The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-12-21
COLORFUL "NANCY BROWN"
IS FULL OF SPARKLE.

| Not from the moment the curtain rises
until 1t falls does Nancy Brown lack In
| movement. color. sparkle, life and laugh
ter. The music is good. the story is as
coherent as 1t may be. and it comes to
us with a good cast. good scenery and
good staging-marred with nothing that
savOrs of New YOrk's habit of cutting of
| the frills and leaving an incomplete rem
nant of show. deemed good enough
| for the West" 1t proves that, out of the
peculiar vein of entertainment. the strict
something artistic. and which yet retains
the gags and the exaggerated types,
dances and songs at which audiences like
to laugh.
an artless artfulness that enables her to
get the sympathy of an audience before
she has had the stage five minutes.
Strange strange thing about her! She seems to
appreciate the fun in the authors lines
ana does not go upon the mistaken suppo-
sitlon that point has to be driven into
people with a sledGehammer or a pile
driver or by extraordinary contortions OF
ngure and distortions OF face. IL she
springs a quip. her features light up and
her body is a-tremble with fun. She says
her lines with all the archness OF the
clever woman who knows that clever
thing must be said cleverly. Which means
that she Is natural.
BE 1t said that she Is something more
than plump. But she makes worth while
the more than generous amount of her.
The why of her success Is not difficult to
perceive. She does rot use any frayed and
WORKOUT ''business''.any of those tricks
that must have originated with Noah on
Mount Ararat. If she has borrowed any
where. it is from May Irwin; but she tenn
pers the 1rwinesIue down very great
deal. retaining chiefly that saving. sense
with delicate infection she recites never
endeavoring to strain infections or intona-
tons. She sings without an attempt to do
the high operate. without the raspiness
OF voice which characterizes the singer
who tries ambitious vOcalization without
the necessary voice. She has some notes
that are sweet. OF these she makes the
best. but she doesn't yell the others as if
determined to force us into thinking that
bad voice Is good one because it Is
loud.
The style Of the fun in her lines is pref
ty much the same. As she tells the story
OF her life-Nancy Brown's-she says: Il
was poor girl. My father died and left
me only a million dollars. He said. My
daughter, it is not much for an American
girl. but it is better than nothing. Go out
into the world, my girl. and earn living.
Don't do the middle classes, or any other
classes-but the hest; Do the best. A.
matrimonial agent of New York. who goes
to the great Kingdom of BaIIyhoo. there
foreign p0 noblem sn BaIyhoo n IS one Of
those new countries discovered by the
American comic opera writer's, and which
by now is fairly well known to the civil
lized world.
1t gives opportunity to put on two gor-
geous scenes. the first redolent with out
of-door sunlight and vistas of fantastic
architecture: the second blazing with the
colorful radiance of the interior Of a
barbarian palace.
or course II gives the chance also of in
Producing Oriental beauties. fair and br.l-
dance: and some Of whom-strange to say
can sing. And the Bey Of Ballyhoo and
the Crown Prince. son of the Bey: and
the PrinSess Barnoo' danshte5 81 the se ni
whole lot of other cuckoos, doodoos.
woowoos. shoOshoos and googoos that
never could have been and never were
in the heavens above. or the earth below.
or the waters under the earth-of course
all these are introduced. They all get
tangled up In extraordinary complications.
but distribute a good time as they go
along, and Furthermore end up by get.
ting tangled I'D in the usual hymeneal
miN-up. After that it is wake up-for the
audience.
The features of the performance are all
good Of their kind. from the show girls
to the soubrette. to the second and third
comedy parts, and to Miss Cahill. Some
e best VINE in its eass that ST. aa
has seen this year, are: Miss Clara Pal
mer. Miss Donah Benrimo. Miss Helen
Sherwood. Miss Alice Knowiton,. Miss Jo-
Beban. Julius Steger. Harry Bown. H. W.
frederick and ALI Grant. The six Ameri-
can heiresses are study In personal at
fractions. costumes and 50 on.
In THE Awakening of Mr.. Pipp." at the
Grand opera-house. Charley Grapewin has
brought together number of clever
vaudeville performers and during the
three acts of the piece the fun is unin-
terrupted
MIR. Pipp" was evolved from one-act
sketch given at Forest Park Highlands
last summer. This playlet proved anus
ing. and the elaborated version. with spe-
cialties here and there. is far more enter
tanning. 1t has to do with Pipp's domestic
lfelicities, caused for the most part. by
a tyrannical mother-in-law.
Grapewin plays Pipp. The lissome Miss
Anna Chance appears as Mrs. Pipp and
Annie Travis. a capital character imper-
is seen as the mother-in-law.
The first act brings out Pipps discomfort
and final effort to bring things to climax
oy dining downtown" The next shows
nis awakening after 1.-The dinner" In this
scene Grapewin is constantly funny. He
md Miss Chance develop the comical
zones the closing act in which all is ex- |
planned and the erring Pipp vindicated.
Among the new songs introduced are |
How l Love the Drama" The Races"
'Florrie" and Tell Ne. Sweetheart"
"Das HeIrathsnest' CThe Marriage
NesO by Gustav Davis. which was pre-
ented by the German stock company at
he Odeon last night. caught the risibles
II large audience The play was 50 full
" humor that the members of the cast
themselves were caught by it. thereby
making the hilarity all the more real.
Iilma Won Hohenau in the role of the
widow, who comes 10 koutliac in single
and catches the communicating |
Colonel the second day after he has ar
lived. is a typical exponent of the char
Icter from which the play Is named. Ru-
Iolph Horsky played the ne'er-do-well
Military chap as he is found in large num-
,ers at Berlin and Vienna. Leonie Ber-
ere. Agnes Waldman. Mrs. Victoria Webb
Markham and Hans Loebel gave excel
ent support. Next Thursday night I'M
'unten Rock" will be repeated.
At the Imperial Theater 1.-THE Charity
Nurse" an interesting and rather we'll