Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-08

- for it's presentation. Two thou
Iez4tSM sand artisans to lay its founda-
tions-300 people to make 1T
sparkle and glitter, and 100000 expended
before the first Performance
Such, in brief, is the history of an Eng
lsh spectacle recently transplanted to
America.
Months before it's New York managers
figured on bringing it across the sea- ar
lists were working it out in the dingy
old cfices of a London playhouse, in the
fog hung stduios IF the British metropolis,
and in the stuffy workshops of Paris. The
managing director of the historic home of
pantomime and the ballet master spent
weeks in studying color plates, sorting,
grouping throwing this one out and or
fiug that one drawn on different lines.
y When the plans were pronounced good
400 men and women found employment
on the 200 costumes, costing over $4,000,
and as much as the scenery. Half that
number helped to build and paint ten dis
tinct sets of scenery and to manufacture
the properties. And during the months in
which expert hands wrought, the players
and dancers were not idle. English re-
heareals move slowly and with strict at
tention to detail. The English dancer is
not so quick to grasp instructions as her
American sister, but once having mastered
them she is not to be shaken or confused
When all this has been accomplished and
Boxing night with it's throng of holiday
jewellers is q thing of the past, the Amer
lean manager appears on the scene, sur
veying the production with a critical eye
and figuring on its possibilities in his own
country Accompanying him are his Ii
bretts', his master mechanic, his clectri-
clan and his costumer Gradually the little
party scatters, the master mechanic and
the electrician to be swallowed up in that
mysterious realm "behnd the scenes" not
to emerge until they have passed upon
the novelties in stage mechanism and have
studied the details OF their construction.
The costumer is lost in the maze of tex
lures and colors known as the wardrobe
room, and the manager and his librettict
shut themselves up in their hotel to study
the book and the lyrics.
Then, when the American rights are
secured, 1t is back to New York, and
silence on this particular topic for months.
But under cover of silence work is pro-
. crossing steadily. The book is frs writ
ten to please American theater-goers, for
jokes which tickled the London spectators
were originally borrowed from American
plays and cannot be retained. The dialogue,
too, must be cut for English humor is too
slow a coming to suit Americans. The
lyrics have already been heard in America.
So, by the time the librettist and lyric
writer finish their work, only the skeleton
of the book remains, on which to hang the
krgeous costumes and the glittering seen
cry which comes over from England.
1t is in their scenic effects and their cos
tunes that the English stage directors
eclipse all rivals. They spend not only
lavishly but well, and in return for an
expenditure Of 100000 they have an equip
ment so solid and of such excellence of
material and workmanship that it will live
to dazzle two continents.
In the meantime. the new scenes de-
manded by the American book are being
built, the drawings for the 200 costumD g
needed for typicaly American specioIties
are being made in New York This work is
pretty we'll disposed OF when the trst Eng
lsh shipment arrives, under bond Novem-
Der /. The second installment arrives a
/ month later, and both are divided into three
lots.
The costumes are taken to a big lott In
Broadway theater where 200 men and
women, the force Of a good sized garment
factory, are waiting to receive them and