The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-02
Comic Opera Has d
Strong Hold Upon
The Public.
THE GAY CHORUS GIRL.
Her Lite Is AS Ephemeral
of That of a Bright
Butterfly.


ers Of one part of the country is obnox-
ious to those Of another, and the play
which appeals to the fearful or laugh
ter-moving emotions of one generation
dies of inanition at the hands Of the
succeeding generation. So true is it
that what is one mans meat is another
mans poison.
Comic opera is a favorite in Worces-
ter. While the romantic drama-"Ru-
pert of Hentzaus" 1.-THE prisoner of
Zenda," "Under the red robe" and such
pieces as John Drew plays, for instance
and grand opera (of which, unfortu-
nately, Worcester seldom gets a taste)
lead the entertainment field. Comic
opera has developed enormously within
the past Ave years, and Worcester in
common with other cities has cuJtivat-
ed the taste for it. There are people
who hold that the taste for comic opera,
like that for olives. Is acquired, and
others, theatrical managers among
them, believe that people only have to
see one comic opera to like it ever af-
terward. 1t may take time for a
whole city or town to catch on to the
comic opera idea, but once done, they
do not let go easily. Worcester has
had more comic opera this year than
ever before, and it has paid better,
too. Crowded houses and smiling
managers have been the rule whenever
1t has been placed upon the board here,
and the end is not yet, for several first
class attractions are booked for the re-
mainder OF the season. 1t is the opin-
ion of one who knows that Worcester
cannot have too much Of 1t.
Comic opera requires a bigger capital
and larger company than ever before,
for the equipment which served for
Hoyt's and McNally's musical farce
comedies the lineal ancestors of the
modern comic opera, is no longer
deemed sufficient, but bigger stars and
larger companies must be engaged and
more gorgeous scenery and effects
must be produced than ever before.
Each new production aims at greater
splendor than its predecessors. AT tho
same time there is a tendency in the
direction of more plot and less buffoon-
cry.
While the average dramatic company
numbers fifteen or twenty persons, the
average comic opera company is an as
Bembly of so persons, Of whom fifty
five are performers and the remaining
five stage hands to assist with the
scenery and the calcium lights. Often
four or five musicians to augment the
where the company is to play, are also
attached to the company and travel
with it. The expenses of the comic
opera company will ordinarily be about
three times as large as those of the
dramatic company, owing to the great
excess demanded by salaries, transpor-
tation and the initial cost Of produc-
lions
It is the manager of the company
who pays for the transportation, but
this does not include the seats in the
parlor car which the principals gener-
ally take, and which they treat them
selves to out of their own pockets. They
do not trouble the porters of the sleep
ing cars much, these singer folk, as
they rarely travel by night. Beside
the transportation Of his party of, say
sixty performers, there is always more
or less scenery and properties which
also do their share in eXcaVating the
managers pocket, and are source of
trouble and anxiety. These always
travel either with the company or else
in advance of it, but with all due care,
they sometimes get left behind or go
astray or get stalled in impossible
places, and any theatre-goer can re-
member times when an opera or play
has been given not unsuccessfully,
either, sans scenery, sans costumes,
sans makeup which had gone to
Fitchburg, or Sandwich, or Halifax, or
else were coralIed in the woods on the
other side of Springfield.
The scenery travels in a special car
which is sometimes owned by the man
ager. and which he pays the railroad
companies for transporting at so much
a mile.
The scenery for an elaborate comic
opera often cannot be crowded into one
car. and then of course the troubles %
the manager are augmented by the ad-
dition Of another car. Neither is his
agony over when the freight car of
scenery and properties rolls into the
station at its destination, for there still
remains the hauling to bother him
The hauling between railroad sta
ton and theatre and theatre and rail-
road station is done by contract, it be-
ing one of the advance agents duties
to arrange for this. Transportation
and hauling together involve a bigger
outlay of money and makes a seVerer
drain upon the executive ability or the
manager and his advance agent than
all the other functions connected with
the show business put together.
What it is sometimes asked, is
the distinction between properties and
scenery" Properties are small, NOV
able accessories, scenery Is the large
scenic structure essential to the deYeI-
OPlleul OF the action. Every lliEo'lC
is equipped with both scenery and
properties, but most companies bring
their own, entire or in part. One law,
however, permits Of no Variation-theI
company furnishes the perishable prop
critics, the theatre the imperishable
That is to say, the cigars that the lead
ing baritone smokes, the champagne in
which the prima donna drinks his
health, the roast turkey and cranberry
sauce which is served for the family
meal-these and the hundred and one
things similar which are required by
an up-to-date production are furnished
by the manager of the company, it be-
ing one OF the offices Of the advance
agent to look after details like these.
Every theatre is also equipped with
stage hands-there are six at the Wor-
cester Theatre-but some productions
require as many as twelve or fourteen
people to adjust the stage settings.
When the theatres force and the COM
pany's force together are not sufficient
ly strong for the work, it devolves upon
the manager Of the theatre to hire in
extra men.
In this connection it may be added
that the average cost of the production |
OF q comic opera is between $4,000 and 1
$4,000, and that it costs on an average I
$500 night to raise the curtain.
Worcester lies in the path Of all the
leading dramatic and comic operate
companies, and that is one Of the rea-
sons why it each year enjoys the
cream Of these entertainments. No
sooner is one of the good companies in
q new and successful piece liberated
from its long ENGAGEMENTS in the big