The Anaconda standard., 1899-06-05
At THE LOCAL THEATERS
Sardou's LA Tosca" Will Be Pre-
sented on Wednesday Eve.
THE PLAY Is A FAMOUSONE
What the Management OF the Margaret
Will Offer tc Their Patrons Next
Season-Mlle Fiji VIII Be Here
Early in Septe mber.

The management of the Margaret
theater has been making extensive pre-
parations the past few days to accom-
modate the large audience which is
sure to be present at the theater next
Wednesday when La Tosca," Sardou's S
great play, will be presented by
Blanche Walsh and Melbourne Mac
Dowell. The seats were placed on sale
Saturday and the way they are being
taken up indicates that standing room
will be at premium on Wednesday
evening.
La Tosca" will be the closing per-
formance of the season, but although it
will be the last it will not be the least.
The play is one of the greatest on the
road to-day. OF the Walsh h-MacDowell
presentation the Salt Lake Tribune in
recent issue said:
among the instances in which pre-
cedent has been defied and all exam
pies set aside, none have been more in
tereSting than the complete triumph OF
Blanche Walsh last night as the star of
| La Tosca.' Fortunately critics are not
chained by any strings of stage au-
shortly and can speak without mincing
bourne MacDowell may own La Tosca,'
his name may dominate the billboards
and he may sign the pay roll, but
Blanche Walsh is the clear, dominating
star 1t is footlight revelation to find
an actress who at best has only been
known as a good leading lady spring
into the theatrical armament with light
as lustrous and brilliancy as keen as
one who through two generations of
theater-goers has been an acknowledge
ed genius. Blanche Walsh had not the
we'll known name, the illustrlous lineage
or the family prestige to throw around
her the glamour that encircled Fanny
Davenport. Her accomplishments are
her own and her success comes from no
Fictitious aids. Last night she aroused
the unrestrained enthusiasm and in
spired the unrestricted admiration of an
audience SchOoled to self control and
calm judgment. 1t was her first ap-
pearance as a star, and if aught her po-
stion was rather that of new Junior
partner in an old institution. Only
few minutes were required to install
her as the real power, the planet around
which the others revolved Mr.. Mac
Dowell himself, virile and trained and
nodded in the Sardou school OF tragedy,
was a secondary element. Miss Walsh
has not the physical weight or the ma
jestic presence of Fanny Davenport:
neither mas size the illdSculillitS liiSt
permeated that great actress imperson-
ations. She is the woman; she is re-
fined. She is of the gentler sex even
when frghtful situations impel her to
desperate and heroic actions. She en-
lists our sympathies. She is handsome
and mobile in face, graceful in move
ment, with voice delicately infected.
There are in her tones that rhythm and
purity which charm the ear and enlist
the heart. Where as Floria Tosca she
consents to her own degradation to
save her lover, the sublime resolution
of a desperate woman grasping for the
last means of support is revealed.
Again and again Miss Walsh was called
to the stage, and only personal re-
spinses in front of the curtain were ac-
cepted as final.
"Mr. MacDowell as the unprincipled
Scarpia, ruler of Rome, was forceful
and made his part the abhorrert one
designed by the author. OF massive
figure and naughty air, Mr. MacDowell
lent splendid support to Miss Walsh,
and in some measure shared the hon.
'ors bestowed. Arthur Elliott, as the
lover, is, while not SO finely shaded in
his Interpretation, strong and effect
i've actor. The multitude of subsidiary
roles are not of sufficient prominence to
more than give a harmonious back
ground to the three principal parts al
ready enumerated. i Hey are WIldI may
be termed 'stock'-that is, a collection
of people who do their work acceptably
but have no opportunity for display of
individualism.
1.-THE mounting of the play is mag
nificent. Most elaborate of the scenes
is the one of act 4, representing Scar
pia's room in the famous castle over
looking the Tiber. Yet finer one in it's
effects of light and shade and general
beauty is the final tableau representing
the ramparts of the same castle"
All of the best shows on the road are
booked for the coming season at the
Margaret theater. Mile. Fiji" will be
seen here in September and the play is
bound to make a hit. The season will
open on Sept. 8 with Gus Hills Vanity
Fair" Among the best shows that are
already booked are some of Hoyt's best
comedies, such as "A Contented Wo-
man." "A Stranger in New York and
the famous Otis Harlan in "A Black
Sheep" Sousa's famous opera, 1.-THE
Bride Elect" will be presented early in
the season. Kelcey and Shannon, Mod
jeska, Harry Corson Clarke, Sol Smith
Russell and the Rays in a Hot Old
Time" are early bookings. Theater-
goers will have the pleasure of hearing
the Grau Opera company. Some of the
other famous shows are ''Why Smith
Left Home" 1.-The Mysterious Mr.. Bu-
GLE" I'm Old Kentucky" Mr. Plaster
of Paris" Browns in Town." "Pud-
dhead wilson, ''Way Down East" and