The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-08-02
"THE TOREADOR" Is FINELY
SUNG BY BRILLIANT COMPANY
New Voices and Old Add
Another Success to
TivoIi's List.


first production in San Francisco of
the renowned London and New York
musical comedy sensation, The Torea-
DOR written in two acts by James J.
! Tanner and Harry Nichols; lyrics by
Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank;
music by Ivan CaryII and Lionel
Monckton; produced under the general
! direction Of w. II. Leahy; under the
musical direction Of Paul Steindorff;
under the stage management of Ferris
Hartman, assisted by H. Melville
Ellis" Amenl
Much cry and little wool? No, though
The Toreador" is not another Robin
Hoo" Kimberly of comic opera
And the cast is a jeweled one. The
Tivoli has spread stars on the piece in
princely fashion. There is a new SOU
brette, Carrie Reynolds; a new So
prano, Mary Young; a new leading
man, Melville Ellis; a new comedian,
John J. Kennedy; besides light operas
De Reszke," John Dunsmure, with Will
lard Sims, Teddy Webb, charming
Kate Condor. Miss de Philippe, Bessie
TannehlN and other old faVoriteS. One
gets in truth hardly enough of any ,fof
them but Webb. There is a sniff of
one, sip of another, a crumb of. an
other and a general wish for more.
One doesn't always wish for more of
The Toreador." Its many hands
might have made shorter work of the
second act, for example. There is a
band that suggests desld cats for a
helpless moment or two, a Spanish
village band that wei comes the false
toreadors. Half of IL would BE twice
too much The rest is funny. Here
is where Teddy Webb, cast as
the false t.Oreador, runs over.
l do nott remember Mr.. Webb
anywhere better cast, but his
best effort here cannot save the
scene. Perhaps, like Chinese tea, the
htTslor ont has lost flavor through
ming over seas. Emphatically, how
ever, the rest GAS not. The comedy is
better by a plot than most of its neigh
bors, and on the whole is engagingly
entertaining. There is a mild Spanish
flavor to the music, some lyrics that
stick and a couple of excellent ensem-
bles.
The performance, however-well, it
was simply another stake in the Tivoli
J comic. opera corral / do not remember
/ another given by visiting genius better
OF perhaps so good. In, say three days,
it Will be better the snap and fit of the
thing, that come only with the trying
/ il upon the audience, will be there. But
: smoOthness, style and distinction were
delightfully."- in evidence from the work
of the smallest maid in the chorus to
Kate Condor. The new people are pleas
ing, but not astonishing. John z. Ken
nedy sings more in Fischer than TiYoli
fashion. but he has a coloratura heel
that found every rib in the audience. In
fact. a a comedian Mr.. Kennedy has
distinctly arrived.
Melville Ellis has not much to do,
/ but is sufficient. His is the skill, how
ever that has assisted Ferris Hart
man in the splendid stage management
of the piece. Miss Carrie Reynolds
dances and dances. What there is of
I sing in the new sOubrette is pleas
ant, but there is not much. She is
pretty, howeVer-and dances She
has in fact a heel of Mr.. Kennedy's
virtuosO alertness. Miss Young is pleas
ing in a somewhat colorless fashion,
but opportunity was small, and Opin-
ion may we'll wait.
The old guard acquitted themselves
nobly All too little is there of John
f Dunsmuir's great basso he is, of
course, the Toreador. Kate Condor in
! skirts-a Fespagnole-is even more
charming than Kate Condor in tights
as Alan-a-Dale. Her part is a la
Carmen, and she does it in a fashion
I TO arouse lively curiosity as to a pos
sible Condor Carmen. Miss de Philippe
3 is eXcellently cast. Her voice seems
TO get better and better. and her acting
as the girl husband is most felicitously
funny. Willard Sims is scrumptious as
an English MILFORD, and every one else
helps.
1t should be said that THE Toreador"
is delightfully."- staged.
BLANCHE PARTINGTON.