The herald., 1898-01-11
: AT THE THEATER =
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may leave some points open 10 crltlclsIn,
Is yet entitled TO be considered a cred
liable rendition and worth the amount
charged for admission.
LA Grande Duchesse" Is sung In
English by this company. which fact
alone Is sufficient to account for GER
tain want Of snap which characterized
the performance last night. The French
Is the only language in which the deli
cate and lndelicate shades of meaning
can properly be given by the lively
duchess. Adele harrington, who as
sumed the part, Is oVerweighted with It..
1t is evident that she would be more at
home in a role that was less exigent
than the one which Schneider made her
own and in which Judic also excelled.
Miss Harrington has a pleasing voice
and a certain freedom Of action, which
| 10 not, however, characteristic OF the
abandon and passion Of the titled rake
who has taken a fancy to her pet SOL
dier This was apparent In her singing
and acting in the famous rondo, Say to
| Him." in the second act, where the
duchess exhausts her art in trying to
make an impression upon the immo-
bile Fritz. The last-named character
was we'll personated by George Lyding
who gave the necessary good-lookins
air to the private who so quickly cap
tured his sovereign's attentions. The
| trio of comedy men composed OF General
Boum. Baron Puck and Prince Paul were
fairly successful so far az regards the
| two first named, but the Prince Paul OF
! Edward Webb was a gem In Its way. Mr..
| Webbs best chance Is in the first act,
| and he made an instant impression with
| his clear-eut articulation in singing and
his evident knowledge Of what he was
about The Wanda of Beatrice Nc
| Kenzie was also a particularly delight
| full feature Of the performance. Miss
Mckenzie has a clear, true, fresh voice
| and sings without apparent effort. She
| might have done even better than she
did in the bridal chamber scene, but
| could hardly be blamed for any short
| coming, seeing that the sole furniture
| Of the palace bridal apartment was a
| $40 bureau a table and two chairs. With
such surroundings the scene was nat
urally deprived Of all the opportunity
| to make 1t 60 in accordance with the
original. The rest Of the scenery was
quite good, however, and the costuming
was attractive. The chorus did excellent
work and the girls in their various
changes Of dress looked splendid. The
| introduced feature was an exhibition
drill in the third act, which went to rer-
| fection. The management of the stage
was far better than Is usually found to
exist in companies Of greater preten-
sions. The orchestra, under the direction
of r. F. Lindsay, did effective service.
There was only one conundrum that
could not be solved. and that was why
the duchess and the rest persisted in
calling the paternal's weapon Of war a
"sahber." Seeing that the opera was
being rendered in English, the aftecta-
tIon in the pronunciation of this one
word, 80 often repeated. was simply
ridiculous
The opera for tonight is "Amorita." a
comic work in three acts, by Czibulki
with the following cast Of characters:
Fra Bombarda a hermit monk. after
ward dictator of Florence.
...................... Mr.. George Lyding
Fortebrattio........... Miss Louise Lewis
Officers. rs.............The sisters Armstrong
Castruccio Mr.. Mountjoy Walker
Perpetua, his wife. Miss Maud Allison
Amorta, his daughter.
...............M Miss Beatrice Mckenzie
Angelo, a sculptor. Miss Adele Harrington
Miss Adele Harrington
Sparacanni a town fop. Mr.. Edward Webb
Lorinzi, conspirator Mr.. Carlton King
Geronimo, a citizen. Mr.. George Callahan
| The Moorish Ambassador. Mr.. John Barry
Beppo, an Apprentice Miss Stella Madison
| Patruccio. Mr. Jack Allison
On Thursday evening the first pres
entation of the farce-comedy, "At Gay
Coney Island" viii be given, in accord
ance with particulars heretofore pub
| lished.
BURBANK THEATER.-A small but
appreciative audience sat and shivered
through the performance Of RIP Van
Wrinkle" by the Shaw company at this
house last evening. The first successful
production of this play was made by
Joseph Jefferson, who put into shape
for acting and made immortal the char
acter Of Rip. 1t was an adequate rem
dition Of his version that was given last
night The story Is too well known for
repetition. The part of Rip was, of
course, played by Sam L. Shaw. The
character is one that tests to a great
extent the versatility Of the actor, and
! Mr.. Shaw, as he passed from the gay
young do-nothing to the old man,
| showed that he possesses dramatic pow
| ers of an unusual order. The other char
acters incident to the plot were salts
| factorily filled. The scenery was ap-
propriate and effective, especially the
| tableau in the third act which shows
Hendrix Hudson and the pirate crew
in the Catskill mountains playing at
ten-pins, which was warmly applaudec,.
The piece is long, and II the action in
some parts had been little more rapid
and the waits between acts not so long,
it would have gone smoother but this
defect will, no doubt, be improved as
the week advances. RIP Van Winllle''
| is a popular play and ought to prove O
good drawing card.
| 4
ORPHEUM-Carlett we'll named the
human lizard is far and away the most
expert contortionist ever seen here and
his marvellous performance at the Or
| pheum last night won cordial recogni-
ton from the large audience. He is
made up to resemble lizard in the first
part of his act, when his work is realis-
tic, and later, in spangled tights, he fur
ther proves his really remarkable sup
pleness Of limb, joint and muscle.
| M. de M. Felix's miniature circus con-
sists of a member of the Simian family
with an extensively cultivated talent for
equestrianism, and pocket edition of a
pony which has also been trained until