Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-18

does an air Of refinement which is delight
fully refreshing, to say the least. She is
beyond question a clever little woman, and
her song of "Rhoda," who ran pagoda,
was rendered in manner thoroughly ar
tistic and fetching. She has a number of
duets and dances with Mr.. Powers that
particularly pleased the house. George
Fortesque is another established favorite.
He has lost none of his genial immensely.
Sarony Lambert played the comedy part
of the Chinese emperor in a manner which
inspired laughter. and Melville Stewart Sc
cured applause by his performance in a
role which called for serious acting and vo-
calization The audience was large and
emphatic in its demands for more the
various gems of the opera were brought
out.
LAFAYETTE SQUARE OPERA HOUSE.
The Lafayette Stock Company presents
this week, THE Lottery of Love- a worthy
member of the sterling, wholesome family
of whimsical comedies fathered by the late
Augustin Daily. 1t is a blood-brother to "A
Night on "All the Comforts of Home
and Nancy and Co." with all the cherished
genealogical characteristics. The Lottery
of Love- is billed as an eccentric comedy.
1t is eccentric and farce-comical and is
founded that firm rock which has never
failed the comic dramatist 1t is another
story of the ancient and honorable mother
in-law. To the equitable mind the mother
in-laW has been treated with selfish IN
justice by all humorists who have profted
her to reach the grandmother stage, for
then would be the end. That phase has
been reserved for Sunday school books and
Christmas supplements, where. becapped
and specialized, she takes care of the chill
drcn. The mother-n-law of the Lottery of
Love- Is the most cold-b!ooded proposition
imaginable. She is a gaunt, haunting per-
son. whose soul aim in life is to marry her
daughter to as many gentlemen possible
in short space Of time as practicable
and to force her unfortunate victims to the
divorce court, where she makes them come
down handsomely in the matter OF settle
ments. This they gladly do in order to be
rid of her. 1t is confidence game pure and
simple and is carried out in a high-handed
manner. If it were not so eccentrically
comical, one might feel sorry for the stool
pigeon of a daughter, but fortunately there
is no time for repining and the gentlemen
involved take it all in so farce-comical a
way that the feelings of the audience are
spared.
cast this week in pleasant places. Percy
Haswell plays Jo a prize in the lot
terry, in her own individual and charming
way. She is the second wife of mother-1n-
laws first victim, and is as dainty second
wife man ever had BY her cheerful
and sunny ways she almost makes the au-
dience forget that it has a mother-in-law.
1t is not an exacting part, and one wishes
Miss Haswell had more to do. She was
warmly received by the audience and affec-
applauded. Mr.. Ormonde, as
Adolphus Doubledot the first victim of
the mother-in-law, plays the devoted hus-
band for one day in a thoroughly sa,isfac
tory manner-mother-in-law does not be-
lieve in long marriages; she usually con-
trives to bring about separation on the
day.
In the second act when he becomes his
own stepfather, or something of the kind.
by marrying the daughter of a widOwer
who in turn marries his Doubledot's) d.
vorced wife, Mr.. Ormonde does some ex-
celent comedy work in an easy and sympa-
thetic manner. Mother-in-law, alias Mrs.
Sherramy, gives Louise Macintosh her OPP
portunity. 1t is terribly realistic, grotesquely
true and insinuatingly antf-matrimonial. A
thing not Of the gladstone day, but an en-
anation of the unwholeSOme night One
to bestride mems chests in the ghost hours
and hag-ride them to their deaths A driv
ing, hatchet-faced fate in jean boomers
and topped with a ridiculous butter-plate
Of bonnet, she is omnipresent and unes-
capable. Alma Kruger as the DIANA, the
bait used by the mother-in-law is charm
ingly innocent. and you are we'll content to
believe that she is an unwilling sacrifice to
her mothers appetite for alimony. John
Daily Murphy's Captain Merrimac is
fresh, breezy, salty tar, who is chroncally
jovial and under whose genial influence
does a sailors hornpipe in
great style. HOrtense Nelson and Frederick
Sullivan fill small parts to crowding, as do
William Conley and Hal Vantyne. Charles
is another opportunity-grasper in
the Lottery OF Love- as Tom Dangerous,
the friend of the first victim, and an old
lover of the said victims wife he receives
the benediction of the audience by arriving
from Brazil just in time to save every
body. The daughter has just been released
from her second husband, and Dangerous
and accompanied by mother-in-law they
HE merrily away to Brazil, where mother
in-law today Is probably getting marriage
settlements of serapes. and horse blankets
ton ntC Of
The Lottery of Love" is a complete DAILY
production, down to the inevitable eplogue.
which is gracefully spoken by Miss Haswell.
NATIONAL THEATER. Mrs. Leslie
Carter was warmly welcomed by a number
OF her admirers and added great many
new acquaintance to this notable legion
upon her temperance at the National
Theater last night as Taxa" Continued
impersonation of a character so eXactns
would in most instances cause dimnution
OF effectiveness and familiarity lead to
ca relessness but in Mrs. Carter's case rep
etition seems to have served only to in
crease her power and to strengthen her re-
markabe abilities. Her Zaza is nothing
short of wonderful in its fidelity, and Mrs.
Carter may well pause before seeking an
other character to Clothe with the sump
tuous belongings Of her artistic genius. She
is surrounded, of course, with thoroughly
capable company. Charles A. Stevenson
repeats his admirable preSentment Of
ZaZa's lover, Bernard Dufresne, and alto
gether delicious is the Interpretation which
Marie Bates gives to the amusing part of
Rosa Bonnie. ZaZas aunt. Maria Davis as
the heroine's devoted maid, is
excellent, and Mark Smiths Cascart is in
the same category Therese Berta, IL BEAU
tiful little girl, gives a charmingly natural
rendition of Dufresne's daughter Toto. The
demands upon the remainder of the cast,
while moderate, are met with conscientious
effort which adds so materially to making
Zaza the great production it is.
THE NEW GRAND.-The bill at the New
Grand for this week, furnished by Harry
w. Williams Own Company, is hardly up
to the standard established by that play
house at the beginning Of the present sea-
son. There are some meritoriouS turns
In the bill, but the average is below the
usual standard. The best performances Of
the evening were made by Frederick Hal
len and Mollie Fuller in a one-act comedy,
entitled "a Desperate Pair" the Three
Mortons, Sam, Kitty and Clara Louise, in
a sketch that combined almost everything
from Irish wit to rag-time piano playing
and the St. Onge Brothers, comedy and
trick cyclists. Other specialties were Of
fered by the Budd Brothers, acrobatic
the Clemence Sisters, in operate
selections; Lawrence Crane, who is billed
as the Irish Adonis Magician; the Four
Millions, musical sketch artists, and Zazell
and Vernen in a horizontal bar perform