Evening star., 1897-03-16
AMUSEM ENTS.

Columbia Theater.-Mr. Creston Clarke Is
young actor whose family traditions and
personality have since his first appearance
led to the expectation Of good things from
him. Heredity seems frequently to mani
fest itself in connection with the stage,
and Mr.. Clarke undoubtedly has much OF
the charm of personality and the fine artis-
tic sensibility which characterized the
Booths. Last night he offered at the CO.
lumbia a play new to the stage entitled,
The Last of His Race" 1t is an effort to
respond to the present demand for romantic
drama, anc possesses many points of merit.
Plays which showed less Intelligence and
originality have succeeded. for thereason,
perhaps, that trivial undertaking. sue
cessfully carried out, evokes more applause
than a more serious one imperfectly exc
cuted. The public has been taught to
expect a lavish array of situations and
climaxes, and while"The Last OF His Race
provides some very good ones, they are
not sufficiently numerous nor emphatic to
wholly satisfy melodramatic clientele.
1t Is impossible to say what the play will
be when it has undergone the supervision
and reconstruction which has made numer-
Gus attempts far less convincing in their
incipiency than this one, the means of
achieving prosperity and fame. The atti-
tude of the audience toward the star and
the performance was highly encoura ging
The curtain was lifted several times at the
close of the third act in response to the
applause. Mr.. Clarke's histrionic tempera-
Elent is fiji e. hgh-strung and exceedingly
gentle. His impersonations are always
poetic. In this play he enacts tn. role of
a struggling artist who has been cheated
cut of an inheritance. Graceful as he was,
there would have been more to evoke popu-
lar enthusiasm had he been less the paint
er and more the cavalier. 1t is a mistake
for the author of a romantic play to leave
hero in distress with a sword at his side
laide Prince made a very attractive her
oine, and Mr.. Albert Grams performance
made the character of the villain pic
turesque and unforgiveable as sympa-
thetic audience could desire. The play is
remarkably well staged.
Lafayette Square Opera House.-The large
audience which gathered at the Lafayette
Square Opera House last night attested in
an emphatic way that the homely and hon
est ana pure in the drama still hold their
own in"the affections of the public despite
the innovations in the way of stage sensa-
tions. musical skts and the too-frequently
morbid delineations of modern life that
have sought to displace them. There were
probably few in the audience who had not
seen The Old Homestead" before, but ia
miliarity did not seem to dull tn, pleasure
with which these enjoyed the presentation
last night. Smiles and tears followed each
other as the quaint hunor and the pure
pathos with which the play is repleie. al
ternated and altogether the performance
appreciated. Archie Boyd as Joshua Whit
comb gave an excellent Interpretation cf
'the character Denman Thompson has made
so famous. and centered the approval of
the audience from the rise to the fall of
the curtain. Fred Glare as Happy Jack
Hazard; Marie Kimball as Aunt Matilda ::
Chas. Clark as Seth Perkins and Will
Cressy as Cy Prince gave excellent delinea-
tons of those well-drawn characters. The
singing of the double quartet was very
good. this being especially the case in the
church scene of the third act where The
Palms Service was rendered with fine
effect, the solo being particularly well taken
by r. E. Rose.
The National Theater.-It is said that the
writing of plays runs in the Morton family
of which Mr.. Michael Morton, who wrote
Miss Francis of Yale. is member, and
1t is fair to say that this one at the Ma
tional is a very fair sample, although not
the most coherent and cohesive comedy
that might be produced. 1t is reminiscent
of ''Charley's Aunt, and while it is not at
all ugly in tone. it at times comes perilous-
ly near being entirely unproducible. Just
how that graduation of moral-tone quality
is presented must be seen to be appreciated
Suffice it that there were many situations
last night when the audience hung in sus-
pense over the danger line, yet the skill of
The players saved everybody. And that
sort of thing is really more interesting
than II II were not. The true value of Mr.
Morton's play is that its after effects are in
nowise harmful, though 1t cannot be said,
with exactness, to be wholesome fun. The
leading character is Mr.. Etienne Girardot's s
Frank Stayner, who impersonates Miss
Francis of Yale, and by SO doing gets every
body else into trouble. Miss Francis is Mr.
Girardot's "Charley's Aunt in another
form, and is good. Miss Zenaide Williams
as the sweetheart of Fred Anderson (Rich-
ard BennetU. is an attractive player, and
her adviser, Miss Mann Sarah McVicker).
is one of the strong characters of the play
Gone with strength. T.. j. Mack is a useful
aid amusing butler and Mr. Harry Keane
is to be complimented upon quality rare
ly possessed by actors, to wit, the sense
10 see when anything happens to be in the
way of the players on the stage and to re-
move 1t. whether it be a chair fallen over
or hat or a flower fallen off. In this re-
slect the average player seems to lose his
wits if anything occurs which the stage
manager has not set down in his book
sweet little player was Gertrude Homan as
Edna, better, even than the Vista of the
play, and a handsome one was Miss La
vibia Shannon. whose laugh was so infec-
tious that the entire audience joined. and
who richly deserved the applause she
ceived for her work. The best acting
among the women and not eXcelled by any
of the men was the French maid Cosette, as
done by Miss Idalene Cotton. The audience
received the performance with distinctive
approval, and the house was full of people.
Academy of Music.-"The Land of the
Living ought to have a good run at the
Academy OF MUSIC tniS week. w nile the
audience that Witnessed it last night was
not an unusually large one, Ii was full of
enthusiasm and praise for the play and
company which presented It, While the
company all around is a good one special
mention is due Frank Carringtcn, the lead
ing man, and Miss Neva Harrison. who
took the part of Meg the wife of "Reu-
ben Tredgold,' the villain of the play.
These two were frequently applauded at
intervals in the play and We're forced to
respond by appearing before the curtain.
Little Miss Marie Jansen. the juvenile of
the play, made herself popular with the
audience. Lola Mor.sse sang and danced
in an attractive manner. AS winsome
maiden and boot black she was equal
ly at ease. Geo. u. Macintyre, as the VIII
lain. knew what was necessary in his work,
al did his part well. Elanora Brodhay
as the faithful wife. notwithsta nding years
of poverty, misery and doubt, won the good
will of the audience. Without mentioning
the whole company, 1t may be said tnat 1t
Is an well ordered one. The scenery Is fine
scene In London, In which the famous
tower is shown, good. An explosion
scene was xceedinsly realistic.
Kcrnans Lyceum Theater.-AN the first
nignters declared last night that the show
at kernan's was the best of the season. 1t
is the Irwin brothers combina ton, and IL
Is their reputation that the best enter
n n nfrt Otf IN Inc t,V tr