The San Francisco call., 1898-05-10

exquisite little artist. It Is pantomime shorn of it's buffoonery. of its exagger- tea ta aeion IT is one uf finds @ himself trying to fit words to this poetry or act ing and one gives it uo in despair at length; despair of imagining sentences that shall not weigh upon the wings ana drag down this butterfly of art. this ln- tangible. tragic, poetic thing that IS Pnar- Mor1n in pantomime.
 Words really are unnecessary. mere IS but one accompaniment that could do anything but spoil it and that is music Lachaumes overture is the melod1eo yer nese Empress whom the law doomed to self-infiicted death when her. lord should characteristic of the shrill, insistent tWang and the deep, rhythmic bass or the East is Lachaume's music and IL ac- companies the action of the short trag- edy so closely, so fittingly that from ad- mirfng 1t at first, one gradually loses con- selousness of it. It has become part or the Pilar-Morin is lovely: lovely when she IS coy, but shows her beautiful white teeth In smile for the young Prince; lovely when she falls in love with her own bew1tching self clothed in the Elm press hnery; lovely when her wonder 1ully expressive face shows the horror or death in 1t and Shuddering relief when the brave Sui-Nina comes back to re- sume her identity and pay the penalty or Empress-ship. It Is marvelously in- terestfng to watch Adzume when the Empress returns Two deaths instead of one are being enacted in that quaint old japanese chamber; for the musmee has contemplated the death the Empress now fnfiicts upon herself. Every fear, every pangt every anticipated agony is reflected in her beautiful face, and when al the eliminating moment the sErnpress stabs herself, the little dancing girl who so nearly met death Tn her stead, lifts the hem of the satin robe and touches tifre.
 And there Is art in the whole produc- uon- It IS strong in details. Mile. Sev- erine is tragic actress of no small abil- fly. Edmond Morfn makes the part of the young Prince very pathetic very true and touching with the simple sim cerity of his acting. There is not a jar ring note in the whole dumb miniature for that is what it seems to one: a classically quaint drama enacted in Q charming setting behind glass. which prevents ones hearing what is said and also diminishes the figures and the emo tions-though the passions, the fear of death is life-size, thanks to the art of these clever F'renchwomen.
 Scheels orchestra precedes the panto- mime in short programme. It appealed irresistibly to the feet of the audience with the Strauss waltz, and it captured Banner interpolated into Saint-Saens' Henry VIII. The whole house rose to tho entrance of the clans, translated into Wfeniawskis "Polonaise" delicateiy and gracefully. When to this Marine shall add the qualities of force and fire he'll play that beautiful polonaise as its au- thor might have done.
 But it isn't the memory of the music that fingers with you when the BaldW1ns empty It's the expression W fga ,o on p Pilar- ar awful fear in her eyes; it's the light or the immobile horror in her features; it's the grace of her quaint dance or the col lapse of the little figure as 1t lies In & gayly dressed, tragic heap upon the floor.
 MIRIAM MICHELSON.