Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-03-24
THE WIZARD OF THE NILE Satur-
day, March Goth.

From the moment that the curtaI II
rises on the first act the auditor is lifted
out of himself and away from his every
day vexations and transported back
about three thousand years, and set
down in Egypt where he is introduced
| to Cleopatra while she was yet kIttenish
and young and innocent. This in itself
| is enough TO win the favor of any audi
ence of the present time. But in addl-
ton TO this vagabond magician Is in
| troduced whose ups and downs Of for
! tune are 50 numerous and so comlcal,
and they are NOR cover so ingeniOusly
| connected with the king and his spouse,
with the royal weather prophet the
| royal music teacher, and the mischie-
vous apprentice to the magician, that
one never wanders in attention from
| the story that is being enacted. And
| the music is such delightful sauce to
the toothsome dish If Mr. Herbert
| should never write another opera his
| fame would be secure by virtue of this
| capitat work. He has by his songs,
duets, quintettes, choruses and ensem-
| bles, given the grea test piquancy to the
| scenes in the land of obelisks and
1 sphinxes, and surrounded the principal
characters and the dancing girls,
amazons, pages, etc, with a color in
melody that may not be exeelled.
| In another direction Manager La
| Shelle has labcred equally as effective
| ly He has brought to realization the
| authors scheme of scenic effect and
| thereby enabled the public TO see in
| fact three very beautiful stage sets, each
| representing a scene IN ancient Egypt
with all It's queer hieroglyphic mark
| ings, its massive stone images, arches
| and impressive architecture. He has
costumed the numerous groups and the
| Individual characters in that strange
| style of dress which the scientists agree
was the mode in the land of the Phar-
| oahs. And he has engaged to imperson-
ate Mr.. Smith characters and to inter
pret Mr.. Herbert's music as clever a
| company as skill and capital could dis
| cover. There are over fifty people en-
! gagged in the presentation end every one
has zen carefully chosen.
| GRIMES CELLAR DOOR TUESDAY,
MARCH 20, 1898.
| J. B. Mackie is supported by a first
class company of artists-Grimes' Gel
| lar Door Is very, very funny-well L
should say it was. You don't want to
| miss it.
| FRANCIS WILSON AT r IE AVENUE.
What must be regarded as the most
| important event of the season, from
all points Of view, will occur at the
| Avenue Theatre next week, commenc-
ing Monday night, when the famous
| comedian, Francis Wilson, and his
great comic opera company, will ap-
| pear in the successful work, Half a
| King. Considerable surprise has been
| expressed at Mr.. Wilson's apl 1earance
at the Avenue theater instead O. at the
Alvin, but it is easily explained by the
statement that Mr.. Wilson is opposed
to the Theatrical Trust which con
trolls the Alvin Theatar, and he has
constantly and persistently declined tc
do business with that organization un-
der any circumstances. His appear
ence at the Avenue Theater will not
lessen interest IN the event, however.
There Is no more popular house in the
city than the Avenue Thea ter 1t is
| beautiful In IFS appointments and it is
rs carefully and perfectly conducted as
any house IN the country. It's stage Is
large, roomy and complete, and Mr..
Wilson's great organization, compris-
ing 70 people, together with all his vast
sets of scenery and magnificent draper
les and brio a-bac all of which he
transports from city to city in two i'm
mense baggage cars, will be seen to
unusual good advantage on this stage