The daily sentinel., 1901-10-26
"Quo, Vadis.

A large but uuenthusiastic audience
Witnessed tho production Of "Quo Vadis"
at the Park opera house Thursday night.
Tho most generous comment that We
can make upon the performance is that
it could with difficulty, to be sure) have
been worse. We cannot blame Carpen-
ter, for his dramatization OF the great
Polish novel is good. The scenery and
costumes were tolerable. So, we shall
have. to pass them and look further for
the flaws. This brings us naturally and
unavoidably to an inspection of the cast.
Tho program had it the "Cast Of Char
acters." We are mean enough to think
it should have read "Oast-Off Charac-
ters" The following may explain why
We think so:
There was Marcus Vinioius, for exam
pie. who let his thick voice drag horri-
bly,, and fall with awful impetus at tho
end of each sentence. This 10 a-a.aw-
fula-a," the ardent Marcus would say.
"Ys go. odsa! will have ri. .isa-a" etc.
Then he would give his head and his
hands such violent thrust forward that
nervous women In the audience expect
ed to sec them part from their owner
and fly through space. When he de-
nounced Nero in the last act, he came
the nearest to being fair actor.
Chilo Chilonides looked like Maloney
many years after tho wedding. BE bur-
lesqued q part that should have been
made pure comedy.
ness and listlsssness in the interpreta-
ton of Nero, being who was tho very
embodiment OF brute monstrosity, mer-
cilessnsss and vanity. Tho ono who
played this role took, 1t seems, the great
est pains to get the famous Neroic dis
cord In his singing. This sounded ono
moment like the skrsak Of slate pen
Gil, and the next like the whir and buzz
OF a distant sawmill.
In the climax scene OF Act Nv, the
burning of Rome (this conaagration, by
the way, was keen disappointment), ev-
erything was ni6srably fat and unin-
pressive. 1t was tho more noticeable
from the fact that thsrs are such i'm
mense opportunities in the scene for fine
acting In spite Of the program's as
surance that Rome was ssven miles
away during the FIRE. the audience were
nearly choked BY the smoke which was
blown in upon them, by . breeze of the
Mediterranean, We suppose.
Ursus, who was certainly wild and
woody specimen. would have made good
giant had he put more gru6ness into the
part. His occasional stiff knee. bend, in
reverence to some cant religious speech,
was Q circus in itself.
Tigellinus had q soldierly bearing, and
by contrast with the other players. was
satisfactory.
John ]. Mcdonald, as Pstronius. was
the only man in the company who did
any discreet acting. His enunciation
was splendid, and, barring slight stiff
nesa of manner. there is nought to criti-
cize In him.
The Lygia and Eunics Of the play
were we'll handled, both ladies having
the dearest OF soft and pathetic voices.
Miss Pearl Ford was, perhaps, too small
Of stature for the heroine's part. but no
matter. The earnestness Of her speech
es and the grace of her movements made
us forget that. f 'a
Poppaea was indeed a sufficiently cru
el Poppaea. We cannot quite under
stand, though, why her costumes were
of such a modern art. (Parenthetically
we hint: "Msbbe those wuz the ony
oaes she hsz"D
Now We believe We have covered all
the characters OF any Importance.
II the company were still here, We
should advise them, every one from first
to last, to psruse carefully Hamlet's dir
ections to the players. It would benefit
them beyond measure. .
Not the least rsdesming feature Of the
evenings entertainment was the music
furnished by Prof. and Mrs.. Boyer.
"Hearts aad Flower" which they played
between tho second and third acts, was
q dream A. W. n.
D-.Al e n n D.