The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-02-23
ENTERTAINMENTS S.
Hyperion Thenser
EEpeFENEa NH"E''N0F
WHITNEY OPERA COMPANY TO-
MORROW AND WEDNESDAY.

MORROW AND WEDNESDAY.
The Whitney Opera company will pre-
sent Americas greatest comic opera
when Johnny Comes Marching Home"
at the Hyperion Tuesday and Wednes-
day nights this week. There will be a
matinee on Wednesday. The famous
critic Alan Dale in 1.-The American" has
this to say of the opera: And now for
the war play set to music, at the
New York, in when Johnny Comes
Marching Home" But lest you repine-
at too much war in all styles-let me
whisper to you that the new comic
opera. produced at the New York last
night, is merely war to the hook-skirts!
1t is just a cunning opportunity to con-
vert what is usually called leg show
into hoop-skirt orgy. with a sort Of
summer lingerie thrown in for good
measure.
At the close of the very first act of
Johnny last night there was not dis
senting voice; there could not possibly
have been-the success was not a mat
ter of opinion. 1t was fact. AS pref
ty and novel an act as New York has
seen in many a long day was revealed.
1t was Julian Edwards who. set these
hoop skirts to music, and was music Of
the early Sullivan calibre-jingling. jov-
ial and full of cute phrases. 1t caught
the ear and tingied there. There was
sextet and there was solo that could
not have been beaten. There was con-
certed arrangement Of THE Suwanee
River" that completely obliterated from
eoE 1f,I In CT VII
it.
And through the whole thing trooped
the hoop-slSirts. It was these that made
the hit of the evening. Never again
should the dainty girl be subjected to
the cruel and ugly barbarity of tights,
now that it has been proved beyond the
preadventure of doubt, that legs do
not count. 1t was fieeting glimpses of
neither possibilities that we obtained,
as through the hoop-skirt darkly. But
the chorus maiden took on new sig
nificance. She was no longer the brassy
ira lala miss, Haunting her anatomy in
the eyes Of fatigued public.
She dressed the stage; she had sig
niticance; she was of Importance. Her
few of her went a long way. She was a
picturesque, and-well, it as brand new,
or it seemed so. This was the novelty
New Workers wanted. That waltz in
the first act, when the huge stage of the
New York was filled with the whirling
skirts of these pretty maidens (and they
would even have been pretty in tights,
delighted the house. Blase old FOUNDERS
chuckled with glee, and when the cur
tain fell, there was an enthusiasm for a
novelty that was clearly and free from
the vulgarity of the average musical
show.
Another pleasant innovation was the
absence of the encore. In fact, nothing
occurred to mar the symmetry of the
performance. III the second act there
was surprise in the shape Of a ditty
called Katie, My Southern Rose"
Hoop-skirts again. Hoop-slSirts did it.
The song was sung with procession of
hoop skirted maidens, nodding and
| Decking that delighted everybody.
when Johnny Comes Marching
Home may be set down as an unequi-
vocal success. Julian Edwards has
never done anything better. His music
is not only popular" but it is clever.
After all. really popular music must be
clever. 1t always is If you analyze it,
though to the unthinking it may not
seem so. Mr.. Edwards did wonders
with the refrain, Johnny Comes
Marching Home" He iuggled with. it,
| tossed it up. caught it, leased it, tickled
| it, squeezed it, and got all out of it
that there was ever in it. Mr.. Edwards
must, in fact, be congratulated. The
cast distinguished themselves and sang
and acted with good effect. The comic
opera is well staged and it is in for a
good time.
Seats now on sale. Prices $3.50, 81,
75c.