The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-16
FRANCIS WILSON AGAIN
COMES TO THE GRAND FOR THREE
NIGHTS IN "HALF A KING"
Same Company That Gave the Opera
Here Last SeasOn-NOtes ON
Music and Musicians.

Tomorrow evening Francis Wilson will
begin an engagement of@three nights at
the Grand Opera House in last years
big success Half a King This
will be Mr.. Wilson'S last appearance in
indianapolis in this popular opera
Half a King is beautifully staged There
are two outdoor views of old Paris (the
public garden and the Court of Mir
acles) from the brush of Hoyt, and Mars
ton furnishes a great palace scene for the
second act. The costumes are snowy, rich
and appropriate. Francis Wilson, in the role
of the Mountebank, has ample opportunity
to entertain in his own peculiar style that
finds phenomenal favor with his audience.
Everything from the funny entrance TO the
driving way he intones the topical song
has the most ample development in Half
a King" J. c. Miron, of the basement
notes, has every opportunity to free them
as the irascible duke, and John Brand has
a fine tenor voice for the role OF Duke Tru-
meau Clinton Elder has good presence
and an unusual tenor voice, and Peter Lang
brings dignity into the comedy Of Missigris.
Miss Lulu CHASER is pleasing to the eye and
a charm to the ear in the impersonation
and music of Pierette. She sings, and
QdLSSSg anu SlIlllSS, anu POUbS III AACAAJ
fashion that is very chic and fascinating.
Her voice is gaining in volume, and she
uses it with discretion, her high notes are
now very pure and clear, and the honors of
the evening, unsteady, are hers. Miss Gla-
ser is one of the progressive types of
worthy young stage personages that the
public honors. In Half a King Mr. Will
son has found as comfortable a vehicle as
THE Merry Monarch" which it resembles
in style but not in substance. 1t is just the
sort of piece in which Mr.. Wilson revels and
in which the public likes him. He plays
harmless vagabond very like the disrepu-
table character in "Erminie," which Mr..
Wilson used to interpret with such success.
The mountebank, Tireschappe in Half
King succeeds in passing himself on as
duke, and his pretty adopted daughter,
who is really an aristocrat, thereby becomes
engaged to a young sprig of the nobility,
whose heart she had won previously in her
humble capacity. The adventures Of the
mountebank in aristocratic circles are I'M
mensely amusing, and an effective climax
is provided in the second act by ms adopted
daughters resolve to terminate the lmpoS-
ture She wins her lover, nevertheless, her
noble birth is established and. of course, all
ends merrily with wedding bells. The story
is quite strong enough for comic opera, and
Harry B. Smith has adapted the libretto
brightly from the French. Ludwig England
er's music is charming. 1t is the smooth
music which never cffends and often capti-
Yates the ear. The company, numbering
sixty people, will arrive from Chicago this
afternoon The two weeks engagement
there was very successful, the largest Mr..
Wilson has had there in years. There will
be no matinee here, the opera being given
for three nights only.
Miss Margaret Reid is a Kentucky girl.
Her first appearance on any opera stage
was made in the Metropolitan Opera House
in the spring of 1892 when she sang Ophelia
in Ambrose Thomas's Hamlet" on two
days notice, Nessrs. Abbey & Grau hav-
ing tired of waiting for Miss Marie Van
Zandt to get ready to sing the role. Miss
/ Reid was not q member of the Metropoll-
tan Company, but she had come over from
Europe on the same steamer with Signor
Vianesi, who was then conductor at the
opera house, and he had heard her sing.
Mr. Grau held up his hands in horror at
the suggestion that this untried young
American girl should make her debut on
the sacred boards of the Metropolitan. No
American singer had ever appeared there
until after the approval of foreign audi
ences had been gained. But Miss Reid per-
suaded him to give her chance, and she
made such good use of it that the opera
was repeated for her a few days after
ward. Miss Reid was then engaged Tor the
next Metropolitan season, but the burning
of the house that summer led to the can
collation. of all contracts.
Miss Reid returned to Europe and has
since sung at Covent Garden for two sea-
sons in the light soprano roles Of Zeriina,
Media and Micaela. At Cannes last Win
ter she made her first appearance as Mar
guerite in Faust" also singing IN
"Mignon, Romeo ct Juliette." "Lohen-
grin" "Tannhauser' and 'Mefstofele."
II'his winter Miss Reid Is making Paris her
headquarters, singing often at Versailles,
where what are called representations
are given no regular company being or
ganized but singers for every perform
ance being engaged separately. In this way
Miss Reid has gained large experience, and
her repertory is constantly being increased
AS it is not unlikely that Miss Reid will
be a member of Mr.. GrauS company at
the Metropolitan Opera House next year,
this gain in repertory will stand her IN good
only about ten days before being per-
formed.-SamueI Swift.
The Century was last night the scene of
sensation of which every American might
well be proud--a demonstration such as
only patriotism can produce. 1t came at
the close of the second act of ''El CAPTAIN
John Philip Sousas very pleasing comic OPP
era Long-legged and lugubrious De Wolf
Hopper had kept the audience in good
humor for nearly two hours-with the very
able assistance, of course, of his diminu-
tive little wife, Edna Wallace-Hopper, and
the other members of the company. The
second act closes with the gathering Of the
Peruvian army preparatory to marching
against the Spaniards. To augment the
noise made by the stage full of singers
and the regular orchestra of the theater. a
brass band marches on the stage and plays
a most inspiriting number, while two great
Peruvian flags wave over the assemblage.
1t was musieafy noisy, and the great audi
ence in the theater liked 1t so we'll that
they called for more. Inc company COM
sight when the curtain went up. De Wolf
Hopper sung, and the chorus and full
strength of the company took up the strain,
and the brass band began. Then came the
sensation. Two beautiful American flags
were borne on the stage instead OF the Pc
ruvian banners that really belonged there.
"A mighty shout arose from the gallery, to
be taken up by the second tier, Immediately
followed by the lower part OF the house
and the boxes. Such cheering was heard
as has never before been heard III the Cen
fury Theater. 1t seemed the demonstra-
ton would never cease. The singers were
not heard, the orchestra was drowned, and
the big brass band on the stage was over
whelmed with the tumult OF enthusiasm.
The man who planned 1t is genius. 1t
was only when the flags were carried on
that the cheering ceased and the opera
could proeeed.-St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
ba bars IF tfHa1f a King