Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-14

Only one feature worthy Of note marked
the week Electrically in Omaha, the APP
pearance Of the Gordon-Shay Grand Opera
company. This organization came un-
heralded. all but unknown-although some
Of the individual members had been TO
Omaha beforehand merely slipped in TO
ell a vacancy left in the bookings at the
Boyd by the sudden and serious illness OF
Mrs. Minnie Tittel Bruno. Some appre-
hension as to the success Of the engage
ment was felt. owing to the shortness OF
the announcement and the we'll known in
difference Of Omaha people to anything
musical that does not bear the hall mark
Of greatness. Curiosity as much as any
thing else drew a fair audience to the
opening performance, at which Faust"
was given. This one performance, in spite
Of apparent shortcomings, fairly estab-
lished the company in Omaha and the
matinee on Thursday drew much better,
while the evening performance Of Carmen"
was a veritable triumph, Miss Rose Cecilia
Shay, the soprano. winning one of the most
enthusiastic and spontaneous o%vations ever
given in the city, while the whole com
pany shared in the applause. This is a
decided victory for art, both for the COM
pany and the city, and local musicians
feel that better days are %dawning. None
Va AhU oNhbA ~ -
Of a character to command more than
passing notice. At the Orpheum a very
good bill, with a single exception, which
has already been noted, entertained the
patrons OF this house. So far there Is no
evidence that vaudeville is losing any in
point Of popularity in Omaha.
Some representative patriots have taken
objections to The Bees criticism of alice
of Old Vincennes." insisting that the senti-
ment Of the play is both lofty and noble,
and that 1t serves as an excellent ~illustra-
tion OF the spirit that animated the .Ameri-
cans Of 1916 in their efforts to throw off
"the British yoke" with all due respect
for the opinions Of these surcharged souls,
the dramatic critic OF The Bee must demur
to their propositions. 1t is Just because of
a wholesome respect for the spirit that
moved the colonists in their resistance to
the DEGREES Of George III and his advisers
that the p~arading Of the cheap and tawdry
wares OF the patriotic novel type are OBJ
1ected to. One OF the most regrettable feat
ures of the Yanko-Spanko war is the fact
that, while its duration was too short to
produce and its animus too uncertain to
inspire a Francis Scott Key or a Julia
Ward Howe, It did give birth to an in
terminable list Of intolerable gush in the
form Of "old flag novels and mother"
songs. And these are being dinned at us
from the stage in the guise of revolution
ary'' or patriotic romance until the sober
minded citizen Is disguised with a condition
that allows the sentiment that induces a
man to go forth to battle to be made the
excuse for some Of the most abominable
acting and villainous play making that ever
was inflicted on patient public. Revolutions
airy Of good manners, indeed, are these puta-
tive purveyors Of patriotism, which serve
merely to cheaper the sentiment they pre-
tend to exalt, and really do harm instead
Of good.
It is not alone in this regard that alice
OF Old Vincennes" offends. Considered
solely as a play, it is about as poorly put
together as anything ever offered for public
patronage. 1t abounds with faults OF con-
struction from first to last. For example,
IN the first act, although 1t is the fall of
the year and the scene is laid at the edge
OF a ripened cornheld that skirts the banks
of the Wabash, Alice is made to invite
Annette to come and learn how to make
a cherry pie. Pumpin pie would have been
more seasonable, and apple pie more
reasonable. At the close of this act a beau
tiful cloud and sunset effect is given, and
spoiled by the presentation of a rainbow,
when there has been no suggestion of a
Iainstorm. All the really pleasant effect
Of the delightful comedy of the second act
is ruined by the injection of the cheapest
sort of melodramatic business at the
close of the act. 1t would be quite natural
for Beverly to make his escape from the
upstairs room OF Colonel Hamilton after
he has been notified that Father Beret's
canoe is waiting for him under the window.
ITn an,,Id hov1 A1eFrAvvaa Nha waon aIoA &c
was no doubt his intention. But the author
couldn't permit this. Poor Beverly is de-
prived of taking the initiative in the matter
and is required to listen to suggestions
from Alice, who has him come back into
full view of the audience, offer unnecessary
violence to a sentinel and burn the papers
where everyone but Colonel Hamilton can
see him do it. and then make enough noise
TO wake the seven sleepers in getting out
of the window. A far more effective and
natural piece of business would have been
for Beverly to disappear while the door
was closed and the sergeant was somnol-
emily watching on the outside. In the third
act the offenses against good taste and
correct dramatic construction are so many
that to enumerate them would be tedious.
One Of the most glaring. though, is the
arrangement to have Beverly stricken with
snow blindness. This is not only unneees-
sarily cruel to poor Beverly, but is directly
contrary to the nature OF the ailment, not
to speak Of its being a most serious re-
Election on the woodcraft OF the man who
had made that trip and brought Colonel
Clarke to the rescue OF Old Vincennes. 1t
is only in the open, under the glare Of the
sun, that men are taken by that painful
afiietion; never In the "trackless'' woods.
And men who know enough to find their
way about in the timber or on the plains
know also enough TO protect their eyes.
Then again, II the Wabash was out Of its
banks and the country flooded as a result
OF the heavy fall rains how was 1t possible
TO have such awful snow? And, last Of oil,
in this act, under what compulsion we're the
Americans under Colonel Clarke to notify
the British under Colonel Hamilton that the
attacking force was ready, and why, oh why,
should the red coats be required to signal
~useVsn Sha CaAa