Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-09

| entirety is still a credit to the dramatic
/ ability Of Augustin Daily. 1t is the best of
| the comic musical productions which
| occupy the middle ground between broad
farce and comic opera.
| The audience of last night was apprecia-
| tive of the good points of the play and Mr..
| James T. Powers must have a good opinion
| or his own work today, his recalls were
SO numerous that he finally had 10 plead
physical and vocal inability to respond.
Indeed, the whole company came in for a
generous share of applause for all the good
things that were offered
From the size of the audience last night
ard the enthusiasm manifested, it would
seem that the Columbia has attraction
for the present week which will prove as
good for the box Office as for the entertain
ment of patrons.
LAFAYETTE SQUARE OPERA HOUSE.
The title of the Bachelors Honey moon
is misleading Bachelor happens in this
instance to he the name of the stout. mid
dle-aged gentleman, who. since the rosy
dawn of time. has kept company with
champagne bottles. crashing glass and
clandestine amours in the farccurs' work.
shop. bald head is a never failing source
OF humor. except to its possessor, and
figure mciinng to corpuiency denotes a
bnoyant temperament: one that will survive
stress and storm to bob gaily in the still
waters of the last act. No audience would
permit a thin man to be mauled as is the
fat victim in the farce 1.-The Private Sec
rotary was the exception. THE Bache-
Tors Honeymoon" Is a healthy speciman
of its kind and keeps well to tradition. A
man and a maid servant industriouSly dust
the furniture and discuss the family Sc
crets at the outset; an objectionable de-
tective Is properly thrown down stairs with
accompanying bumDinss and final crash,
and the young lover has his trousers dis
sected by the faithful watch dog. Ben
1amin Bachelor, Mr.. VIM. McVay, marries
IN haste Juno Joyce, an actress, and In
order to secure his share of the paternal
estate, which he would forfeit should he
marry against the wishes of his spinster
sister. introduces his wife into his do
mestic circle as a governess for his two
haf-grown daughters, hoping that she will
win the affections of the spinster sister
and the money. His scheme finally sue
ceeds, but not until he has suffered the list
of mental and physical tortures that his
kind Is heir to. 1t is full of activity. There
Is much running to and fro getting in
and out Of one another's way. Mr.. McVay
is physically qualified for the part of the
husband. and in the main does well. but
IN several of the numerous explanations
to his family there is painful uncertainty
as to whether his hesitate and embarrass-
ment is due to perturbation of mind or
whether he has lost his lines Mr.. Geoff-
rey Stein as Doctor Ludwig Schwarz
is fitted with a character part that per-
mits him to display his recognized ability
as character actor, although his extreme
eXcitability is more Enthusiastically
French than German. Miss Lillian Dix
the spinster, is as austere and uncom-
promising as any lady in her position is
required to be. Miss VERNE Castro plays
the frowsy housemaid in SO natural a
manner that one questions whether she Is
acting at all. Here is another instance Of
housemaid who becomes possessed of
portion of the family secret and spends
all her time when not busting the fur
niture In looking for the balance and wiring
ing threats, entreaties and stage money
from the distracted husband, who imagineS
she knows an Miss Stacy, as the actress
wife, is conscientious and painstaking. Her
Whistling song in the second act was well
done. The audience was large and APP
plauded In a satisfactory manner.
Next week the Strakosch Opera Company
will commence an engagement, the an
nights, ''Cavalleria Rusticana' and Pima
fore Tuesday night and Wednesday matt
nee, ''Nanon;' "Wednesday night and Sat
urday matinee Carmen Thursday night
I'll Trovatore," and Saturday night THE
Mikado.' Among the principals in the
company are Clara Lane, Mrs Avery Stra-
kosch and J. K. Murray, all of whom have
been heard in this city.
ACADEMY OF MUSIC:-A greatly pleas
ed gathering saw Charles Hoyt's travesty
on life in Washington, "A Texas Steer
at the Academy of Music last even
irg. Like The Senator, it is a play that
appeals strongly to the resident of Wash
ington, and for that reason whenever it is
presented mere by LARRY SOOu company
it is always greeted with well-filled houses.
The company performing it this week is
fully as capable as any that has been seen
here. 1t is given with dash and vigor which
do not permit the interest to lag and the
roeS are generally quite acceptably filled.
No adverse criticism could be made of Mr..
James R. McCaun's assumption of the part
of Maverick Brander. made famous by Tim
Murphy. Not such high praise can be be-
slowed on the performance of Miss Put
nam in the secondary role of Bossy. While
she showed unusual power as an emotional
actress in the scene in which she parts
with her love and deserVedly Won applause,
yet as an ingenue she was woefully lack
ing. Her conception of the uncultured child
of the prairie who had engaged herself to
an army officer seemed to fix the childs
age at about SeVen-Surey a somewhat
early age to be contemplating husbands.
Lolita Crabtree delighted thousands in her
day with her assumed infantle tricks but
there has been only one Lolita, Sweetness
can be portrayed without going to the age
of pinafcres. In the scenes showing depth
of feeling Miss Putnam was remarkably eff
fective Her voice, although low, is clear
and penetrating and betrays a tremor that
touches the heart. The support was for
the most part good. George T. Mech as
Captain Bright displayed a tendency at
first TO crowd as many words into the min
ute as was possible, probably with laud-
able desire to hurry over the explanatory
passages, but it would be better to cut the
speeches and deliver them more deliberate
ly. The same fault of too rapid speaking
was displayed by Charles Fenton, who took
the part of Lieutenant Green. Lizzie Ken
dali as Mrs. Brander exhibited "a wonderful
Texan dia.ect in the first two acts, which
was happily laid aside later on. Will H.
Bray was seen again In his original char
acter of the minister to Dahomey.
THE NEW GRAND.-The bills that have
been presented at the New Grand since it's
opening as vaudeville house under new
management this season have been of SUCH
UNMARRIED excellence that the phrases ex-
pressive of general praise have about been
exhausted, and it only remains to say that
the features making up the melange at that
house the present week is fully up to the
standard set in the past. There are, of
course, some specialties more meritorious
than others. "Fieurette'' and Frank Gard
ner did not present as interesting a turn
as they might have done, but the opening
feature of a vaudeville show is always a
hard position to fill. Smith and Campbell
presented a good, quick-fire talking turn.
The real features of the show this week are
Henri French, a comic jugg1er and cyclist,
whose act has, in all probab never been
surpassed in Washington; Joseph Hart and
Carrie De Mar, in clever little skit, en-
titled DIR. Chauncey's VISIT which, if a
little hackneyed, served to introduce some
of Joe Harris cleverest songs, and was
~.