The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-15
SIGHTS AT THE THEATRES.
SOME DISENCHANTING REMINDERS OF
DRAMATIC PALHY DAYS

week for old fellows TO ma out that they had bad
memories Those who saw Macbeth put on
the stage there in the manner OF the palmy days
should either have enjoyed II keenly which hardly
any Of them probably did or else have frankly
owned up that stagccraft has gone long way
forward since they were young The ladies and
gentlemen OF the royal courts were too ugly and
awkward TO have ever been tolerated by any other
pouarch than the King OF the Brownies The
soldiers OF tho opposed armies looked az though
there had been frightiui famino IN Scouand. so
scrawny were the legs ana arms tha' ptouuued
from the half-hlled armor. NOV "l'hin quatef
OF a century had such display oil woe oegohe
supernumcrarics been made III New YORK Yet
Just such dislgurants wero matter oil course
with Forrest and even with Booth In his earlier
career. To SEQ THIS ou'o'-dae eAhipiuon mauc
one appreciate the general ADVANCE IN the arr OF
stage illusion. The uashiest oil our modern
farces and crndcst oil our melouramas are pun on
the stage with better care as to accessories than
used 10 be given to them IN the masterpieces
4 particularly bold actor Louis James was
concerned IN tho Shakespeare and Sheridan re-
vivals at the Grand opera House lilo did nothing
peculiar as Macbeth. HIS noteworthy exploit
was IN The winters Tale. Ills star
mates, Miss hidder ana MI Haniotd played
the roles previously conspicuous IN performances
OF this comedy, whue ne appeared only
as AutoyeW, part not more than ten
minutes long The fellow Is tramp and
thief insignificant In me s'hcme oi the
play, and so much oil MS talRis eithcr obscure or
obscene that, In the revival by Mary Anderson
ten years ago he was all but eliminated II was
a curious within OF Jamcss TO cast himself Tor
this part Having done so he proceeded TO do
new and strange things with IT. lie made him
self UP TO look like Thomas y SeaOrooke IN The
Champagne
body but the actor knows which, 'he resemblance
u that groesque figure III comic opera was exact
except in costume Ihat IL was not accidental
WAS almost proven by the fact that In speech and
action the duplication was complete Ivy This
performance, MI James aroused curiosity as To
what he would do in The School Tor Scandal
What he did was 10 make Charles Surface O lar
ioler fellow than he had ever been before, saying
much more than Sheridan hai written ana get
ting on intimately iovial terms with his audience
in the free manner OF Pete Daley at Weber &
Fieldss His fourth character in tho week was
Bob Acres In that he turned back in his course
OF oddly, and played II in the Joseph Jefferson
fashion.
Excepting Mr.. James. everybody in these
Shakespeare and Sheridan pieces adhered 10 the
traditions closely they knew how. Some
Ot the worst acting seen on our stage in o long,
long time was done. But there was a balancing
amount of respectable mediocrity and little Of
high excellence. One difficulty encountered in
ordinary reproductions OF tho classics was illus
tratcd notably in The Rivals While it is true
that Mr. Jefferson perverted Bob Acres from
what the author and hundreds OF actors had made
him, lout and bumpkin, /. is fact, too, that he
rendered him vastly more amusing. So Jeler
sons Bob became the only Bob for us Americans.
and even that marvellous mimic, Nat Goodwin,
a felt at Va Dtrl
In place OF the genuine when he tried to pass it
uh on charity audience. John Gilbert fixed the
standard for Sir Anihony Absolute. Mrs John
Drew for Mrs. AdId prop, and John Broughem for
SIR LucuS o Trigger, with William j. Florence
repeating the latter model TO the present genera
ton. Whatever is done with these characters
now is in contrast more or less, with those famous
ly fine performances The closest approaches in
last weeks efforts were made by Mrs. ChrIlcs
Nandcrhof to Mrs, Drew and Harry Langdon 10
Mr. Gilbert However the audiences over in
f'ishth avenue contained 50 many people unac-
quaintcd with Sheridan that comparisons
less odlous than they would have been in Brood
way Shakespeare was familiar there in Mae
beth, but The Winters Tale" was brand new
play. at least to the gallery and it had TO go its
merits as amusement Its authorship did not awe
the boys a little bit. When they thought serious
tnihs was comic 'hey laughed al H. No matter II
the newborn Herntone was being consigned to
cruel death al the hands OF AhtiqonuS, for a fact
she was rag baby dawdled by q white bearded
old man. and there was a roar Of merriment.
That the public likes to see its popular actors
in the kind OF roles they usually assume may he
true. Ihatitllkes to ses them do what lies within
their power to do we'll Is surely So Francis vii
son was serious in the first operate form OF "Cy.
rano DO Bcrgerar The public rejected that
attempt primarily because it wanted Mr. Wilson
In his customary manner But II he had done
we'll vast hs attempted, the result might have
boon different The public will let him do only
certain things they are all thatlie in his abilities
His experience cannot be taken as proof that the
same thing Is demanded always from the same
person On the stage the reason Tor occasional
disappointment in this respect probably comes
from an exaggerated view OF a performers tai
cns not only on his own part but by the public as
well The actor may never change his mistaken
opinion But the public makes up Its mind ouick
iy The difference between the actor and the
entertainer is quickly recognized after failure
IL 49,.