The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-03-17
ST.
THEAT RE S
"The Little Duchess at the Met.

"The Little Duchess" at the Met.
Miss Anna Held was last night the
center of such a collection of female
beauty, effective color grouping and
vivacious COMEDY as has not before
been seen on the. stage of the Metro
po1tan opera house. And the few
hundred people who were turned away
| at the box Office because there was not
room for them in the house were de-
MED the novel pleasure of hearing Miss
Held make a curtain speech which in
Itself was worth the price Of adj
| mission. 80.
The house was crowded to the doors
and the audience was a first night
| gathering, fully alive to the good
| things that We're offered to the delec-
| tauon OF the eye and ear, and diScrin-
lnatingly appreciative.. At the close
| OF the second act of the piece, The
| Little Duchess" the company was
| or. and the curtain fell at the climax
! of a burst of vivacious melody that
| t1ckled the auditories Of the people and
! started the house into a demonstration
that would not be sflenced until Miss
| Held, gorgeous in a raviShing gown,
came down to the footlights and said:
Il thank you YER mooch. Your kind
| ness makes me glad. When last was
here l spik ver' little Engleesh. You
| see have learned some. I thank you
again and again." and she kissed her
| hands eIoQuently.
| Miss HeldS manager has provided
| such a vehicle for exploiting her beau
! ty and talent as has not been furnished
| an actress en- tour before in this coun-
! try. She is set down in the midst of
! company or young women quite as dis
| tinguished for their beauty as by the
| really beautiful gowns they wear.
mere are more than a score of them,
| they are stately and Vivacious by turns
! and their costumes are simply
| Dreams" as more than one girl in the
audience declared. AS the "Saidee
| Girls" they make far and away the
most fetching collection that has been
| seen on the Metropolitan stage for
| many year. Their gowns are con-
| fections, not dresses, and the grouping
| OF color as they walk up the stage
! in the chorus to the "Saidee" song is
| a thing delightful to see.
! And if the women in "The Little
! Duchess" are lovely the men are clever.
The plot is by no means exacting. But
nobody cares for that, as it affords the
more opportunity for the display of
| the peculiar talents of the people.
There is Joseph w. Herbert, who is
| really funny in the role of a bathing
| master-though why a bathing master
more than dancing master is not APP
| parent. He has the manner and the
| capacity for. provoking the risibles.
| His singing of a melange of melodies
! built on popular airs evoked DEM
| onstration. George Marion did the
| part of q continental gambler with a
marvellous capacity for being almost
anything else, and sang. when Sister
| Nell Heard Paderewski Play" fetch
| ingly. Frank Rushworth, who has
voice, did couple of songs much more
| than acceptably, and Knox Wilson, a
| jealous Russian husband, incidentally
dnFN ,fr.1f 1 l.,
! the saXophone in a manner that earned
him repeated encores. t...A -~ =
Of feminine loneliness. & and talent
| there is no end, and if her beauty and
vivacity. makes Miss Billy Norton
conspicuous above the othepss,it is be-
cause she IS happily Gasstt7M7aaaFF1ds clever
Miss Held, of courses hasAtfe, esfases1
of the stage, and is entitled to, it.. She
| possesses in large neasufe that Which
| makes the French ACTRESS apf,reeiased1
| Of the outlander. And her costumes
! they were just Anna Held and quite
! indescribable. She sings with all her,
| old grace and more effectively by rea-
| son of being more certain, of the langu-
age. =
But the -reassiag of ee4orss in the tab;
! leauX make more than anything else
! for the great success of the production.
| In the first act the chorus is cos
|
second the members attain the limit
| of their possibilities in the toilette of
| the "Saidee Girls" and in the third
and last act they become the famous
| fencing girls. Each act has its own
! climax in a beautiful stage picture.
+ One of the really funny things of
| the production is burlesque on the
! French duel in the last act An af-
| fair is arranged and there enters on
! to the dueling ground a procession,
! led by little Franz Ebert as a drum
| major, leading a band, followed by the
duelists, two photographers, repre-
| SentaiVeS of the press and the fencing
| girls. Speeches are made, the fighters
pose for the photographers, champagne
| is drank-particularly to the press. 1t
is all very funny.
'The Little Duchess will run all the
week.
Opera in Minneapolis.
| An audience that occupied every
! seat in the, house except the boxes.
and each and every one of these boxes
| was conspicueusly empty-heard the
| Castle Square Opera company last
| night sing Verdfs opera, I'll Trova-
| tore" In spite of the empty boxes the
| theater presented a gala appearance.
| the appearance of which was height
ened, as the opera progressed, by the
successive waves of enthusiasm that
| swept over1-the audience. For by it's
presentation Of the Verdi opera last
night the Castle Square Opera COM
pany most satisfactorily demonstrate
ed that opera lovers of the two cities
are to hear some good music during
! the next three weeks.
| One may question the appropriate
ness of I'll Trovatore" as an opening
| opera, but the fact remains that this
work of Verdis has an undeniabIe
| hold on the affections of most music
| lovers. Perhaps this is because it's
| dominant note is what Sidney Lanier
calls the sorrow tone that forever
| winds like a dark thread through the
! silver brocade of music" In I'll Tro-
| vatore" Verdi has picked out this
| thread until-its relief sombers every
! other color. Four voices interlace in
| this tangle of Woe-the orchestra is
but sobbing refrain and the chorus
only remembered twice-and last night
! those voices proved adequate ones.
| Often they passed the point of ade-
quacy and scared, and when they did
|