Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-03-15
STAGE NOTES.

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that stage beauties fade, sad TO re
late. and when the inevitable time |
stroke deprives the beauty Of the bet |
ter part of her capital, youth, she must |
must needs reveal some art, some |
genius, else fall by the wayside. Pity |
was the emotion called forth by Mrs.
Langtry's appearance in The Degener-
ates-regret that Father Time cannot
woman and leave wrinkles and kin
dred things out of his contributions
to her undoing. And it will hardly
be urged that Mrs. Langtry, the most
famous beauty of more than two de-
cades, has not declined. Perhaps her
injudiciOus use of pencil gave her
CHASTITY look last night, and possibly
sh was not quite in form after long
travels, but it was actually pathetic
| to see the efforts to retain the SEM
| blance of former charms. If you have
ever before beheld pink gauze thrown
| over the fo0tlights you have seen
something that has escaped our eyes;
but the gauze was there in plain
sight and the manipulation of other
lights through four acts was directed
so as to make them as easy upon the
star as conceivable. Mrs. Langtry's
figure is still nearly perfect, and she is
light and Hthesome, almost. for one of
| her decidedly generous proportions.
Her neck and arms might INSPIRE a
sculptor even at this late day, but with
all her claims pulchritldinOus she
lacks the youth of twelve years past,
and she seems to represent an embodi
ment of Pinero's tragedy of middle
age. Briefly, the story Of The De-
generates concerns the workings Of
Mrs. Trevelyan's mind and heart
She is a divorce with a reputation
the spots on which are compared to
the spots on the sun by one of the
persons of the drama. At the opening
of the play she is indulging in aflirta-
| ton with Sir William Samaurez, whose
wife is afflicted with a bad case of
! Jealousy. Mrs. Trevelyan, however,
| however, has no intention of carrying
the affair to any conclusion but a re-
Duke for Sir William when she con-
templates the return home Of her
daughter who has been in a convent
and is now Is years old. Lady Sam
taurez, though, threatens her husband
with an elopement if he keeps an ap-
| pointment she overheard him make
with Mrs. Trevelyan. Sir William de-
termines he will not break his engage
ment, and Lady Samaurez betakes her
self to the bachelor apartments of
! IsidOre de LOranO, and adventurer
who means only to ruin her for her
husbands refusal to help him finan-
cially. Mrs. Trevelyan learns of Lady
i Samaurez's indiscretion, and hastens
to the rendezvous, says in the presence
of two witnesses it is she whom De
LOrano was to meet, and saves Lady
Samaurez. Husband and wife are re-
). united, and as a reward for her altru-
istic deed Mrs. Trevelyan wins a pro-
posal of marriage from the duke Of
Orme, who had been dangling about
her for years. The play is aptly
named, though It's not so shady as
either Sapho or Zaza.
The dress rehearsal of the Passion
Play at Oberammergau is to take place
on May 20. The dates of performan-
ces are fixed for May "a and 81; June
4, 10, Is, II, "A and %; July 1, 8, Is,
Is, p and 30; August 5, 8, u, Is, 10,
25 and 26, and September 2, 8, 9, 16,
70 and 30. In the event of a greater
number of visitors arriving than can
be seated on the day Of performance
the play Will be repeated in precisely
the same manner on the following
day. The play is to commence each
day at a. m. and last until 5: 80 D. m,
with an interval of an hour and
half for refreshment In order to pro-
tect the audience from the inclemency
OF the weather the community OF
| Oberammargau has Cat a cost of $50
O0O) had hall built to hold 1000 peo-
pie comfortably. While the audience
is completely under shelter, the stage
and proscenium remain as before,
quite open, and valley, mountains and
sky still form the background to the
solemn drama. A wohnungs bureau
has been formed by the Passion Play
committee to look after lodging ac-
commodation for visitors. The COM
mlttee boasts of the improved arrange
ments for the reception of the public
and OF its new water supply
The New York Herald thinks the
stage is in need of reform. Comment
ing on the crusade of the Society for
the Prevention of Crime against GER
tain New York theaters, the Herald
says: There is no doubt that there
never was a time when the occasional
play Of a questionable character found
so little reproof from the public as il
does at present Not that the stage, |
its managers or its actors are loose Of
morals or DESTROYS of lending their |
boards to improper performances. But
the theatergoing public themselves are
by no means so particular in their |
tastes as they once were, and if plays |
Of a repTehensible character do now t
and then find a welcome and substan-
tiaI reward the public must be blamed |
more than, or at least equally with the
producing manager The theater is
and always has been a teacher of good
morals, and the stage in general must
not De condemned because there are
some unworthy plays or players. As
well might one condemn a religious
sect IN whose ranks there are occa-
sional scandals"
Joseph Wheelock, who is playing {
Miles Cavanagh in Sporting Life at Nc i
Vicker's theater, Chicago, is one OF the {
veterans of tho -+aro He has boap q l.