The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-06-06
BARITONE SCORES
A TRIUMPH FOR
THE LAMBARD|S
Individual Virtues but
Bad Ensemble.
MISS TOMBSTONE BENNETT
CoLUMBIA'S NEW PLAY PRO
DUCED BUT UNNAMED.
"Pagliacci" and "The Pirates" at
The Grand and the Tivoli
Singers in ''The Merry
War"
COLUMBIA'S NEW PLAY PRO
DUCED BUT UNNAMED.

Company from Milan, by way of South
America, Mexico and Los Angeles.
opened to a snug house in the Cali
forpia Theater last night. and in the
reliable double bill of "Pagliacci" and
"Cavalleria Rusticana" soon made
friends with the audience, in which the
local italian colony was we'll repre-
scented. The encore fiend and his loud,
stout hand were there in noisy num-
bers, and several homogeneous encores
were accepted by the willing singers.
Altogether the night came off with
great deal of hurrah; nobody seemed
TO expect too much of an organization
that had been so mild in its promises;
individual faults and failures were re-
ceived good naturally, and all that was
good was greeted enthusiastically by
hands, feet and mouth.
The best of the good was contributed
by Salassa, the barytone, in the part
of Tonic in the "Pagliacci." At the
first note the crowd knew him for an
artist, and if ever an encore be pardon
able in opera certainly his was in the
prologue" Salassa's singing of this
resourceful song was nothing short of
mastery. His voice is big, rich and
EII6HuOuSl0
in all its scale; and the way he sent ii
out in the prologue was an occasion
for cheers. l have heard many barry
tones in this piece, but none better
than Salassa. He would have been
worth his weight in bonds to the Ellis
company. Not only can he sing with
art and distinction and act, but he has
the voice, the big, open, bounding voice
that touches you and triumphs his
throughout.
Rut the I>ambardis are not all Salas-
sas. If they were it would be another
tale-and other prices. The rest are
what a careful man would have eX-
pected. Salassa is the surprise. And
you will be missing things II you don
hear him.
A tenor of admirable intention partly
executed is Avedano. He plays Canio
in the "Pagliacci" and would act, pas
siOnately. and does. His voice falls
SOmcuIIf1Ie short of Ii~ andaaVnr. but
still you can admire it for many things,
especially when it is not Overlapping it
self. 1t is of the pure Italian quality,
quite sure of the note, and soft and
easy in legato. In the more dramatic
passages it takes in an emotional quail
ity that is not wholly cOngenial and
often reveals the machinery of effort
Sostegni was the Media She re-
minded me of a Maude Adams gone
Italian and vocal. She has something
of the same trick of face and she is
slim, girlish and ingenious. Like Maude
Adams she suggests ineXperience. That
is part of her charm. The voice fits the
personality 1t is immature, embar
raised, almost, at times; of long range
and a reedlike quality that l found
rather fascinating.
So much for the principals in "Pag
liacci." The performance as whole
was not admirable. The orchestra was
bad, atrocious, and the chorus ran 1t
close second, and the stage manage
ment was uncomfortable. The play
within a play was acted out in the
open instead Of in the tented stage; and
so far as action was concerned the
chorus might as well have been
painted on the scenery. From a pic
toral point they would have been much
better served up that way. You never
saw such gallery Of service-scarred
Medusas.
"Cavalleria" came second, and the
same general criticism applies. except
that there was no great barytone, and
that the chorus was a little less rigid
Barducci was the SantuZza, and a good
one. Her voice is far from huge, but
it has the dramatic quality and a GER
tain harshness that finds the right vent
in the part. A tall and overposed
young man by the name of Juan Bar
daacco played Turridu, and in spite of
diverting mannerisms acquitted him
self with considerable force. The rest
need not be listed.
The new play at the Columbia is still
unnamed, as you will learn from an
other paragraph. 1t will be reviewed
in to-morrow's Call.
Miss tombstone Bennett, the, young
woman who was once distinguished
as the original Jane and who after
ward came into publicity as the pro-
prietot of a male valet, is the topliner
Of the Orpheum bill this week. In a
nondescript sketch by the name Of "a
Quiet Evening at Home" Miss Bennett
personates not less than five distinct
characters. Her changes of costume
and makeup are rapid and surprising,
but her real work on the stage is not
calculated to set the bay a-burniny
in two female characters of the tough
variety she employs a certain realism
that is clever technically IL not very
amusing or new to her auditors, but
the other lightning changes, that run
from a society woman to boy about
town, are dull any way you take them.
Antonio Williams is Miss Benefits I'M
eventful co-worker. According to the
programme, it required two authors to
write the sketch, which in itself
amounts to nothing.
The other new teams are out and out
variety, and they seemed 10 please
Sunday nights crowd.
Houdini, the police baffier, who es-
capes from all sorts of handouts, is
really a wonder, although his feats do
not show UP as well on the stage as
they do in private exhibitions; the audi
ence is inclined to suspect a hoax How
this young man gets out of the hand
cuffs 1 would not attempt to explain,
but several hundred spotless policemen
who witnessed Houdini's exhibition in
the City Prison the other day will bear
me out in the statement that he made
straw of their toughest irons and gave
them the merry haha generally
McAvoy and May dub themselves
"cyclonic comedians" and are reward
ed by tumultuous applause for one Of
the toughest acts ever displayed in the
Orpheum l mention the applause as a
matter of justice to the performers
Personally l should pleasure in seeing
them jailed every time they throw
those large missiles of French bread at
the audience ASHTON STEVENS.
Columbia.