Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-28
At the PLAYHoUSES


At the boyd.
Chaperons." Book and lyrics by Frederic
Ranken. Music by Isidore Whitmark'
The cast:
AigernOn o'shaunnessay. studying rapid
Adam Hogs. a pork packer Of Cincinnati
and president OF the international
Society for the Investigation ana
Suppression of Vice. George K. Henery
Augustus, his valet. -. Thomas II. burton
Signor Ricardo Bassini' proprietor of a
stranded opera company; ....x.
Edward Metcalfe
schnitEel, a bill poster. ........; Ead heoway
Tom Schuyler, American student of
vocal music at Paris conservatory
Albert harrington
Amanthe Dedincourt, managing director
Of framed hapero May Boley
Phrosia, an admirer Of Old sleuth 'ir..:
v,ois, SmiIsI ward Of ADAM HoEE,
and masquerading as Coraola in the
Paris Conservatory q Chaperons..'
Hortense, prima donna contraltO in Bas-
stni's company ............Jesstca duncan
Jacquelin. prima donna SOPRANO In Bast
sini's company ..............Mae oIeppihs
And chorus OF nifty.
II all chaperons were like Frank L.. Per-
ley's chaperons, opening at Boyd's last
night. the rest OF a crowd would be in i'm
minent danger Of being forgotten. For YER
lily the Perley bunch is a likely one, thor
oughbred and with a champagne flavor.
From the opening chorus. 'Vive la Bohe-
mia" to the valedictory. a freely ensemble
Of unique effect, something worth seeing
or hearing is happening Just about every
second Of the time. The wordplay In the
dialogue Is considerably brighter than the
average and the music Is all t%uneful, pref
ty and infectious.
Mr.. Walter Jones, given the top Of the
bill, is so good that an audience forgets ne
can't sing a lick in his present condition
because OF a temporary huskiness. Miss
May BoIey as the trainer Of chaperons ts a
dainty piece OF handiwork with a very ac-
ceptable voice, a very clever way of being
saucy and a very dexterous way OF using
eyes that are worth going some blocks to
see. Miss Eva Tanguay, as "Phrosia, the
girl detective" Is q clownish wonder who
made good in a part SO impossibly absurd
that a less skillful and less energetic
worker must have fallen very, very nat
with It. Her my Sambo" and accom-
panying dance was one OF the decided hits
Of the performance. The oriental dance
Of Miss stebbins also came In for such lib
eral applause that she was forced TO re-
appear four times. Genevieve Day as VI
olet Smilax, a runaway ward. sang her
way ana played ueI HAy mNo bAOeN N"'S
very early in the game, and was still there
when time was called. Edward Metcalfe, as
Bassini, stranded maker of operate for
tunes, furnishes a little comedy and a very
great deal of good music. for his is a
strong and a splendid voice. Ed Redway
as schnitzel. a bill poster; George X. Hen
cry as Adam Hogs. pork packer, and
Thomas H. Burton as Augustus. his valet
put in whatever fun Jones and the rest
have forgotten. The chorus is large and
good, the staging is fair and the costumes
diversified and pleasing.
In the FIRST act there are nine special
numbers and in the second act eight more
Il is not going too far to say that the whole
seventeen are very good, and It is ONLY
fair to chronicle that OF the seventeen onlI
three were allowed to escape with Response
to one encore last night. The audienc'
was large and it's enthusiasm grew unit
some OF the ehaperoning crowd simply ha'
20 decline the invitation to come again
because Of exhaustion. Musically the piec'
is more pretentious than might be sus
pected, and some Of the numbers are per
feet gems.
The engagement closes with this after
Moons matinee and tonight's performance