Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-28
THE THEATER.
Columbia Theater.

To hold an audience for hours spellbound
by grace of manner and melody of voice, to
invest u role with so much human vitality
that the popular intelligence ceases to
clamor for surprises of plot and turns with
close and sincere interest to the study of
one of the humblest of fate's unfortuna tes
these are triumphs which the stage records
but seldom, and which serve to make the
word art" as applied to acting something
more than an empty assumption. Such was
the achievement by which Mr.. Skinner won
the plaudits of the audience that visited
the Columbia Theater last night to see his
performance of "Lazarre."
There is a disposition to distrust the
actor-made play. and this is a dramatiza-
ton by two actors. Mr.. Skinner himself and
Mr.. Aubrey Boucicault. The work of the
actor is essentially one Of detail and elabora
ton; that of the playwright the attainment
of general and harmonious effect In his
ambition to carry, SO to speak, the principal
theme of the composition, the actor is often
content If permitted to sound the loudest
note. however discordant 1t may be. FOrtu-
nately for this particular dramatization,
there is not enough incident in the original
story to threaten any clash of interest. At
tention is legitimately fastened first and all
the time upon the one character. Lazarre,
and this in the face of the very competent
work done by Miss Durbin as the woman
who inspires first his ambition and later his
resignation to obscurity, and by Miss
Nanette Comstock. who infuses an element
of v1vacious comedy into an occasional scene
without impairng the dignity of the. pro-
auction. Yet this lack of incident is
very serious defect in the play.
Inc intense pathoS which attaches to ex-
lied and unrecogniZed royalty has been
fruitful inspiration for poets, novelists and
dramatists. 1t is only when the talents of
all three are united in a single individual,
as In the case of the author of ''L'Aiglon."
that wholly satisfying work is produced.
AS character LaZarre is more admirable
than L'Aiglon He is not a weakling but
man who has lived in close communion
with nature, and to whom freedom is
better even than the sDlendor of a court.
His sense of justice rebels against the plot
to deprive him of his birthright, but it is a
pure sense of justice. unsullied by material
ambition And his final rejection of the
opportunity to claim his royal dignitieS Is
inspired by the lofty sentiment of lovers
devotion instead of representing the final
defeat in an Intellectual struggle. The hero
ism of the character has been beautifully
developed in the dramatization and is finely
emphasized by Mr.. SINNERS portrayal
The work lacks the meta phoric warmth
the spontaneous eloquence needful to give
1t rank as great play. 1t is mainly
valuable for the opportunities it offers Mr..
Skinner for defamation. So subtle are his
infections and so closely related are sense
and sound in his every utterance that the
sympathies are completely conquered.
There is scarcely phrase that is worth re-
membering, and yet the characterization
is noble and complete.
The cast includes Walter Allen in a dis
Greet and effective comedy role which gives
him several charming scenes with Miss
Comstock, and Mr.. Welles, who is intrusted
with the immensely difficult task of giving
picture of Napoleon in one of his tenn
pestuous moods. The scenery is of excep-
tional beauty The setting which repre-
sents Lazarre's home among the Indians
on the shore of Lake George is a striking
example of the perfection to which the
stage may be brought in the Interpretation
of scenes from nature.