The San Francisco call., 1898-04-10
naua0UUUUn
 AN APPRECIATION OF THE MELODRAMA AND THE ACTING
 AT MOROSCO'S.

The other night I crossed the equator to Morosco's and saw every one of the five acts and the scenes of Hands Across the Sea" It is a representa- tive Adelphi melodrama by Pittit and Sims. ard the performance of 1t was a very decent one. Morosco's is a good place to Visit-not too often, but just now and then of a dull night in 8 dull week. There you find a performance that Is characteristic, acting that is sometimes delightfully."- and memorably bad. and sometimes amazingly good, al most Shakespearean in its resonance and elaboration; and above all you find atmosphere. Moroscos is the one theater in San Francisco that has an atmosphere distinctly it's own, as it Is the one theater that can boast an ab- solute clientele, a special following, which is ever faithful and entirely its own. The Morosco audience shares i'm portance with the Morosco play and actor in making the Morosco atmos- phere. The audience may vary in size, but night by night, week by week, 1t is the same in appearance and in temper, always dependable, ,-neXacting and de termined to be entertained. Even the opposing element, the infinitely smaller crowd that goes to laugh and f1atter its cynicism in being unmoved by ready made sentiment and sensation, is all ways the same, and in it's minority and ineffectualness a very emphasis to the characteristic atmosphere of the house. The people who go seriously to Moros- co.'s know what they want; their de- sires are modest and unchanging; they civ ha o order for life, and the management has the good sense to fill it.
 Think of it! They put on f1fty-two melodramas a year at Morosco's! And all alike! Sometimes I wonder how it is they can keep from getting some thing different. Suppose a play should go on some night and brazenly refuse to employ the dark Aside, the subtle Soliloquy and the Marvellous Coinci- dence; and suppose in addition to this 1t should insolently scorn to portion off the virtue, suffering, comicality and crime in the sacred old way-then what would happen, do you think? But of course there Is no danger and no use thinking. Morosco never trifies with the emotions of his audience. He pre- tends to surprise them and they pre- tend to be surprised, but there is nice understanding between them that is inviolable.
 Everything at Morosco's is on the largest possible scale-the play, the act ing, the theater, all conspire to produce the effect of hugeness. Nothing is done simply that can as well be accomplish ed with elaboration. Nothing, not even the simplest fact, is left unexplained. +C1, ic ha Gta that the deed, not the word, counts in melodrama! I would wager there is more leisurely conversation in the av- craze Adelphi piece than in the draw ing-room polemics of Pinero. If there is one place where action does not speak louder than words, it is in mel odrama, where every deed is forecast by fine speech and commemorated in more of the same. The villain would rob. kill, ruin-must you wait till his dastard work is done before knowing all about it? Never! His gnarled countenance alone would tell the tale, but that is not enough; in ominous tones he plans it over to himself, or, indeed, he may even tell his victim.
 There Is a sort of assistant villain in Hands Across the Sea- French count of mean morals, who breaks into the hero's house, intending no good to the hero's wife, who Is alone and un- protected. Already you have heard him plan to get the hero away from home at this hour, and you know his evil purpose. So, once in the house and face to face with the woman, does he behave as the mere count of smooth everyday humanity would behave? Not on your life. He tells her all about it, too He would tell her his whole grimy past and future as we'll if the hero did not return punctually several hours earlier than he had been ex- Dected, deliver a few verbal knock outs and finally fit the action to the words There Is nothing so prodigious- " careful, confidential and explana- tory as melodrama.
 Taken all round Hands Across the Sea" Is easily the best production l have ever seen at Moroscos. The ex- terior scenes. especially the one of the steamers deck with the moving French man-o'-w9r ol4 in the distance, are fitted to the big stage with fine sense of space, and the acting is remarkably forceful and even. A good scene or two
 
 Morosco's, but this time the acting struck me as a special effort The cast called for twenty-tlree parts, out of which fourteen were important and played in ever instance without dis aster. The stage management, which is usually forgiven because of the lightning change of bill from week to week, was much more prompt and in ventive than usual, and even the or chestra that supplied the descriptive music was moderately subdued and startlingly in tune.
 Altogether it was a performance full of character and rich with good old melOdramatic radition. MT. Mainhall and Miss Hall suffered colds that kept the hero and the heroine from their full powers, but their acting was large amiable and incessant, and never marred by the obvious personal pose. They seemed to work for the play. On