The times., 1901-05-26

I :.
| utterly fails to reach. Neither is he the
/ same sort of usurer that both Booth
| and Irving made of him. To the critical
! in the audience Mr. Goodwin represented
! a Shylock that was at once intelligent and
| refined, and not mere grasping money
| maker. He spoke the beautiful lines of
| the play with rare feeling. understanding
force, and with much spirit. His Shy
| lock was essentially a man of flesh and
! blood, and he invariably carried his au-
| dience by the sweep of his utterances and
/ retained their sympathy throughout the
entire evening. When he recalled to An
| tonic that he had been spit upon. been
! called misbeliever, and had been kicked
! as one would a stranger cur the re-
| citaI of the many wrorgs he had been
| compelled to endure without remonstrance
was a passionate story, aad the veied
| irony, the determination to at that very
moment commence to seek revenge was
made apparent by the actors superb
! work.
! In the scene in the third act be-
Mr.. Goodwin gave the fullest mean
! ing to the words of Shakespeare.
| This is one of the few places in the play
where the dramatist forsakes blank verse
! in favor of prose, and here the actor was
i perhaps at mis- very best. In the scene
| with Tubal, the speech in which Shylock
/ is torn, turn by turn, with the conflicting
/ emotions of joy and hate as he first hears
I of Antonios misfortunes. and then as he
! learns of Jessica's spending four score of
ducatS in Genoa, he arose to great heights
| of dramatic fervor. In the trial scene he
| was distinctly magnificent. During the
/ early part of this scene he was very dig
nifled and self contained. he gave good
! idea of implacability, of grim delight at the
| thought of his approaching revenge and
| in the end. when he realized he was utter
| ~ defeated and ruined. the natural pride
| OF Shylock asserted itself and he left the
court room refusing 10 reply TO the gibes
! of Antonios friends. Here more than any
| other portion of the play, perhaps, Mr.
! Goodwin succeeded in winning the entire
sympathy of his auditors. and in this final
scene of the trial his Shylock was a
human being, not a mere stage creation.
! Ihere is no denying the fact that the great
! number of persons who went to the the
/ atTe expecting to see Mr.. Goodwin fail to
| give a satisfactory performance re-
! mained throughout. charmed delighted
/ and astonished at his remarkable inter-
probation.
! Bliss Elliott's Portia was charming
! young woman, full of life and one of tho
| most radiantly beautiful creatures ever
seen on a local stage. Her work in the
| 1Ghter scenes, especially those at Bel
! mont, were in truth her best, for she
tailed to come up to expectations in the
| trial scene, although she gave the "qual-
| ity of mercy speech with a good under
! standing of the lines. However. she did
| not impress so strongly in the garb of the
! expounder of the law as she did as the
mistress of Belmont. She made Portia
! golden haired young woman throughout
| the play except during the trial. when she
! discarded the wig in favor of her own
midnight treSSeS. From a sartoriai point
! of view Miss Elliott's Portia was the
( handsomest that has ever been presented
| before Washington audience, and her
appearance was so striking by reason of
| her wonderful beauty that she could
scarcely have failed to please her audi
J ence.
! The production itself was one Of un-
/ common beauty, the settings being really
/ sumptuous. Rarely have stage accesso-
/ ries been so consistent or costumes so ele-
! giant. The scene in POrtia s garden and
a Venice
mems of the painters art. With n few
, exceptions the company was an excellent
! Dodson, Maclyn Arbuckle, Frederick
I Perry, William Courtleigh. W. J. Le-
| Moyne, Annie Irish, and Effie Ellsler. Mr.
| Goodwins manager made the grievous
| error of selecting such popular matinee
! actors as Vincent Serrano. Harry Wood
! ruff and Aubrey Boucicaut for impor
/ tant parts, whereas they demonstrated
| the fact that they possess but little talent
/ lines much a one might expect from a
schOolboy delivering valed!ctory and de-
/ claring that To-day we stand upon the
| threshold of life They had no adequate
! conception Of the characters entrusted to
/ their care and were quite out of the at
! mosphere Of the play whenever they were
/ on view.
The following letter from Mr.. Chase's
| general manager has been received by
| The Times and is self-explanatory:
| Dramatic Editor The Times:
There is a rumor to the effect that Mr.. Chase
! is interested in Glen Echo PARK. which is abso-
lutely false and untrue. II you viii use few
! lines in your sunday paper 20 that effect the
favor viii be very much appreciated by him
H. wINNFRED DewITT
The presentation Of musical comedy at
the Columbia was brought to a close last
! night when the Duff company concluded
I a very artistic production of The Circus
! Girl" covering four nights and two matt
nees During the engagement Of this or
! ganizatiU excellent presentations OF "A
! Runaway Girl THE Geisha" and The
I Circus Girl have been given, but the peo-
/ pie of Washington have failed TO respond
I IN large enough numbers To make the un-
! dertaking success from business
/ viewpoint In commenting upon the fail
! ure OF the season, Mr.. Luckett said:
: we have offered Washingtonians the
/ best musical comedies procurable, have
/ staged them exactly as were the origi-
| nails in many instances with the same
| scenery and with new costumes, and have
/ fur. y.ished company that is as good as
( any that has been seen here for some
I wears at the regular prices. ] think in re-
! ducng our charge for seats TO 81 instead
J of retaining the regular prices OF the
/ theatre We made a mistake, as the thea
tregoers of the Capital evidently did not
[ believe we were giving them a regular
81 80 performance for 81, and, as resuit,
!
lied the presentations were kept away
/ simply on account of this reduction in
| price. Had we cut our tarIn down 10
50 and 7J cents We might have attracted
| those who want cheap entertainment ana
| do not particularly mind what quality IL
( is; but when you consider that we had a
/ company on the stage OF over hfty per
| sons with an orchestra Of eighteen, any
! one can realize what an expense we were
/ under and why we could not afford to
! offer performances at a lower figure. we
We're at an expense OF four times as
| much as the average dramatic company
that plays for 50 cents. / haven't the
slightest idea but that If we had stuck
to our regular prices we would have
drawn large audiences, for all the pieces
we put on are remarkably popular here
and none has ever before done bad bust
ness in this city,
The Duff company win play an extended
engagement at Manhattan Beach, com
mencing the middle OF next month. II the
local season was remarkable for nothing
else Il win long be remembered for the
introduction of two very talented young
women, Elgie Bowen and Grace Belmont.
Miss Bowen made her initial appearance
In an important role in THE Geisha, %
while I'm both THE Geisha'' and The
Circus Girl" Miss Belmont displayed a vo-
cal and dramatic ability that entities her
| TO a prominent position in native theatri-
Gals 1t is seldom that such good voice
is heard in musical comedy, while her act
ing is, If anything, too good for this class
of work.
One of the great surprises of the local
dramatic season has been the remarkable
record made by the Bijou Theatre under
the management of G. A Wegefarth. who
also controls the Court Street Theatre.
Buffalo, and has just leased the beautiful
Columbia Theatre, Boston, in which
David Henderson will next season make
| important productions of extravaganza