The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-05
TOPICS FROM The THEATRES.
4 NEW PLAY AND SOME OTHER
NOTEWORTHY THINGS.
Annie Russell a. the Girl Referred To in
the Odd Title OF Tho Girl n the
Judge" an American Comedy by
the Very Expeditions Clyde Fitch.

.yudre,' an American Comedy by
the Very Expeditions Clyde Fitch,
The girl met the Judge at the beginning
., THE Girl AMI the Judge whcn she
van, with her parents to him for legal
ssrvice. But the interview became senti-
renta! right OF, because love developed
both ways at first sight, as they frankly
,old each other within three days. He was
hold in proposing marriage, hut she was
uodes,ly shy In seeking delay. Although
so quickly wooed. she was slowly
uon. and the intervening things filled
nm the play which had its first per-
sormance last night at the Lyceum Theatre
Annie Russell acted the willing yet reluctant
maiden. Her felicitous success should
cure her Of all desire for heavily emotional
rbles. in which she can only fail, and keep
ber content with nhively sentimental ones.
IN which she hardly has a rival. The
sudience was delighted with her and all
that she did.
The industrious and expeditions Clyde
Fitch wrote this piece for Miss Russell
and il contains the singularitieswhich we
have come to expect Of this ingeniously
original author. One Of them is q klepto-
maniac woman, powerless TO overcome
her disposition 10 stedl, ditHOuBn IL mas
driven her husband to drunkenness and
compelled them and their daughter to
seek obscurity among strangers in the
West. There the man and the woman
40 TO the Judge 20 have him
decide which shall nave the GUS
tody Of their daughter, as they
have decided that they can no longer live
together. Then it Is that the young two
,air themselves for wed|ock. Blu the
wife's mania for theft impels her to steal
a level from the Judges mother, and that
IL what separates the affianced pair until
the black cloud passes by and leaves them
in sunshine. The character OF the we'll
bred and in other respects wel-bnhaved
thief is a painful, vet potent one in the
makeup Of this peculiar play.
A still more singular oonccit is to have
the third act devoted wholly to the guilty
mother and the grieved daughter in their
bedroom at midnight. with the former
never getting out Of one bed and the latter
disclosed in the other. As the curtain
rises the girl is sobbing piiifully. She
knows Of her parents new crime, but
seeks to disbelieve, and goes to her
with an appeal for denial, which Is
no sooner made than the disgraceful
truth becomes clear. The scene is daringly
strange. The audience is bound
10 first give its astonished attention to the
two figures abed in the dim room. The
girl rises, puts on a peignoir and lights
the gas. The woman sits up on her couch
night Rowned only. There is a risk Of
ridicule In such an exhibition But in this
case no such thing befalls It. The sub
iect matter is so pitiful, and Miss Russell's
misery is 40 plaintive, while the shame Of
Emily Waterman as the culprit is so poig-
nant, that there is mall chance for levity
TO check the tears.
Mr.. Fitch has never written a more human
play. a ~cleverer one, nor any in which an
experiment in oddity proved more success
full in an artistic sense, whatever may be the
outcome as TO popularity. His creativeness
ofcharacter has not been displayed more eff
fectuallv. The role Of a frank. sweet girl is
almost If not quite the best that Miss Russell
has ever been assigned to. The young Judge,
acted finely by Orrin Johnson, Is a study
in buoyant good humor and resolute manli-
ness AJewish~ pawnbroker and a loquacious
landlady do not owe all their comicality
10 Mathilde Cottrelly and Mrs. Mckee RAN
kin, but are examples Of excellent facetious
writing for stage purposes The motherly
mother Of the Judge, a loosely loving
and tenderly lovable old creature, II played
by Mn. @. II. Gilbert inimitably; There
was a rousing welcome for the aged actress
last hight, and the demonstration seemed
to touch her deeply. She cried a little,
and was hardly Die TO regain control OF
herself,
This latest Of compositions in the Fitch
series j. "A brilliant achievement In stage
Laturalism, less cynical and more sympa-
'HetI. than some % its predecessors, with a
plain. homely. clean story. and for those
pa-Du- deserving Of the prosperity which
probably II viii enjoy
Amelia Bingham's husband and manager
B., h. London trying 20 get a play 10 pro-
duor AZ the BiJou on Jan, -. Mice u
Men bv Madeline Lucetts Ryley u one
- rbs pieces he IL after. but Charles froh-
man hAs bought the American rights by
,alls fofbs Robertson aud Gertrude
l.I.fi tu-i % a. Manchester last Monday
evening Mis- flliutt. Who l. Mrs. Robert
-.l. rsu returned 90 the stage after the
iluH ~ irf child, whom she has named
Natlur. after her sister, MAXINE Elliott
Us.iaiu a play that ST Bingham prob
...s vail 49, D. Lady Margafrt' by III.
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