The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-02-07
Providence 0rera House.

Sias Toner Il. Powers
jim ienneli.. eli..............-...R X. Sinclair
Luther Schenck. +. Robinson
Miranda Huggins. Miss f. Campbell
MARY barueh. ............. MISS Nj. Eaton
Hattie Burley. .......... Mss a. Farnuln
Samantha Huggins. Miss j. Weathersby
Letitia Bean. .... Miss V. Townsend
Louisa. a..................Mi Miss a. Buckley
Mrs. Charles Gibbs. Miss q. q. Clark
THE Village Postmaster" at the
Providence opera house Tor this week,
is about the Joiliest snow tnat ever
struck town.
1t iS positively unlike anything that
ever happened before.
IL Is unconventional and unexpected.
Breezy and Duoyant. The country and
the country fox OF a generation ago
are transplanted i'm all their raw sim
pncity To the city stage and the period
OF national Imperialism To surprise and
delight us theatre-goers who are most
ly fed on plots ana problems. evening
dress or sword and Duckler, and artI-
fcialties, not To men deprayities, of
various kind.
AS "a production. n scenic feast, none
OF the elaborate melodramas that we
have Imported from our British cousins
this season has surpassed the Village
Postmaster" while the tableaux and
grouping by the constantly returning
stage full of people quantity gowncd
and costumed is Kaleidoscope and dis
tinguished by high good humor. as well
as brightness OF color. For the Post
master" is jolity itself. without bur
lesque. If the people on the stage sug-
gest glorious possibilities for the green
goods man. they get into the hearts
and command the respect OF the audi
ence to an impressive degree.
Realism is rampant i'm the "Postmas-
ter" In imagination there is the flavor
or new mown hay about il all and the
visible hay is there, too. Real apples
are picked from a tree SO nearly real
that the bad boy climbs into it's
branches without giving the spectator
an uneasy feeling that IL is likely 10
collapse under his weight. A real
threshing machine threshes real wheat
and real horse goes round and round
and runs the machine. storm OF
real rain or. at least. real enough 10
wet the stage. breaks up the training
day exercises. The snow storm how
ever, is obviously OF paper as usual. |
But that cuts little ice.
The best part of the Postmaster" |
the part that wins the audience. affords |
IL unusual enjoyment and makes IL de-
part with a feeling that ii can return /
again for some more. cannot be de-
scribed. Any preconceived notion YOU |
may have of it is likely to be pleas
antly shattered at the outset. There s
no plot. only simple, straightforward.
old-fashioned, little. love story that not
until the last of the four acts develops
what the dramatists call climax
About this thread the drama swings
without being carried unrolling like a
panorama with living and speaking
ngures set in it. And the audience just
sits and laughs and admires and en-
joys itself hugely at the succession OF
~ l..l
off.
Ihe sets of scenery are delightfully."-
varied and they are rich, while accur-
ately true to life. The village square.
the minister's sitting room," where
the donation party takes place, the
farm yard and the church interior are
everyone masterpiece in stage art.
The country costuming is equally artis-
tic and beautiful, To the dressing of
hair OF the women and the pantalettes
Of the help" The finish that charac-
terizes the production is materially |
contributed TO by the excellent COM
pany of actors. Familiar faces are
found i'm it. There is Frank Mordaunt.
who takes the title role, a thorough
actor of the old school. George Ober.
who was famous i'm Hoyt's Temper
ince Town." Grace Gayler Clark. who
$ remembered as the breezy matron in
shore Acres Annie Buckley, who
sang Sister Mary James Top Note"
or us In the Girl from Paris" and ,
low sets the gallery to whistling with
he rythmic measures of a quite pathe-
ic ditty. Jennie Weathersby also calls {
lp recollections,and Of the others whose I
lames may not be so generally fami- {
iar, II need only be said that each of J
hem fills his or her niche in the ]
scheme TO make a we'll nigh perfect |
Whole of the unusual and admirabl !
LAY that Alice II. Ives and Jerome III.
eddy have compounded for wholesome c
successfully appealing !
IKE TO ola and TO young and COM
the interest of every class of
heatre-goers @