringmasters. jockeys and horses
complete the far-famed bull fight, with It's
sensational attributes, its sporting BULL its
brave toreadors and all it's other sensa tonal
aspects; the ballet of statutes and flags.
where, with deft manipulation, each girl
creates cdd and pretty effects by the cir
cling flag. and the pretty duck dance, where
all the pretty human ducks importune the
drake for special attention, command the
most intense interest on the part Of the
auditor. ''Superba'' will be the attrac ton
| at the New National Theater next week,
commencing Monday night and will con-
| tinue each night and have the usual We'd
| nesday and Saturday matinees.
| Albert Chevalier.-AIbert Chevalier's Com
/ pany, that Is announced for next week at
| the Columbia Theater Is to the general
| public what the monthly s. table d'hote Is
| to the clerk on the small salary. He
| boards In a third-rate place. and twenty
| nine days out of the month eats two-third
/ rate meals, but on the thirtieth, in all the
pride of a new scarf, of creased trousers
| and fashionable linen, journeys to the swell
! hotel and, with the air of a nabob, orders
| the meal to suit his taste. 1t comes sell
| dom, but when 1t does come there is COM
| pensa ton for the long wait and for the
| weary succession of corn beef and cab
| bage and badly mashed potatoes. The AL
| tert Chevalier Company is strictly high
| class vaudeville. This fact makes It
nearly as important as the first ap-
| pearance here of the famous coster,
| the little. but exquisitely artistic Chew
| alier. His performance is claimed to
| be the most retired piece of art that
| ever came from the variety stage. His
| character sketches are said to show that
same initiative power and faculty for min-
| ute observation which made Yvette Gull.
bert famous Only the French artistic had
| more tragic note and the world from
| which she selected her characters was one
| that the Englishman and American alike
prefer to ignore. Mr.. Chevalier has thai
in his favor. There is nothing In his songs
which child might not appreciate.
"The Woman in Black.'-"The Woman In
Black" which comes to the Academy next
week, Is a big scenic production. as well
as strong play. One scene-that repre-