The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-07
DRAMATIC
AND MUSICAL
METROPOLITAN


De Wolf Hopper, in "The Charlatan," has
comic opera which is in some respects the
best production he has ever appeared in It
has not the distinctive Oriental flavor that
makes Wang memory or the catchy
melodies that kept the town atune for a
summer wherever its presence was felt, but 1t
places Mr.. Hopper in musical setting OF
distinct operate merit, and at the same time
a performance where his presence l.. not in
troduced. While ''The Charlatan" is of neces-
sity the leading role, Its superior position
Is due not SO much to what he has to do
but as to how he does it. There is less of
Hopper" than, there has been in many of
MS productions of the last few years, and
yet he Is almost constantly before his aud,
fence. an
The story Of "The Charlatan" Is really i'm,
material. The, plot ts merely designed to
keep the star in; trouble and the score to
keep the musical contingent in music until
about IL O'clock when the librettist and the
composer getltogether and in trice all the
company Is .massed on the stage and the
audience goes out. saying My! what a short
show" only Ito find upon consulting their
stop watches that over three hours have been
spent listening to- the infectious humor Of
Hopper and the delightful music of Sousa
Mr.. Hopper is as funny as ever, but why?
Because he is not content to let the audience
laugh at the Hopper Of old. His is fund
of never-to- be-exhausted merriment and he
draws on it at each performance. He sings
as of yore, but he and De Reszke are in
different class. He jokes, and all other
| operate comedians are in a different class
Not content with the lines that Mr.. Klein
laid down for him In of the cleverest
Hbrettos recently heard here, Mr.. Hopper
| made two speeches In response to the tumult
uous applause of the audience. In the first
one he explained that in view of the fact
that the opera not half over yet and,
besides, he had not intended to; make
speech until some time later, but, of course.
If the audience should invite him then, even
| though it be next Thursday or possibly
after the second act, he would only be too
glad, and all that sort of thing. So when
the second act was over every in the gal
ery yelled Casey" but De Wolf protested.
Nevertheless, he made very bright little
speech, not forgetting to mention, daintily,
yet witty, the composer and librettist. as
well as the others assisting in the produc-
ton, apologized for some slight flaws in the
rendition on account, as he sad of the com,
pany's bronchial tubes playing tag with GER
tain recent climatic changes, and wound up
by saying that he had bottle of lithia wait
ing for him. whereupon the audience was
seriously depleted as he left the stage.
Mr.. Hopper has apparently come to the con-
cluslon that, while really f1rst-class COM
ed1an can draw some, pretty women can
draw also, If not more And Mr. HOPPER
evidently believes in drawing. He has an
abundance of pretty women, in more ways
than one. He has large number of them,
and number of them are quite large. In
deed he has pretty women in styles to suit
| the most varying tastes. There are big
| blondes and little blondes, and big brunettes
| and little brunettes; the chic. the petite and
| the piquant the ingenious the pert and tho
| oueeny. e.7a
| Nella Bergen who appears as Anna the
| daughter of the charlatan, who is palmed off
| ON an unsuspect1ng nobleman as princess
| OF the blood royal, is a young woman of
! magnificent figure. and powerful voice. that
| is clear and melodious. with all it's vigor.
| Alice Judsoh. as Katrinka, is pretty selY
| possessed and fully in sympathy with the
! spirit OF her. role She might be classified
with the LITTLE ones of the company, although
| large in popularity.
| Adine Bouvier as the Grand Duchess looks
the part as well she sings it. She is
| worth hearing. too.
| Katherine Carlisle fills the minor mart NJ
| Sophia very acceptably.
| Edmund Stanley, as Prince Boris sings
| this, the chief male role. mustcally. with q
most pleasing effect. There is little solo
| work in 1.-The Charlatan.'' but in the duus
| trios. unartettes and the rest. Mr. Stanley's
| voice is heard to excellent effect.
Alfred Klein. who has been Hopper's
| comedy foil for as many years as the long
and the short man have been holding up the
| itinerant workingman with his weeks wages
Is cast as JellkoH. a tragedian, who, in the
char.atan's straits, Is disguised as a woman
Mr.. Klein. in this role. finds opportunity to
| display the comedy that has always been in
| him, no doubt but which has rarely had so
| good vehicle for its exploitation.
Mark Prices Gogol was acceptable. and
! Arthur Cunningham's Grand Duke deserves
| mention. Mr.. Cunningham's 1.-The Car Has
| Sent Me Here" was SO we'll voiced that 1t
was regrettable that he had only a prelude
| so short.
| The engagement of "The Char,atan" con-
tinues half the week. with matinee Wednes-
| day.
METROPOLITAN.
Frank Daniels. who made his debut as q
! light opera comedian in st. Paul two seasons
| ago, will be here once more, on next Monday
evening. - IA
William H., Vests big minstrel organiza-
ton will begin an engagement of three nights
and Saturday matinee at the Metropolitan
opera house Thursday evening.
~ GRAND
Leonidas' cats and dogs, and the Nelson
family, are the headhners of the Grand.s
vaudeville offering this week. The bill runs
the entire week Including matinee every
| day.
Following fhe week of vaudeville at the
| Grand Hogan s. Alley" in which Gilmore
and Leonard. with a large company, are the
attractive agents for manipulating such
| hilarity will be seen.
nEA1HS mr. A nav