Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-27

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| 4 HINhN I'M the amusement trust,
- w IVY the man with the
~ ~ three ringed circus,
VA made his appearance.
MM At the Lafayette
M Square was the peer
less Becky Sharp
perforating the paper-hoop shams OF
rhackeray's day with an airy grace which
Won the admiring applause of great con-
courses. At the Columbia Theater "Oliver
Goldsmith was securely walking the lofty
and perilous slack wire of the epigram-
matte drama. And at the New National
Theater "A Rich Mans Son. was simulta-
neously juggling some familiar but anus
ing comedy material. But 1t was not all
for one price of admission. The devoted
escort who sought to do the honors prop
erly found the test on his purse an unusual
one, not counting chaperonage. 1t was a
busy week for the playgoer who binds him.
self not to miss anything that Is really
worth seeing. Three nights at the stand
ard dramatic performances, whose allure
ments were all so EXCEPTIONAL; an evening
with polite vaudeville at the New Grand
and another with the may frivolities of
The Evil Eye'-there were five evenings
gone There was but one left to devote to
the variety theaters. where there Is the
comfort of a smoke to be enjoyed, even IL
the show is not always all that IMAGINATION
could fondly depict. In order to see potn
those shows it was necessary to take an
afternoon off and go to matinee Inc
wonder of it was that in every instance
business was good. The man behind the
ticket window has no suggestions to oHer
in political economy but he might, If he
chose; say a wise word or two about the
disappearance of hard times.
dramatic attra ctlOnS,
Becky SHARP" with Mrs. Fiske in the title
role was by far TIE best known in this city
prior to the opening night. The dramatlst
did lis work with notable skill. Ihe TASK
was one which might easily have been dis
missed as insurmountable, especially IN
view of previous unsatisfactory attempts
AS it was, an auditor VINO mad not read
VANITY Fair might have been disap-
pointed. 1t lacked the structural essentials
of a play. The scenic brilliancy OF the pan
room setting and The incidents which made
up the third act were the main attractions
measuring the performance purely as the
atric entertainment But as series of A.
Illustrations of great literary work it was
superb, and the personality of Becky
Sharp as interpreted by Mrs. Fiske was
well worth attention as study. Thack-
cray was one of the most undramatic of
writers, and the success of this production
demonstrates much as anything could
the universal character of the stage. There
is rothing in which the human mind is in
terested which cannot find vivid expression
across the footlights, provided the interpre-
tation is animated by the proper intelli-
sence.
Situations and climaxes In the conyen-
tiCnal sense of the terms were foreign to
TEackeray'S nature. He dealt in subteties
and frankly invited the reader who might be
seeking secret passages and other sensa-
tional para phernalia to read elsewhere He
wrote from the head as consistently as
Dickens wrote from the heart. He dealt
in analysis and sneered in his delicate
fashion even at any sympathy that the
reader might have felt with one of his own
characters. The chief situation, that in
which Rawdou Crawley returns to find his
wife a supper with Baron Steyne is skill
fully introduced but the manner of Craw-
ley's escape from his captors is not ex-
planned. 1t is in this scene with Baron
Steyne that the possibility of a contradic-
ton in the dramatist's treatment of the
character suggests itself. Would a woman
who had INDUCED In the side-smirkngs of
a conventional adventures, Mrs. Fiske
made Becky do, have been moved to the
horror and disgust which she felt at her
prospective relations with Baron Steyne?
1t is in this scene that the gentler sug-
gestion is conveyed that Thackeray loved
Becky with all her faults. just a little and
believed that with better chance she
might have been a better woman. Mrs
Fiske seems to be on the verge of some
pronounced mannerisms. Her method of
making accelerated speech take the place
OF infection as means of emotional en-
piiSiSiS 10 ptCplillIlS strongly conspicuous
and her enunciation was not always dis
tinctly followed in all parts of the house
Mrs. Ffske's superiority as an actress and
the pubiic's faith in her was conclusively
proved by this engagement. 1t Is difficult
to see how any other actress could have
prevented the piece, clever as 1t was, from
impressing the auditor as downright dull
Maurice Barrymore did some characteris-
tically good work as Rawdon Crawley.
No greater contrast to Becky Sharp
could have been devised than oliver Gold
smith.
Is small risk in saying that Augustus
Thomas ne" play will receive many yards
OF complimentary comment in print. Every
person who has ever chewed the end of
a pen in search for the right word in
the right place has a soft spot in his
heart for that assemblage of great minds
who made bon mot one of the great
objects in life. And the playgoing public
seemed to feel much the same affection
for the old fellows, for the liberal interest
which welcomed the play on Monday night
increased as the week went on. The sue
cess of OLIVER Goldsmith" considering the
TACT that II came with very little of the
usual preliminary flourish and bIare. was
mighty remarkable. Its production reflects
the greatest credit on Stuart Robson's ar
tistic instincts. The part of Tony Lumpkin
IN she Stops to Conquer has long been
favorite of his, and his study of Cod
smith gave him the necessary confidence
in this geographic drama, which stands out
as by far the greatest artistic achievement
of his career. Mr.. Viewers voice inn
proved as the week progressed and the
finale of the play was changed so that
instead Of closing with the rollicking trio.
He is Jolly Good Fellow" the play
Lowered the curtain on sentimental tab
leau far more in keeping with the spirit
of the story. AS the piece was performed
In Chicago during the scene when the
audience is taken into the confidence of
the management and permitted to join In
stage rehearsal. Robson and Dixev
heightened the unconventionalty by MAX
ing their entrance from the auditorium nd
climbing over the footlights
With all this wealth of stage talent and
scholarship against him, 1t looked as N
VIM. H. Crane were in danger of being
overlooked with his comparatively modest
Offering of modern comedy. But he gath
cred his full share of laurels and wore them
with his accustomed ease. Robson and
Crane-the names even now write them
selves most naturally In associa tfon-seem
TO have been born under the same star
Even though their business interests we're
long since severed their careers have some
thing in common. Both started out with
high hopes early in the season; Robson
with THE Gadfly" and Crane with Peter
Stuyvesant." Both scored below zero
Both got new plays and both are now con-
templating a genial rise in the popular
thermometer.