Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-03
MUSIC

| h1lar1ouSly and abundantly welcomed at the
| Columbia Theater this week. The readiness
| of the public to settle down and be amused
was fully demonstrated by the large BUSH
ness done at this theater. Babes in Toy
land' proved to be one of the largest enter
| prises ever launched. but it was a dsap-
poiptment in affording the clever people in
1 the company but scant opportunity. Chase 8
had the standbys Mcintyre and Heath,
who are such favorites that whatever they
| do Is sure to meet with a measure of ap-
| prevail 1t Is safe to say that no sketch
| they can ever get will supplant THE Geor-
gia Minstrels' in popular affection.
y
The opinion of one person If often inter-
| esting. and the subjoined communica ton
has at least the merit of being comprehen-
sively and consistently pessimistic:
Editor Evening Star: Without desiring
| to usurp the solemn functions of the dra-
| matte critic. beg you to grant me place in
your columns for few remarks presented
IN hopes of sympathy from fellow play
viewers from nOn-profeSSional standpoint.
Inc professional writer sympathiZes with
the professional actor. He cannot help It,
1t would be unprOfessional to do otherwise
Both are frauds in a certain sense, mas
much as they disguise their own personali-
Ties and seek to meet the popular within.
mere Is no more legitimate object of criti-
honest he may be in a pecuniary sense he
is an arrant impOster in most cases. For
no man of sufficient intelligence to WELD
the vocabulary he habitually employs could
arise TO so much literary enthusiasm over
trivial farce-comedies, pallid society au-
thors and song and dance actors except in
sycophantic Difference to that awful po-
tency. popular taste" The musical COM
edy. which is ofttimes neither musical nor
comic, interests the public. Therefore your
dramatic critic must needs discuss it with
all the seriousness that he would show
budding aSpirant for honors in the Shakes
pearean drama
Did mention Shakespeare?
Pardon me.
Shakespeare Is an anachronsm. so far as
the metropolitan theater is concerned
Lots of actors going to produce him this
year, of course.
There is the great difficulty about Shake
speare He isn't protected by copyright.
Anybody can. take chance at him You
must buy license to open saloon or run
push cart restaurant, but anybody can
blaze away at the immortal bard. He Is
the universal target of the theatrical pro-
feSsion, like the negro who Is bombarded
with base balls at rural fairs If you hit
the colored man you get cigar. If you
land on Shakespeare you get reputation.
The negro can dodge. but Shakespeare is
obliged to- stand and take it. How many
of the Shakespearean REVEALS which have
been planned were sincere efforts to secure
a permanent footing in the classic drama
TdNcISildHi y feOHl6O$ Is TednemDere0, is
Maud Adam$ juliet. In town one day and
out the next, kyrle Bellew and demure
Miss Robeson were equally rapid in transit.
None OF these sudden ShakeSpearean stars
stay in one town long enough to see what
the newspapers have to say about them
Yet they need not fear, for their really
admirable achievements in other fields have
SO endeared them that an inadequate per-
formance OF Shakespeare en- PEASANT Is
garded as a personal luxury in which they
ought, because of past obligations, to be
| INDUCED if fancy so directs them.
Miss Bertha Galland imbued the Washing
ton public with the idea that her deter
mined ambition was to shine as Juliet and
Lady Teazle. The professional scribes took
her seriously, and gave her yards of adula-
ton and few paragraphs of genuine good
advice.
When it comes down to a question of get
ting money into the box office to pay Sala-
ries and railway fares for the regular sea-
son, Miss Galiand provides herself with
plain, every day dramatized book and floods
the country with the news that her first
appearance In the new play was a plethoric
success, and that the populace Of Scranton.
Pa, thinks she is great.
1t is the pleasant privilege of the stellar
aspirant to reap the rewards and avoid the
penalties Of failure. When the local man
ager. who backed Miss Galland. was ap-
preached with the jocose salutation. How
are you. Mr. Augustin Daly?' He an
swered Il don't want to be Gus DAILY.
want to be Gus HILL" Gus Hill never tries
/ do not complain because the dramatic
reviewer fails to observe a stage production
from the precise position of the average
playgoer. Yet there is pathos in the spec
tacle of man who can write the English
language and put in the proper punctuation
being compelled by custom to produce
essays on productions like those now on ex-
hibtion at our thea
THE Sultan of Sulu'' presents a rompinp
bevy of girls. There is d comedian but his
comedy does not differ sufficiently from
that of the conventional vaudeville joker to
entitle him to the superior consideration
which custom assigns him, for no better
| reason than that he Is playing in front of
an augmented orchestra and an audience
arrayed in evening clothes. 1t is the quail
ty of the audience rather than the quality
of the performance that guides criticism
The succession of musical comedies from
| week to week and season to season is very
much like the menu of boiled dinner The
various dishes have different names. but
the common identity of their origin Is i'm
mediately apparent. There should be no
| need of criticism. Having discussed the
first ditto marks ought to suffice for all
the rest That experience justfies this hor-
ror of the original on the part of producers
| cannot be denied. Mr.. Savage In presenting
THE Sultan Of Sulu'' went no farther than
| to land American military and naval folk
| on oriental territory. instead of using Brit
| ish uniforms. as the London stage has made
customary Yet 1t Is a daring departure
| and is such a jar to the monotony that 1t
| situations and characters are all good old
| friends. and the only striking melody in the
piece belongs to Since I First Net You"
| This is the familiar tune which was applied
| to the Tale Of Kangaroo" and that
| is itself the offspring of long and hard
| working ancestry of "reminiscences. The
| vocal gem gof the performance was the so
| prano solo, Like EVERY Morn Send Thee
Violets." which Hubert Wiil1e popularized
| in THE Little Duchess" 1t Is a good old
| musical albnM classic entitled Car
| mena.' not subject to copyright and
| therefore claiming no credit for its
authors on the program. The ingratitude
of genius is shown by the fact that num-
Der of authors and composers have stipu-
lated in their contracts this season that
nothing shall be introduced except by writ
ten consent And yet the rag time ballads
of those two remarkable negro Composers.
Cole Johnson. have saved many a show
1t must be admitted that The Babes In
Toyland" departs. from the musical comedy
routine. It is not in the beaten path. II is
away over in the lofty heritage by the way
side. Victor Herbert, whose eminence as a
composer makes his opinion authoritative
evidently considers his music good. or he
would not have 1t performed; SO there ia no
room for argument on that point But the
production. lavish and beautiful as It was.
did not content the playgoers of this city.
Interest In Ii was most mild when ire aao1i,