Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-12

i'm Gounod's opera OF Faust" The cast:
Marguerite ....s.,..'..... Rose Cecelia Shay
Stebel Pauline Johnson
Martha Lena Winters
Faust. ..........u....... Joseph Fredericks
Mephisto ..'....'"s........... John Dunsmure
Valentine ..............A..'... Achlle Alberu
Wagner .............. George Francis Beard
signor Nacocious, musical director.
Grand opera. sung to a very good Eng
lish translation, as found in the schirmer
edition, was the attraction at the Boyd
last night. The company presenting this
short season is called the Gordon-Shay
Grand Opera company. The work selected
for the opening night was the .GounOd
masterpiece, Faust" II is, as every one
knows who is at all familiar with musical
works, a dificuit opera to sing and a most
important member of grand opera repertoire
at all times and in all places.
In reviewing such a production as that
which was given last night one must take
into consideration two important facts;
first, that much OF the beauty OF a work
like Faust" is lost in the translation, the
English language not lending itself readily
to the beautiful legato effects and vowel
coloring Of the italian or French. In the
second place, one cannot expect a mammoth
production. with a grand orchestra and
~all-star cast, at the prices which prevail
under the caption Of regular"
With these reflections, therefore, II is
to be said that the company under discus
sion does some work that is really excel
lent, and a great deal that is full OF SINGER
ity and earnest ambition to please the audi
ence. That this WIS appreciated by the
audience was shown by the very spontane-
Gus outbursts Of applause which followed
many bits of the evenings work.
6N.--
did some excellent things. Her lower tones
are beautiful, and when she does not be-
come too strenuous In the attack OF her
high tones her singing Is convincing. 1t is
easily to be seen that she is more adapted
to a role like Carmen" than that of Mar
guerita. Her grace Of pose, her genuine
acting and her Interpretation are each
highly commendable.
OF Mr.. Albert, 1t may be easily and
truthfully stated that he is an absolute
model Of finished acting. In the slightest
! movement the man makes one sees the
artist, and did he have no musical prowess
to exploit, he would still challenge admira-
ton as an actor. But, he has a glorious
voice, which ne knows how to use, and an
authority of singing that is a pleasure to
see and a good thing to try to initiate.
Mr.. Fredericks, as Faust, was promising.
He is a young man yet, and time will bring
to him the fruition Of much that is now in
the bud. His voice showed capability of
doing big things. at times. and at other
times he obviously strained after effects
which were not secured. When he cut
loose some Of his tones were beautiful and
full Of the true tenor ring.
Mr.. Dunsmure. as Mephfstopheles, scored
a great success, his admirable stage pres
ence and fine low tones assisting in a very
satisfactory portrayal Of his internal
majesty.
I The rest OF the support was conscientious
Miss Johnson, as Siebel. showing some ad-
mirable high tones. The chorus was In
good condition and the orchestra was fair
some cello solo work being noticeably
good.
This afternoon al ,Trovatore" will b.
the bill and tonight the dashing and brill
liant Carmen"