The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-08-21
POINTS WITH THE ACTORS.
THE NEW POPULARITY OF DRAMAS
ON RELIGIOUS THEMES.

/ several occasions has made public addresses
against the pulpit. 1t may be that. besides see
| ing possibly popular play In The Gad6y )" the
theme OF the book appealed to him personally.
! The best piece on the subject OF agnostcism to
| be acted here was Daniel Rochat,," translated
! from tho French OF Sardou and used at the
/ Union Square by the Palmer COMPANY. That
! was virle work as compared with Sardou's
| later stage exposition OF a religious subject In
'Spiritism." which failed In Paris and New
! York alike. Theatrical managers used to be
afraid to take up plays which had Christianity
for main theme. even though It might pre-
| sent wholly orthodox view. Pious charac-
ters were not deemed undesirable. but
tho feeling was that devout people in
the audiences were keenly susceptible to
shock. and that 1t would not do
| to present an agRressively Christian hero.
| much less an aRnostic or an atheist. When
| The Sign Of the Cross" was brought out at
the knickerbocker. the first night seemed to
OF early Christians He was cruel and lus Sd
whom he had marked for victim, converted
him to the new faith. The nature Of the play
SF were s csapsc TRs
performance was excellent But the first
W audience :; OF an 3ysrwhemng
was rejected utterly by the two, dollar auditors,
|
their OUTFIT stra ghtway back to London. At the
last moment. however, they resolved to make
The Sign OF the Cross" to Pittsburg Their
iorlorn hope Of better result was based bass; on
fact t sS had KIP
burg was. prosperous. and during two ensuing
seasons the PLAY rejected Nth seor1 by upper
in other sections Of New York city. That ex-
ESrepcS with reis9u9 dra%a has been f2
CHRISTIAN" each with Christian preacher as
| its hero and both appealing with great success
as though all sorts Of our people who go to
! theatres are unprajudiced as to plays on rel-
SO. but are inclined to favor. such pieces. OF
which we are to have several new ones next
| season.
1t was hardly to be pected that on n night
| 40 hot as Saturday was. over o hundred per-
| sons would have to be turned away from the
| Star Theatre because there was no more room
| inside. Such was the case. however. After
| two months without serious play Of any sort
| OIL Broadway there was a large crowd who
| wanted to see THE Queen Of Chinatown"
Some late arrivals tried standing on the edge Of
the crowd at the rear OF the theatre. They could
| hear the hcroine's means for justice and the
heros declarations even il 1t cost him his life she
| should have IL, but they could see neither
| the suffering maiden nor the large hearted
| true American" Glimpscs of an elaborate
| scene Of bright yellows and reds. and numerous
| Chinese lanterns could be caught over the
heads OF the crowd. The top feather on the
| Queen of Chnatown's hat was the nearest
| thing to n character that could be seen. Tho
| late-comers decided that they would at least
find out what the yellow and red painted can
vas was supposed to show and who the people
with the noble sentiments were. 1t was found
| by looking at q programme that the yellow and
| red paint represented Hop Lees Gambling
three feet of the scene made this seem quite
possible. The characters were all our old
| friends brought down from the shelf
and busted ,ioa and ,do6 polished up for the sea.
| S'h oi io''-iooo' AL enueaNor 10 se'
some Of the plot by standing on tip-tGe
Darr ap, tor sv,b ort ~, ~,
was TOO wearlsome lever even ior such WORK OF art
then came to view tho melodrama from the
wings The l,tc cor,ars ancon,nd with ,hanEs
SMG nrryrd nHhnd ne scenes dst As the heq h
brow in most unv lainis h fashion, he hal lust
The ,h his last warning for the
h.ving vnr2 tbo nrocns he dina ~ ~
mlails Of n, Not street Wills she smoked Gig
90 noWsbnvs want "n ~ MI m pieS tSe
rear of the stage while some special
ties were pcrlormmrn ms meant WORK !or the
| ing give action he and be kent
from being noisy: sophrette went before
thee iH2ottignts ana sang AnocfHd I'm IN. ~ me
a coon song. Tor the encore she wanted to lie
sure that there would be one. So a Dutch
c4median, VINO had deem Dong comic tq I'm ne
stage manager, who told him 10 walk around
among the sppers and tell them to applaud at
inc end o. the song: Inc npteh comeulta In
message doing comic tumbies ali the while
which, greatly amused the gallery boys. who
nropthhPy meyer realiISu that ne was o Ri
ing whistiing speciaify the newsboys did a
cakewalk. From start to finish of it the stage.
MANAGER Ghl.eq out dIdectsons 20 mem IN ioud
the trombone players were getting in extra loud
work. probably due to renewed strength from
summer VACATION. me Stage manager voice
Vow put some lie into it." he fairly Yelled,
"Whoop hernp.", His efforts were rewarded for
he va af oroV fL p roa33n1od
entirely wiIted spectators. The play was GER
tanly amusing viewed from the rear. among
| pieces OF OPIUM uens anu lamp posts OF Mott