The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-05
THINGS AT THE THEATRE.
"THE oooING DOVE" PERFORMED
BY TEE GERMAN COMPANY.

Actre.,es-Tho Making OF Plays from Novoia
-Tno wicked theatrical trust Gets n Dread-
mi Biow from The Criterion Rerormers.
The comic opera season at the Irving Place
Theatre commenced last night with tho pro-
duction Of q now operetta and tho introduction
of q new singer TO New York audiences. julio
Kopacsi is the name. The title OF tho opera
does not mako any particular difference.
Kopaczi Is o Hungarian singer, who has made
a reputation for herself In Berlin and Vienna,
and succeeded to the place which was occupied
by nra Palmay until she grew pass6 and
learned English. KopacEi has not learned Eng.
lish, nor has she grown old. She Is now in her
prime. and q charming artist she IL. In New
York, whore comic opera singers make a reputa-
ton either because they have beauty or n voice,
such a woman as she is practically unknown.
They have come here from foreign countries
usually from France-and showed that artistic
and delightful acting was not impossible in comic
opera. But there has not been any of this kind
recently on our stage. So to the generation
that mover know Judic, Aimee, or Theo. Ko-
paczi will be q revelation. She is not beautiful.
She looks, like a youthful Jessie Bartlett Davis.
She 10 a blonde with n elittering row OF white
HSr voice is Vel trained, but not sspecissily
lures Of her personality. But under tho
charm Of her pi9nant, Intelligent. appT,,e:
ClhUlN0 HCtlUk nOUOuy HIN tbuBtlhlly
Of them. Last night she was the courted wife
Of a rustic innkeeper. and during the first act
a, actress was 81 s's sons Gin,s BE PERSONAL sns %ss cS { w .l't Il toof
Sss an sn''s sssop II al s% sssSas ~ Il { hat 's sSs
s a pdsiiaStfally delicate siIR{sst p sad hum SeS%sy' pi Hss
OF acting it was After this scene tho foreign
Unless the comic opera prims donna idea Is too
deeply rooted here, New York audiences will BIO
charmed d BY her art; She Is not : stctuesHus
personality. and she WIN be seen 10 much
which she is still 10 be heard. ''l :"
Last night the o~perettn was "The Cooling
TSund. He must have SSs squeeze squeezed II the sI last drop drop
men Of is kind ha, ever reached New
operotte has come to the end of its career.
The only man who did anything 70 restore
The shock was so great that the authorities put
him INTO prison on some charge or another,
j hfff n nSn VIII WITH his vii iibr PsNisGly W %sSer a GS sHt t faiP
own stupidity to the old conventions OF comic
opera plots. The other new singers last night
years to the task Of learning to sing SO badly.
Nobody could ever have taught her. Jean Felix.
with an Objectionable personality, proved less OF
q nuisance than the ordinary comic opera tenor.
Rudolph Senius was as amusing and artistic
as ever: Manager Conried had done everything
Even THE Cooling Dove could not disguise the
fact that Kopaczi is an artist who is certain to
prove attractive to New York audiences.
have observed in the taste of American
audiences" said an English manager. that tho
women with what Is commonly called Temporal
ment, for the lack Of q better word, are not es.
pecially appreciated il they happen to be of ma
tive birth. In foreigners such a gift Is admired,
and your public likes it immensely in the case
of actresses like Bernhard. Duse. R6jane. or
NathAranla ThAy IL ann,o thrN,,rh thn forat~,
birth Of these actresses something too remote to
be dangerous. and everybody admires 1t without
reservation. But let one Of your own actresses
possess that quality in any abundance. and.
from my experience, l should say that she
success. No American lactress, for instance,
Nine. BernhIardt docs, or, indeed. as olga Neither,
sole does. There are few Americans who would be
sSisr ne er In sol sn ssa' Fs sS9 Y thIs stsSn as %ads Il dld /.
cult fSl for Mrs. l r1Sks to 4 get t to her : pr sen. place placer on n
sns ssns Who nave, SSVe f SSpai P because u aot ssey A haSe toe
muSh.ot that quality which shall again have
gree. She made her reputation in spite Of It. and
not because Of II. But since her earlier
ance Of q certain class Of plays has left no room
for the women who did their most effective
Nowadays it is the quiet. ladylike. well.brsd
young woman who is the popular actress for
American audiences. There is nothing about
makes sudden outbreaks of emotion that ~conjure
the matinee assemblages. nor'will, her feelings
will not do anything more incomprehensible
than represent to the women In The audience
lust Io re sse type or that %a al OF Her them mu sIs ii * est
semble: 50 this is the type # the
1Son tn'i Play which eRt they 10 not ette enjoy. viii ii
is one Of the most certain guarantees Of an
actors success. They like women on the stage Of
Alien All MaraRs ADAMS, Eai n" Shannon n n Georgia Ii
Such actresses are likely to dominate It TO- some
from American life that what they do or what
may be as Intense or as impassioncd as they
want TO, and yet the women will like them be-
cause they happen to be French, italian. or Eng.
lish, and no American woman feels that she
would ever do such things. But when it comes
to your own actresses the matter Is totally diff
ferent. They arc not allowed to take on so.
Since success has come to some Of the plays
made out Of novels curious examples of this kind
of stage writing have come into view. Thomas
Hardy's "Tess" was dramatized by Lorimer
Stoddard. He let 1t be plainly seen that he had
not intended to follow the story closely. But
another fact was that the drama, to persons
having no knOWlouRe Oh mo UOok, WAS skctcny
and incomplete. Mrs. Burnett's "a Lady of
Quality" In the stage version. is n much more
obsequious following of her novel. Indeed,
mere suggestions Of the whole. and o greater
tnslstence on I 9 Significance Of two or three
incidents in Clorinda's career. would make the
Burnett. to judge by her plays, possesses the
dramatic sense In q very small degree, "Esme-
ralda' got all the theatrical elements from Will
liam Gillette. With the assistance of a practiced
stage expert her stories would find certain sue
a nm tha afnna and hnr NUn rnnntntInn na n n
author would not DO injured. The credit of
making mediocre plays unasslstod is not equal
to that of contributing TO a wholly worthy piece
everything but its technical construction. Mrs.
Burnett's works would give Characterization,
story, and dialogue to plays that an expert
enced drametist might make exceptionally
Burnett's adherence to the original form, OF her
fiction that when the original author 10 also the
playwright the construction Is less likely to be
changed. But J. N. Barris's THE Little Min.
lister" can be cited as an effective denial to that
presumption, as his play is very different from
his novel In tho character Of Lady Ba6bie
the play, and the rest of the work has been