Evening star., 1897-07-27
ANTSEMENTS.

New National Theater.-The New Nation
al Theater was opened last night to pre-
sent Mr. Fred Bonds Summer Stock Com
pany That so large audience was pres
ent considering the drizZling rain was GER
tainly high tribute to Mr.. Bonds person
al popularity. That he, and not his COM
pany was the chief attraction that induced
the attendance was evidenced by the re-
ception given to Mr.. Arbuckle when he
made his first appearance, for his resem-
blance to Mr.. Bond is SO striking that he
was twice mistaken for the star. The
members of the company with the excep-
ton of Maud Haslam and Maud Allen
were unknown to Washington playgoers,
yet Mr.. Arbuckle and Miss Helen Reimer
both became prime favorites before the
evening was over, the former as the Jealous
and excitable Mr.. Merry and the latter as
typical mother-in-law of Mr.. GraySon
The play, as announced, was Where Are
We At?'' but as it unfolded it was rec
ogniZed an old English farce comedy
ertitIed Tragedy" which has been played
under the titles of AN Awful Affair and
His Little Game. 1t was seen here two
years ago at the National Theater with
Chas. Bowser as the tragedian and Chas.
Coote as Gregory Grayson, the latter char
acter being played last night by Francis
Kingdom. whose name, by the way, was not
on the bill Mr.. Bond could have selected
character in which he would have been
much mere acceptable than John Philip
Macready Burbage, although the audience
last night disposed to be pleased and
kindly laughed at and applauded his good
bits of work. Besides those of the company
already mentioned, Mr.. Courtenay was eff
| fective the detective, for he played 1t
seriously. and Adolph Klauber made a
| strong part of the old law clerk Parcher.
| Miss Haslam did some good work as Mrs.
Merry, although the part was not caIcu-
| lated to show her to the best advantage;
and Maud Allen and Louis Bishop Hall, in
| two minor characters. were both clever.
| Those who did not see the play when it
| be pleased with the present company, but
| those to whom Where Are We At?' is not
| rev will naturally make comparisons not
| always favorable to Mr. Bonds force.
| There Is fun enough In the piece, particu-
/ larly in the two last acts, and the compli-
| cations are extremely ludcrous, but Mr.
Bond and his people don't seem to get all
| there is out Of 1t.
GLEN ECHO.-The attendance at Glen
| Echo last night was affected by the threat
| ening weather, but there was large
enough crowd on hand when the perform
ance in the amphitheater began to justify
the performers in doing their level best
| The Fadettes. of course, were the leading
| attraction, and their playing scored again
as a most popular hit. Among the spe-
cial features or turns may be mentioned
Van Leer and Barton in black face
sketch that made enough fun for the au-
dience to last all the evening. Baker and
| Randall in an Irish sketch that was above
the ordinary run of such work; Emma
Francis, a neat and pretty acrobatie
dancer. who introduced some new anG
difficult feats; Caswell Arnold the Brown
ings and others. Altogether Manager Mid
dieton is to be congratulated on his Sc
lection of talent for the present " eek. The
grounds still continue to attract large
crowds of people. The reputation of tn,
place for scenic beauty has led many t.
make the trip on trial, and those who hav,
/ a has hoe Tod no,
at some time or other to renew their ac
| Quaiutance.