Evening star., 1899-03-04

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The DAILY production of a Runaway
C.irir has drawn the best at the theater
this week. Its success has been due
to the completeness as q production
and to the pleasing character of the music.
The company has been shorn of two of the
people who contributed to the New York
success. and there IS not a single voice that
is even fair from musical standpoint. still
the general average is good and the public
accepts that and the fun of Jimmy Powers.
May Irwin has drawn good houses and her
present play is perhaps the best vehicle she
has had during her stellar career. Digby
Bell has been unfortunate in his play. Mrs.
Burnette has given a beautiful story. but
a bad play. and the chief character is not
suited for Mr.. Bell.
Next week Will be devoted to farce
comedy, mcIodrama and a war play. VIM.
Gillette will bring back his Secret Service
at the National Browns in Town will
he at the Columbia. Mistakes VIII
Happen at the Lafayette and London
Life at the Academy. At the Grand there
will be an excellent vaudeville program Tor
ladies and gentlemen and the BijOu and
Kernan's will offer the usual programs for
men.
NATIONAL THEATER.-It is a pleasure
to announce a return engagement of Sc
Cret Service" with Mr.. William Gillette
again in the leading role. at the New Ma
tiCnal TheGtCr Monday night. The entire
h
seen here last year will be presented on
this occasion by Manager Charles Froh-
usn- Few plays have possessed so many
enthraIhng features. No war. not even the
recent war with Spain is so interesting to
Americans as the rebellion The play Mr..
Gillette has made with the civil war a
background is a spirited. picturesque. vital
and exceedingly ingenious drama, wherein
the naturally exciting details of war are
used with real effect. Mr.. Gillette has
achieved the further distinction of making
the warp and woof of his plot not out of
the familiar and OyerwOrn incidents of bat
ties. surprises, ambushes and imprison-
ments. but out of the extremely hazardous
adventures of a member of that usually de
spised vocation. the military spy. The
play pictures throughout more wildly
than any other play has ever done
the bravery of the soldier, as well as of
the soldiers women folks. One sees with a
graphic realism that is almost equal to the
thing itself the soldiers devotion TO coun-
try and willingness to die for love of it, as
well as the hidden heartaches. the deter
minatfOn and the suffering endurance of
wartime mothers and sisters and sweet
hearts The public is now awakened to a
better appreciation of these qualities than
1t was when Secret Service was pre-
sented here before. Manager F'rohman has
maintained intact the personnel of the
splendid company which aided Mr.. Gillette
in presenting the play last year. Familiar
names on the program this year will be
Campbell Gollan, Walter Thomas Joseph
Brennan. NJ. L. Alsop. II. d. James, Miss
Sarah Perry, Miss Hope Ross. Miss Ida
Waterman, Miss Alice Leigh and Miss Dali
las Tyler.
LAFAYETTE SQUARE OPERA HOUSE.
"A bright. wholesome comedy is what
Mistakes Will Happen which comes to
the Lafayette Square Opera House Monday
night for a weeks engagement, is said to
be by the dramatic authorities in the cities
where the play has been presented. When
Grant Stewart wrote Mistakes viii Hap
pen" his one idea was to evolve something
which would amuse the theater gOers.
Laughter was his desideratum, and il was
to be prodtced by cleanly methods. How
well he has succeeded the audiences at the
Lafayette Square Opera House next week
Will judge for themselves: Dut from all
over the country come the best of reports
of the play and company. Its success has
been genuine and emphatic. Mistakes
Will Happen" IS presented under the direc-
tion of Jacob Lift and he is said to have
made an exceedingly elaborate production
OF the comedy, ana 10 nave placed II IN Ine
hands of an exceptionally strong and well,
balanced company.
Mr.. Stewart has discarded nearly
all the set traditions of farce writ
ing in Mistakes Will Happen" and
has undoubtedly given to the stage
play that is destined to live for a long
time. The company which Mr. Lift has en-
gagged 10 produce Mistakes Will Happen
is headed by Charles Dickson and Hen
rietta Crosman, two of the best-known
comedy players in the theatrical profess
sion Their work is of that quality which
the theatergoers often wish for. but so
seldom see, and they are assisted in their
laughter-prOducing efforts by Charles Har-
bury. Ethel knight Mollison. Carrie Behr,
Adah Eckart, Edmund Lawrence, Ben
Dean and Franklin Garland.
COLUMBIA THEATER-J ]. Rosen-
thal's new farciaI production. Browns in
Town Will be given its initial Washing
ton presentation al the Columbia next Mon
day night and will be the attraction at that
house all during the coming week The
piece Is by new author. Mark f. Swan
and has been given a short tour among the
larger cities of the middle west where If
was highly praised by the critics The an
c1ent mUther-in-law and her longtime COM
paniOn, the grabbed and angular old maid.
are missing. and in their place he has in
troduccd two decidedly novel Characters
These are colOred cook lady and a Ger
man he!resS. both of whom seem to have
caught the public fancy to an extraordinary
degree Mr. Rosenthal has done his part in
engaging cast that has seldom been equal
ed for strength. In the company are a
number of Washington favOrites including
James o. Barrows and John Lancaster.
who made hosts of friends during their con-
nectlon with the stock company here: Anna
Belmont and Kathryn OsterInan. who help
cd 10 make the Jones family famous.
Another stroke of genius on Mr. Rosen-
ina! part Is the engaging Of Belle Davis
young woman who is said to be without
rival in the Interpretation of coon" mel
odies. as the COlored servant
he piece Is said TO be full of brisk dja-
Iogue. ludicrous situations and quick. snap
py action, and there is little doubt but
Wnal the many cousins of Brown residing
in Washington will welcome their relative
with open arms next week Manager
Rosentha! has given the piece an entire
lew scenic equipment for its eastern trip.
GRAND OPERA HOUSE.-The week
commencing at the Monday matinee at the
Grand Opera House will present a bill the
superior OF which Will not be seen in any
house east or west that week The grow
Ing popularity of this theater is eyinced by
the large audiences of this week and the