The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-09-06
Suggestion OF Gilbert and sullivan in
"The Princess of kensington"
Brought from
NEW ACTORS AND OLD APPEAR
FARCES. DECENT AND INDECENT,
THAT ALIKE MAKE PUBLIC LAUGH.
FrivoIity Reign i'm These Early Pro-
ductions, but Serious Plays VIII
Come Later.

Correspondence Of the indianapolis Journal.
NEW YORK, Sept. 3.-The scene shows
the front of a grocery. The awning which
shades the windows when the sun shines is
rolled up, on account of a nights rain. The
grocer comes out, looks up at the clearing
sky, unties the cord which holds the avn
ing. and lets it slide down the iron frame
into its usual place. Inside the cloth is a
sleeping tramp. The spectator is surprised
by the sudden disclosure of him, ana
! laughs i'm paroxysms when he tumbles
down the incline and lands in a ragged heap
on the ground. That is the way in which
the dramatic season of 190S-190i opened in
New York city. The tramp was Nat NJ.
! Wills. whose excessive caricature of the
wayside wanderer had been familiar i'm
vaudeville, and who thus made his entry
in the full-length play of "A Son of Rest"
Comedians will tell you that an audiences
| first laugh is hard TO get. But with this
original device of the awning chute Mr.
Wills finds it easier to start the merri-
ment than TO keep it going. A tramp
wearies us quickly, because his soggy ugli-
ness, at first funny. becomes stale TO the
point of revulsion. But Mr.. Wills sings.
| dances anu JOKES WELL N - hNAPN -
other jolliers. so that there results an en-
tertainment to enjoy more or less, according
to your taste and temper, and then to for
give and forget.
The first theatrical occasion Of the New
York season came on Monday night with
the introduction of "A Princess Of Kensing-
tom Then gathered again that Broadway
| audience of dramatic experts, lay and pro-
fessionaL. which agrees or disagrees, as the
case may be, on the question whether the
play deserves to succeed or TO fail. Even
if this decision is nearly unanimous, how
ever, il sometimes is reversed by the more
general public. In the present instance. the
| initial opinion was diverse. because "A
Princess of Kensington' is a departure
| backward from the musical play which has
of late had the vogue with US. Ii makes a
| return to comic opera, and what Is more
venturesome to the kind of comic opera
Gilbert and Sullivan wrote. 1t is brought
to us from the London theater, where the
G.. & S. brand of tuned satire prospered-
Basil Hood is a long way off from Gilbert
and Edward German is only a little less
distant from Sullivan, though both are
adopts at the work in which they bravely
risk comparison, or contrast. with the G..
& s. as yet inimitable product. While the
III. 81 @. substitute is not, as the druggists
say, Just as good as the original article.
to my mind it is acceptable when we cam
not get any more Of the genuine. Its theme
is an interference by Oberon and his fairies
with the affairs of some quite mortal Lon
doners. Out of the haze and maze OF COM
| plications come spells when the men can
be funny and the women fascinating; and
the mounting is so ornate that the play is
| a beautiful exhibition all the while.
xxx
| Nothing in "a Princess of K~ensington'
was more interesting TO me than the COUNT
er-struggle for supremacy by two come
dams, James It. Powers and William
Stephens the one a familiar acquaintance
and the other a stranger from London. As
soon as Mr.. Powers entered, in the guise OF
a sailor. hltched up his waistband, rolled
up his eyes and threw up his squeaky voice,
we all knew il was time to laugh because
we were instantly aware that he was funny.
And he grew funnier will a hornpipe, with
a cracking succession of jokes. with gro-
tesqueries OF manner as a willing wooer Of
a girl in every port, and especially as one
of a sea-going quartet in an irresistibly
droll song and dance The fact was that
Mr.. Powers had hardly ever been placed in
a role more advantageously. So the advan-
tage was with him over Mr.. Stephens, who
acted the fairy Puck in a variety of mortal
DISCUSSES with a plenty of English strenu-
BUSINESS, but scarcely enough Of American
JUNCTION. 1T was slowly, and not till he dis
played his ability in the graphic pantonime
OF a song about love in a cots ge-illustra-
tive of a misunderstanding duties Of an inn
poverished housewife-that he got alongside
of Mr.. Powers in the aughter and applause.
If you have seen Mr.. Powers go through the
motions of a woman at her toilet and dis
cerned how thoroughly he agrees with You
that the imitation is amusing you can be-
lieve me that he must have begrudged that
pantomimic Datter song-of itself the most
Gilbertian thing in the play-to his stage
rival, who won a rather tardy recognition
as a capable comedian by means of 1t. As
for me, l find more satisfaction in new tall
ent than in old. There was a Dora De Fill
lippe. who sang top notes naively. and a
Lily Birchem. who danced with thin and
nimble legs. and both enchanted me all the
more because had never seen them before
Am [ disloyal to the favorites?
XXX
The players OF Three Little Maids" on
Tuesday night were. with one exception.
strangers altogether. Charles FrOhman
had brought over one OF his London COM
panies. The audience received the strang-
ers with a politeness that was too silent
TO seem at all cordial, and then waited
hopefulIy for them TO do things decisive.
II was curious TO watch these debutantes
while they were making our acquaintance.
Most of them had played their parts two
years and therefore might well have felt
sure of themselves. But New York and
London have often disagreed over stage
shows. "Adonis" was rejected when Mr..
Dixey and his company offered il over there.
after il had been longer accepted here than
any other play. with one exception. and
we had in our turn fouted 9Th Shop
Girl" Notwithstanding il came 60 Broad
way with a east Of LondOners who had be-
come home favorites in IL. So there was
peTceptible trepidation among these new
visitors when they first faced people who
received them with no applause. The only
welcomed one was q. Il. Huntley. whose
reputation had preceded him. but even he