Omaha daily bee., 1902-05-04
Coming Events.

never acted better or to a more appreei-
alive audience.
Coming Events.
This afternoon and tonight are the
concluding performances Of the present en-
gagement OF the Grace Hayward company
at the Boyd. The sensational melo-drama,
"Reaping the Whirlwind," will be the bill
at both performances. Mr.. Ferris in
augurates his summer season at this house
Sunday, May rs.
John Drew will offer at the Boyd tomor-
row night and Tuesday night his latest
comedy. The Second in Command" The
play is from the pen OF Captain Robert
Marshal. author Of "a Royal Family and
His Excellency, the Governor" 1t had a
most successful run Of five months at the
Empire theater. New York. All his critics
have declared that 1t is the best thing Mr..
Drew has ever done. The hero is Major
Kit Bingham, and the play is the story Of
Major KITS love-making with fascinating
Muriel Mannering, his chum's sister. Mr..
Drew is better liked in the role Of Major
Kit" than In any other OF his career. 1t
gives him the finest opportunities for act
ing that he has ever had, showing more
phases OF his art and revealing all the
skill as we'll as the dramati power at his
command. The role of Muriel Mannering
is in the hands Of Miss Ida Conquest, whose
personal beauty is accentuated by the
charming costumes she wears, and whose
impersonation of the heroine adds to the
completeness and pleasure Of the per-
Torrance. Miss Conquest is still Mr..
Drew's leading lady. The other members
Of the company are: Guy Standing, Os-
valid Yorke, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis
Baker, F.. Newton-Linds, Reginald Caring
ton, Robert Schable, Percy Smith, Robert
Mackay. Ida Vernon and Louise Drew.
The Country Girl" in which Kathryn
Kidder will be seen at the Boyd Wednes-
day and Thursday nights and a special
matinee Thursday, is claimed by some to
be equal to any Of the Shakespearian come
dies. The play has been amusing audiences
since 1915, when 1t was originally produced
at the Theater Royal in London. The
comedy, which was the work of William
Wycherley, was first known by the title OF
THE Country Wife, In 1865 another YER
sion Of the play appeared, this time called
THE Country Girl" The author was
David Garrick. The play abounds in in
teresting features which always gain the
approval of t~heatergoers. Some of the
most noted actresses in England and in
this country have essayed the role Of Peggy,
the comical heroine of THE Country Girl, {"
who outwits her jealous old guardian, and
finally, through a clever ruse, weds the
young man Of her choice. Perhaps the
best remembered scene in the piece is in the
park. where Peggy disguised as a boy is
taken for a stroll by her guardian. The
efforts Of her lover to talk with her and
the desire Of her guardian to keep her away
from all men but himself, are a basis for
a series OF complications which never fail
to c~onvulse the audience.
During her engagement of three per-
~formances. which opens Friday night at
Boyd's, Blanche Walsh will present two
plays, Janice Meredith" and La Made
leine." TIL former will be given Friday
night and Saturday matinee, and the latter
Saturday night. Mary Mannering showed
Omaha theatergoers the worth OF Janice
Meredith" early in the season. Miss Walsh
has been unusually successful in the piece.
La Madeleine" is a new play from the
pen of H. ]. Dam, a newspaper man. The
scenes are laid in Paris at the present
time, and the last scene finds Madeleine
witnessing the marriage Of the woman she
hates to the man she loves and for whom
she has given up all her hopes. 1t is in
the chapel of the Virgin. at st. Roch. She
holds in her hands a rosary, and when the
crisis comes her animal nature rises above
spiritual influence and she casts the crucifx
from her in a frenzy of rage and despair.
Then, when she hears the m and
the Hateful words are spoken which link to
another the man she loves, she drinks a
poison. As her senses begin to leave her
she realizes that she is dying, and with
dim eyes and shaking fingers searches the
floor for the crucihx. At last she finds it,
and with a smile of consolation on her face
death comes. Miss Walsh is surrounded
this year by . very capable company OF
players.
Next week is the last one of the cur
rent regular theatrical season Of the
Boyd. Three attractions I'LL II, one being
the most notable one OF the season
Mansfield in "Beaucaire." Others are:
when Reuben Comes to Town." a big
musical comedy Of the New York casino
sort, and May Irwin. in The Widow
Jones'" Miss Irwin puts the period to
the season Sunday night, May IS. For
three successive seasons she has done SO.
h last bill Of the season at the Or
pheum begins with the matinee today, the
curtain ringing dow for the last time this
season on a double bill on next Saturday
night, for Immediately after the regular
professional program the climax will be
reached. with an amateur performance.
The most pretentious Of the weeks offer
ings is the presentation OF the sterling one
act comedy drama, Tactics" by the Bar.
rows-Lancaster company. who were seen
in II several seasons back. II. reveals
the true American spirit and portrays the
sending into obscurity of the last vanish