Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-08

compelled to lay aside owing to his illness
He will doubtless first fix up his last play
"A Dog in the Manger," which failed last |
fall In Washington, and then finish up the |
others. Hoyts plays are nearly always ac- |
ceptable and draw large houses Theater- |
goers will undoubtedly be glad to learn that |
Hoyt lis himself again.
Down New York way the people were |
pretty much OF all OF last week getting over |
the effects OF the Dewey celebration and |
talking about the yacht races, but they
found time, however, to produce two new
plays, Peter Stuyvesant" and my lnno- |
cent Boy" William II. Crane was the star
in the former piece, while Otis Harlan, re-
membered here as having created many Of
the leading characters in different Hoy,
farces, was the star in the latter
Or Mr.. Cranes work in his new play the |
New York papers spoke very highly, but a,
TO the play the critics were divided in opin-
ion, as will be seen by the following ex-
tracts taken from some Of the leadins
opinions
Fine feathers are commonly supposed TO
make fine birds, but fine scenery and cos.
tunes seldom determine the quality of a
play. If they did the production of theatri.
business and Peter Peter Stuyvesan sarf aha tb gSsy ney
play presented at Wallack's theater might
costly, effective and picturesque, While it's
costumes, besides being historically ac-
curate. are quaint and tasteful
Unfortunately for Brander Matthews
play, and for that popular comedian ~ wiz VII
sories of minor Importance in the main is
sue. The fact has been proved over and
Alley The Seats of the Mighty and other
ornate failures of recent date. Peter Stuy-
vesant sy is apt to take rank among them.
authors chosen "a tityaI
period In the history of old New York, which
they justly believed would make an excel
old Dutch governor, Peter stuyvesant, as a
WhSh SITiGHs sod ana b strongly marked character
of such an actor as Crane The disad-
vantage of their scheme was that they
uTu,d u,hth 'ha no direct ana moving story in
tically as a central figure.
Instead of this they, have imagined four
order, and sketchy, artificial political in
Stuyvesant has no vital part to play in any
Of o. these affairs, SO they are, only allowed to
While he Is gwen AMPLE ana and pe a op
portunities for the display. of his idiosyn-
cracies In the meantime, what little there
York World Ve Hd,'' ''a''S ana grows eo'o Ne"
THAT, the authors. Messrs. Bronson How
pains to put some sort of appreciable his
torical quality In their labor!ousy manu-
even without Mr. iii Howards ward sean o4eSaef
in his speech after the third act of his firm
belief that the hour has now arrived for
That hour had not arrived. we are to infer,
| when the plays treating Of American his
tory one may find listed in Mr.. French's
catalogue were new, yet few of the rough
! est of those occasional works were not
quite as ,h true & to history as this We quite
In play should never interfere with art;
that mere fact should not obstruct fancy.
learned collaboration for not being too dis
ttreSisln1gly tnrisa1g historical in making their his
play, historical, farcical or 'pastoral-comi
cal: Is vitality. and there is precious little
OF Of that in this elaborateIy artificed story of
Still, If Mr.. Crane can succeed bv his
skill In putting the breath of life into the
principal nd S parsonage and keeping it there. as
XYlye IN In spite Of the beautiful pictures of
cenurY %gw YORK tx snt as 1t was in the seventeenth
every small detail in the setting and APP
poi9tments and of the generally creditable
missed last night.
o,ert; rhs t;1Ip play. it seemed, ought to have been
have been done over and over again. The
old governors soft heart and fierce man
her, InTs ms inunderng when he NEEDLES with
Iard. Id. conrad guilty of treachery and his
iaItbI Brutus-like Ike heroism at the trial; the
the friends heroic surrender of his own
person when he learns of the others plight
which If old IS good But tSs tonch OF Of tbe
esteemed co-laborers, We are compelled to
say, is rather heavy and their Imagination
Yet we honestly advise every theater-
goer not to miss seeing Mr.. Crane in his
he has done since he acted the broken spec
ulat9r aa,t9 in The The Fool of Fortune, and it
Sgd sGarcs stge be surpassed on the con-
As to the literary, quality of the piece
FOR the most part was in contemporaneous
English, without any antique flavor, and in
this respect was not infrequently in rather
strange contrast with the costumes and the
setting Sc i'm But this is not not point that, need
certain weaknesses is to be M Tdes @ ot
ar intenigent effort to treat an American
subject, shows plentiful evidence of CON
scientious preparation, has many of the ele-
mems OF popularity and may be set down az
! worthy, experiment"
"Mr Crane. warmly welcomed by a nu-
heaeT and eGe Pder IN
new play by Brander Matthews and Bron-
son Howard The play is domestic in char
ment, and tnged with sweet sentiment and
playful humor, and it sets forth the sub
and occasional felicity Of situation, It's
dialogue seemed little diruse and it did
not at any point strongly affect the feelings
but it is excellent as a picture OF manners
and 1t is strong in the element of eccentric
; character. Tribune.
or Otis Harlan and my Innocent Boy
the New York papers were unanimous in
their approval of beth play and star
= The Alice Nielsen Opera company pre-
sented its new opera, THE Singing Girl"
, in Montreal Monday evening of last week,
and from press reports the production seems
10 have been big success. The following
is taken from the New York Journals tele-
graphic columns:
N MONTREAL, Oct, 2,-,"The Singing
e Girl was presented tonight for the first
time on any stage at Her Maiestys the
ater, by the Alice Nielsen Opera COM
s pany.
Miss Alice Nielsen who appeared in the
, title role, received five curtain calls at the
end of the first act
= The opera hinges on the law of GER
| tain duke who has been refused i'm mar
riage by capricious countess. The Tilted
} duke issues mandate that persons Of the
opposite sex found kissing each other shall
v Immediately marry and In the event of a
refusal the man shall be sent TO jail and
= the woman to convent until they con-
/ sent to a union.
| Victor Harhart Gs