The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-03
AFFAIRS OF THE THEATRE.
n NEW BURLEsQUE Ar THE WEBER
q FIELDS MUSIC HALL.

Dtupln,c cd In ..Pou.se C~nre"-Thrce short
Flags Perrormcd Mt tho Empire ny Mr.
aarHent's Papiis-The Venture Of Niardn.
The audiences at Weber & Ficlds's Music
Hall are not critical. nor has II been tho custom
Of the reviewers to cxpend much space In con-
sidorinR the art, or lack OF 1t. in the plays per
formed there. The now one produced last night,
"Pousse Cafe. would hardly bear a close exam
: nation on it's intrinsic merits. but 1t amused the
consonial ~assemblage greatly, and, with such
amendments and improvements as seemed
feasible. Il will probably serve its purpose wei.
The authors are Edgar Smith and Louis DO
Large, and tho music. mostly paraphrases. Is
accredited to John Strombcrg. Tho piece 10
made up considerably OF burlesqucs OF recent
plays. Tho principal ones thus assailod are
"The Little Minister" and. Tho First Born"
and q good deal Of easily appreciate fun smade
OF the Scotch and Chinese characters. The
salient points nro enforced with much violence
and little subtlety in tho main, but Charles j.
Ross IL really artistic In his limitations OF tho
two heroes. and Mabel Fenton gives an excel
lent exaggorhtion OF Miss Buckley rs the
Chinese slave girl.
Tho stock company at this theatre is composed
Of prime favorites, who are received with ac-
claim on first nights. and this time they were oil
favored In that way. At the end OF the per-
formance they were fairly smothered with
SVStot eha thS hohsAho ~"
cloec to midnight. Tho comic mon had tasks
quite within their lines. and tho women. In
various changes OF clothes. sometimes with
hardly any clothes OF all, danced and sang in
their accustomed fashion.
The music halls proprietors were in suf-
6ciently familiar Ruises to DO unmistakablc,
but their dolngs were more than ordinarily diff
ferent from their former specialties. With
Sam Bernard they had q very comical in
vtn- Ma1oHa yNahnr and Etol1a CnnQtttnt-
ing a syndicate and Bernard standing as
an inventor in whose enterprises the others were
TO invest. Negotiations had progressed to the
point where discussion OF q formally worded
contract was had. The perversions of legal
terms that the syndicate members effected In
S Shidle 9 bein 20 in D' the invol 1ns German dialect
common to the trio. were highly lauEha6le. The
ons.sias 81 5 sheif the ssT inHeS9ar w Tns s SsfGalshinfHI lily
was pleased even when it was provided that, in
= case the invention were taken across the seas,
Musical numbers were not so plentiful as in
roiiickins and IL sdeotiye song. THE seif.Madc
the accents tGn som OF an IN EE SElHi:sh DUDE f %r'e cE MEies f.
Rose. was a surprise. DISGUISED with blond
DALEY Sn% who %V Wss a Sa; ade sG hiEin 1877 ag rs',f and
whose, performers stood behind him In q. row
and changed Son, t n he eT rsm y for mach ssSs of nu his
hers was especially striking.
Two brand new,piays and one that had not
been used in this country before were per-
formed by students Of the American Academy
Of the Dramatic Arts yesterday afternoon at the
Empire Theatre. These exhibitions of freshly
trained and as yet inexperienced talent are
rendered interesting by the use of unfamiliar
matter. Mr.. Sargent thus s%hrewdly saves his
pupils from comparison with professional
actors in the same roles. but besides serving
that purpose, his plan establishes an indie.
pendent theatre" without false pretensions or
insolent foolishness. 1t was true Of the ten per-
sons who had parts yesterday, moreover. that
hardly one Of them was not fit to go at once
into regular employment on the stage, while
some were 30 apt and proficient as TO render
them reasonably sure Of future distinction.
Addie Keim was q positively beautiful girl,
who played an ingenious role with unartlfcial
charm and piquancy. George Irving was her
equally easy and naturalscompanion In a brief
comedy. Roy Pigeon bore himself gallantly,
and spoke well, as a gallant lover in q pic
turesque character. and Margaret Kenmare
was his commendable sweetheart. Ida Clarke.
Florence Haverleigh, and l.. b. Carleton were
really. admirable in a p%antomimc. Others who
were Francis sedgewies. Frank Gretchell.
The irst piece acted was Apples of Eden."
Q half hour episode Of ~royalist and roundhead
the king cajoied her Puritan wooer to turn
traitor to his cause for love Of her, and then she
. fasFf hSa Srits ten t SHf too 70 %or rim; b ssu With M mnoS
dramatic instinct and with an excellent
' eomsay b Tes second in % 0hH was a y rRnin f eIEgSs and q
his bride were storm-bound at a country
inn on their honeymoon journey. and had
fSsO FATHER q Clever Sae Work Of W: '? i. Wakes. and and
was played very %prettily. with no cETndity or
steEdam," a Pantomino written BY Edwi Star
Belknap, and set to music by Harvey Worth.
comedy was astonishingly fine and effective.
1t is clear that facial expression and movement
school. me The stor sFG THAI ssq the action Ii M told s %as shas
. girl was coerced by her impoverished parents
70 wed a rich b~urgomaster; and that her own
by impersonating the other man at the signing
OF the marriage contract. The piece mad been
modern naturalness. with an abstinence from
the old-style arbitrary symbols, and with a
made it quite as inteiiisi6ie as though the actors
had uttered the words which they had com-
nesianl t9 TR %is% %as r ss { s said ie 70 Sa aae,r ssPsechlesS
Alexandra viarda is to change her pro-
'Rramme next week. and she promises that we
shall SEQ her before she quits the Fifth Avenue
In "Modea." Leah the Forsaken. - Camille. -
"Frou.Frou," and Mary Stuart" Tho &C.
tICbo 8 uluhukCEb boy lhaI u wa III On puOu-
day night and that two physicians behind the
scenes were only able with constant effort to
keep her in condition to continue the play.
The selection of yoss's Alexandra" as the
piece in which to introduce herself here was a
mistake. which she has recognized. but 1t is one
which any foreigner might readily have made.
alexandra" is dear to the heart OF German
emotional actresses. They are all more or less
violently addicted to it. Tho sentimentality
of " appeals as well to German audiences. and
the play to-day holds its own in the repertoire
of the German theatres. 1t was acted first in
1886 at Leipsic. and. with Der Mohr dee
Czaren," sticks to the stage more persistently
than any of Voss's other dramas. not except
ing "Schuldig." which Is a powerful study OF
modern life. unrelievedly gloomy in character
and p~essimistic in tone. 1t was written sew
eral years after Alexandra" but there is hall
. century's difference In the point of view OF
fha Iwo wnrka To narsnna yyho knaxu q A Law