New-York tribune., 1900-05-21
THE PASSION PLAY BEGINS.
DRESS REHEARSAL AT OBERAMMERGAU
YESTERDAY THE NEW CHRIST
NEARLY FAINTS BEFORE
PLATE
TBY CABLE TO THE TRIBUNE.

[BY THE TRIBUNE.l
Oberanmergau. May 2O-When the last scene
of the last act of the Passion Play ended. at
a little before o'clock this afternoon, German
critics who have observed former productions
declared the performance in every detail. except
the acting Of Lang. superior to any of the others
presented in the last half century.
The day passed off without serious incident
1t raned all of Saturday night and early this
morning, but ceased little after daybreak.
When the sun rose 1T was not strong enough TO
dissipate the heavy mists that obscured the
mountain tops warm the valleys. The wealth
has been bad for more than two months
The few Americans who came yesterday and
the day before are preparing to go. Fear of
pneumonia is driving most of the foreigners
away, and will keep them absent until the sea-
is little advanced. Most Of those
who sat through the performance of to-day
did so wrapped In overcoats. The air was chill
and penetrating.
The performance to-day. while accessible TO
the public. was In reality a dress rehearsal given
for the benefit of the press association Of Ger
many, some eight hundred in number. In ad
dition 20 the German papers. a few other jour
nails of the Continent had representatives pres
ent. There We're four correspondents from ST.
Petersburg and two from the United States.
One-fifth of the seats were occupied by men,
weeks before. and occupied So the theatre
was filled.
At 6 o'clock this morning hundreds Of stran-
gers attended early high mass. There a
chorus of one hundred voices. The services had
not been ended before the village band began
playing. That was the signal for all to go to
the theatre. The play began with solo by the
choragus which followed by a chorus of
six hundred. Then the curtain rose the first
tableau, adam and Eve in the Garden" From
that moment until 1 o'clock. when there
intermission for rest and refreshments. the en-
tire audience sat almost without motion, with
eyes and ears strained to catch all that came to
the senses.
There are nine hundred persons connected
with the play-actors. attendants and ushers-
all natives of the village Some of the parts
that characterized former performances
eliminated this time by order of the Govern
ment, but they were minor ones. and were not
conspicuous by their absence to former attend
ants. The NOSE impressive and realistic scenes
were the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Jesus before PLATE and the Crucifxion. Lang.
who played the part of the Redeemer is not so
good an actor as his predecessor, Mayr. Mayr
was on the stage in the prologue. Lang's voice
Is not musical. his gestures and move
ments graceful those of Mayr. He is too
boyish looking. AS he stood before PLATE he
came near fainting away. A nervous tremor
tooh poSSessloh Oh ms Douy anu perSplratlon
streamed from his face. Mayr was near him
much of the time, and his coaching probably
saved him from collapse.
Miss Anna Flunger. as the Virgin Mary. cap
tivated the critics. She is little more than
child and. though it was her first appearance
before big audience, she went through her
part with confidence Miss Flunger's voice is
strong, yet soft
The Crucifxion scene was intensely dramatic
but the lines of agony on Lang's face were too
severe. In some of the tableaus representing
incidents described in the Old Testament it be-
comes necessary for some of the figures to re-
main absolutely still for minutes This Is try
ing, but it we'll done to-day. Mayrs elo-
cutionary powers had fine scope IN his recital
of the prologue.