The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-11-07
PROVIDENCE OPERA HOUSE.

At the Providence Opera House for the
balance OF the week Amelia Bingham in
"A Modern Magdalen." as adapted from
something. not mentioned I'm the bill of
the play, by Haddon Chambers.
A play of extraordinary strength and
intense interest, performed by COM
pany that could not be surpassed in their
work by any selection that could be made
from the long roll OF the contemporane-
Gus stage.
Remarkable as is the play the company
that produces II Is, on the whole, the
more remarkable.
Days. or the Lyceums. stock at their
best could not have been superior.
Fancy three such talented and tried
actors as Mr.. Wilton Lackaye, Mr.. Henry
f. Dlxey and Mr. Joseph Holland packed
into one cast Of only ordinary numerical
proportions!
Here you have a leading man and
tude, who is acknowledged 10 be at the
head OF the profession. Here you have
an inimitable character artist, one whom
the latter day stage has produced few
who are more proficient. Here you have
still another leading man in lighter role.
who Is unexcelled in whatever he essays.
III is years since Mr.. Lackaye has visit
ed this town. we should say. Unless we
may overlook rare call in recent years
the first, last and only time that he
played conspicuously on the opera house
stage was as leading man In the support
OF Rose Coghlan in the beautiful but Ill
fated drama, "Jocelyn." New York
mostly monopolizes him. AS for Mr.
Dixey We have hardly had chance TO
gauge him since the Adonis days-since
he has developed so marvellously In stage
work OF truly commanding kind. Mr.
Holland Is a more frequent caller and
always favorite with Providence audi
ences. Then there is In the cast Mr.
Ferdinand Gottschalk, the inimitable
comedian, who Is in class by himself
And the ladies' of the company are
equally admirable. though with the ex-
eeption OF the part assigned to Mrs.
Madge Carr Cook their roles are not i'm
portant. Mrs. Cook, however is a star
OF the same magnitude as the men we
have mentioned.
Verify, Miss Bingham does not fear to
surround herself with the best And she
need not She shines In this brilliant
company sufficiently, while the excellence
OF her associates serves to MAINTAIN
due proportion. and there is none OF that
stellar binding and obscuring of the
stage that Is not as rare as II should be-
even In these days OF consummate stage
Such a company as Miss Bingham has
gathered around her would not be over
wheimed by any star that's going. And,
on the other hand, amid such associates.
Miss Bingham is duly supreme, just the
same. The picture is brilliantly complete,
without flaw and OF unvarying har-
mony all the time.
And what a delightfully."- satisfied feeling
an audience has when IL is played to by
such combination.
As for "A Modern Magdalen" II Is a
play without n purpose-which is not the
same thing as saying that II is without
character-and q problem play. In the
problem Of which an audience can have
rfiCnlar intorPct-whiNh
same thing as saying that the play has
not interest
On the contrary. the play is OF the most
vital and virile character and II IL inter
esting often TO the extreme OF intensity.
II Interest I'm the play were dependentN
upon the problem in IL the play would be