The San Francisco call., 1898-05-29

AOl ul1ICS Will Idke plaC6 a1Cer the
 play itself has run for a couple of weeks or more
 If "The Poster could be put on at the Tivoh all fresh to the public, all fla miliar to the performers, a week from tomorrow night, with the experience the company and the authors have now. of its few deficiencies and it's many good qualities, what an interesting first night it would be. Unfortunately, two weeks more of rehearsals could not do what two weeks of public performances would. But in this "The Poster" is only in line with the disappointments of the rest of the world, and Is handi- capped just as we all are by the ab- surd provision which makes experi- ence. sound judgment and wisdom-ar- tistic and otherwise-come at the wrong end of ones life.
 In the land of Ought-to-be the mu- sic of "The Poster" would not have had all the sparkle and go taken out of it by having been sung in key two notes lower than it was written. In that same delightful place the boast you hear at the Tivoli that The Pos ter'' is over nowadays by Il o'clock could have been made the hrst night; instead we were all afflicted with shuddering consciousness that after Il last Monday the curtain was just coming down on that effective finale of the second act. In that same Utopian country the exuberance of the com pany would have been chastened. Its members would not have been so TivoH, So to speak
 San Francisco has yet to chronicle a failure at the Tivoli The author and the composer whose first effort IS pro- duced at this house has the absolute certainty of that first, best gift to tal- ent-a good hearing. The TlvoIlS rep utatiOn is such that no matter now novel no matter how untrfed an eX- pertinent it make in the way of enter tainment. it may count upon the conh- dence and the dollars of the public. All of this 1t deserves, for there isn't a theater in town that has done more to make and to keep a reputation. But if the new author is to be cOngratulat- ed in reaping the benefit of this well esta blished reputation, he is also to be condoled with. A good hearing his play shall have. good setting, too. It shall be presented by a company that aver ages-cOnsidering the scale of prices at this hOuSe-Very well. But his music shall be sung, his words shall be spo- ken, his play shall be acted-not as he,
 
 terpreters, decree. And the decree of the Tivon company, with very few eX- captions, is that "The Poster" or what ever 1t may be so fortunate and so un- fortunate to be, shall be presented in precisely the same way that any other comic opera or operatic comedy or mu- sical burlesque that has the good luck and the perverse fate to fall into their musical clutches would be. There is but one way, is their creed, and that way is the Tivoli way.
 The result of this comic opera pater- nalism is that of all beneficent despot- Isms, political or artistic. It works very well with the ordinary subject. It Is fun for the average, but death to the exception. Any production at the Tiv- oil will have the benefit of the Tvoli company's good nature-not a small thing this-and its good will. For the usual run of comic operas this is suf- fcient to insure the Tivoli's usual we'll to-do success But when it comes to the odd member of the musical family, when something that is not exactly a farce nor an old fashioned tune-y opera nor an Eastern success nor an oper- atic revival is given to them-they cheerfully pretend 1t is one or the other br all of these things, and with sweet complacency and unWearied good in tention act and sing it exactly as it's maker would not have it sung and acted.
 Of course, this very natural fault Is not peculiar to the Tivoli, but is com mon to the stock companies. of all sorts. The Poster is not marvel of wit nor a dream of melody, but merely novel satirical composition, far too good in these days of dearth of originality to oe allowed to pass unregretted into the limbo of plays which have been produced and are not failures. Be sides 1t holds some ones opportunity. It's novelty, it's unusualness, have sig aificance for the talented actor who has individuality and energy enough to see md to take advantage of it. The suc- cess of the First Born" and of the players who produced it at the Alcazar ay in the fact of it's newness. of Its be- | ng utterly unlike anything else these | lctors and actresses had seen or played | They lacked models. There was noth- | ng to copy from. And so these peo- | ,le. who had done no remarkable work before this, fell back upon their own | brains, upon their own imaginations. | Instead of Wooing success in some one | .lse's old garments, instead Of trying to | deceive fortune by assuming copy or | tome one elses old methods, they | .ound the tide of success swelling at their feet Simply because they had | worked the mine that lay within them, iot the abandoned old claim of some predecessor. Of course, this refers merely to the success of the players themselves '"The Poster" cannot be compared to the First Born," even as things utterly Iissimilar may be measured according Q rank in each class. But it gave the rivoli people the opportunity-a rare ,ne-of original effort, unhampered by ,recedents. And the Tivoli people gay y disregarded the chance, and, all un- conscious of wasted opportunity, gave IS the Tivoli version of "The Poster" Not a bad version; good of it's kind he Tivoli kind, which is quite ones noney's worth, but which presents such antalizing possibilities that one can't .elp wishing 1t were better.
 The thing is that success in stock nrnpany. so well established, so justly ,opuIar as is the Tivoli's, is so easy hat original thinking becomes un-