The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-12
AT THE THEATERS.
METROPOLITAN.

1
| ceS" nc, presented last evening ror tie
lirst time in st. Paul at the Metropolitan
4 tnealer The music is Julian Edwards,
| the book Kfrke La sSheIles, and the for
ner Is as light and gay and charming
! as the latter is quick, clever and clean.
| Beautlful Marguerite Sylvia is the prin-
cess, ana is We'll named Chic. Aside from
| MISS Syiva's beauty which is of a dash
! Ing. foreign character, she has a Winsome
| personality, and enters into the spirit of
| her role and of the play with an abandon
that IS wonderfully infectious. When
| MISS sylvia smiles, and winsome smile
| II Is, then must her audience smile too
! and when she Iaughs-well, nirth is con-
taglous, they say, and Miss Sylva's mirth
IS not one of the exceptions to this rule.
Ihere is a freshness about the opera
FrInceSS Che" a neWneSS that is at
! tractfve in itself The period in which
| the story is laid is the fifteenth century,
| the place the court of the duke of Bur
! gundy- There are tapestried walls and
knights In armor; there are Burgundy
/ dragons and French f1uer de lis. Some
| stunning effects are attained in the cos
! tuning. The princess herself is gorgeous
| IN crimson and black. Her followers In
the hrst act are all clad in the brilliant
crimson, and as the girls are young and
! pretty, the picture, formed is an alluring
one. In the third act equally gorgeous
effects are attained by the introduction
of violets. erin1sonA pale blue and white,
novel but effective color scheme
The story of the play centers about the
eccentricities of the Princess Chic of
Normandy. Statesmen are endeayorjng
/ to arrange match between the princess
and the Duke of Burgundy, but she, wo-
man-like, wants td see for herself what
the duke is like before she agrees. She
DISCUSSES herself abs an envoy from the
princess, Q captain of the guards The
/ n C1nNc.
she dons the costume of peasant girl
and he falls in love with her When she
once more assumes the disguise of the
! captain, the peasant girl naturally, is
missing and the duke blames the cap
tain and causes his imprisonment The
| mystery is explained when the princess
secures her liberty fer ans hour and re-
| turns as the Princess Chic
While for the most part the music is
| strictly of the sparkling, frothy comic
| opera order there are bits here and there
| decidedly better Seldom has a better
| chorus been heard than the anvil one in
| the third act and the ensemble singing al
| the end of each act was spirited and Won
| derfully harmonious. The best of the
| music does not fall to the lot of Miss
! Sytva. der greatest oppOr tunity is given
! ina"Loveg Is Butterfly and she, makes
| the most of it. One Of the catchiest
| songs in the opera is I'm a Story Book
| duet between Agnes Paul (Estelle
| daughter of the steward and Frederick
| Knight (Francois). Miss Paul is dainty
| little lady and MIR. Knight has good
! voice quartette composed of Thos. C.
| Ieary, Joseph G. MirOn, Walter A Law
! renee and Neil Mcneil sing one. of the
! gems of the opera. This quartette is
! made up of the funmakers of the play
| Miron and Lawrence as Rrevet and Bra.
! bau. the soldiers of fortune, ere very
| ole
! steward, is equally funny.
The audience was very outspoken in
| its appreciation last evening Not salts
! fed with calling Miss Sylvia before the
! curtain a half dozen times. a speech was
! insisted upon. She thanked the audience
| heartily for their appreciation.
The play will be given tonight and to-
morrow night with Wednesday matinee.
GRAND.
ga Stranger in a Strange Land" Is
funny, and is undoubtedly one of the
! best comedies that will be seen at the
| Grand this season; but the management
of the piece is putting it a little strong
| in advertising their farce as better than
Broadhursts' tfWhat Happened to Jones"
! and ''Why Smith Left Home" This new
| farce, which was seen in st. Paul last
! night for the first time is hardly in the
! same class with the others, but that does
! not mean that it is not we'll worth see
| ing, or that Messrs. Thai and Kennedy
are altogether, misleading They would
| be perfectly right in saying that they
| have a good fun-maker that is fast and
| amusing in the extreme While the piece
! is not refined, for that would be impossi-
| BILE with redskins, long haired doctors.
and detectives in the cast it is not y11I-
gar by any means; it is simply a little
| rough at times. But the piece would not
! go at all without roughness, so that must
be excused. The story of "a Stranger in
| a Strange Land" has Jack Thorndyke
! for its central figure Thorndyke, who is
| a young Englishman of good family has
i been going q pace too fast for his reIa
! tives and particularly for his aunt. who
| is his guardian He is sent to America
| to spend a few years on a ranch but in
| stead of going West on his arrival in this
T country, Jack stops at Buffalo and re-
mains there. albeit he writes home thrill
| ing and lengthy stories of ranch life. in
| which cowboys, redskins and the like
| figure largely. All this is swallowed
without question by his relatives. to
whom, as to many of our English
| cousins, the States are as a sealed
book, and who know no difference be-
| tween Buffalo and Butte 'tJack's" I'M
| Gle, Charles Dudley discovers the
young mans game, and when Jack
| is about to return, advises him to bring
! along an Indian to back up his stories.
| The letter nliscarries. and Jack turns
up in the first act without an Indian
When Jack learns the state of affairs.
| he persuades his friend, arthur Love-
| who is in love with "Graee"-Jack's sis
ter-to masquerade as an aborigine who
once saved his life Meantime an
American patent medicine promoter, who
carries a real Indian, appears on the
| scene, and, of course, this redskin is mis-
| taken for Jacks saviour by the family.
In the meantimeI Jack does not know
of the arrival of "a real Indian
This starts the complications going. and
they are increased by the arrival on the
| scene of a Scotland Yard detective. who
also assumes the disguise of an Indian
in search of the missing Lowe After
many misunderstanding matters are
cleared up and Jack wins his American
| girl and Lowe Inarries Grace. The va
rious Indians, real and sham, get togeth
er in the final act and the tangle is I'M
tangled Mr.. William Friend, as Jack
| Thorndyke heads the cast and is highly
satisfactory In the, part. Joseph Cusack
| is entitled to much credit for his splen-
| did representation Of the real Indian, and
Miss Beatrice Norman could not well be
| improved on as the American girl who
captures the heart of Thorndyke. In ad
dition to her other charms, Miss Norman
is possessed of very pretty voice Miss
May Anderson, as Jack aunt; Charles
PTake. as his uncle, and Miss De Lano
as his sister, are all good. The rest of
the cast, which includes Frank Donneliy
Miss Estelle Willmot, e. J. Mack, C, n.
Lum, Charles Deland and f. J. German,
are acceptable. "A Stranger in a Strange
md opened at the Grand last night