The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-16
CAHILL' NANCY BROWN
LAST MUSICAL COMEDY OF TIL
 THEATRE SEASON.
Exceptionally Clever Woman Come dian Drew Many Laughs and Much Admiration from
 Large Audience.

coon songs. and by her remarkable gift or or 1i numSr: r which is in simple truth truth the rarest gift vouchsafed to womankind.
 Though Miss Cahill sang and laughed her audience into state of excitement and enthusiasm there were ether contrib utory causes to the audiences delightful evening. There was, for instance, the ex- ceptionally fine voice of Julius Steger. Voices of the caliber of MT. Steger's are extremely rare. His audience last night realized 1t and they encored him as long as in justice ana reason they could ex- pect him to respond. And then there was a splendid bit of comedy on the bur lesque order by George Beban. It will be well to remember the name A man who can do the clever bit of exaggeration that he did as the French Count, is bound to be heard of later.
 Daniel V. Arthur has given Nancy Brown magnificent stage setting. But the failure of many ambitious attempts at this style of entertaInment have proved that while handsome framing con- tributes to the success of musical com edy. It is not in itself an assurance of Nancy Nancy Browns s o Would Id m bring spi in at the flag end of the season any startling nov city or innovation. A musical comedy is very costly form of entertainment ant for the money that there is in 1t. In launching and guiding a venture of this kind they believe in sailing 1t by the charts and buoys made and left by pre-
 The music was sufficiently stirring and catchy without any marked attempt for a new effect or any notable departure to- wards originality. ,,
 Mir. Arthur had sufficient faith In his star and in his piece to surround the star with an able supporting company, which must stand for a heavy salary roll.
 The story of the piece ,i1 is in1conseauen- tractive as the plot of the usual musical comedy. What is in the play happens In the imaginary country of Ballyhoo, the Bey of which has both a marriageable son and a marriageable daughter. To this country Nancy Brown, an up-to-date marriage broker, goes with an assort- ment of American girls.
 It's a pretty good idea. One is inclined to think that George H. Broadhurst and Frederick Ranken, who did the book, did not work out the full possibilities of the idea. The lines were clever very clever in places, but the authors permitted themselves to run in a lot of very indif- ferent puns. Some people laughed at them, and after all their existence was justified. for If a musical comedy has any purpose 1t is to appeal to and please every class of theatre-goers.
 Miss Cahili took her audience captive in her first five minutes on the stage. Miss Cahill's best friends does not claim that she Is beautiful and when she first swept out on the stage there was not d gasp Of astonished admiration that follows the appearance of stunning beauty. She had the more potent charm Of magnetism. The audience would have tired of a mere ly beautiful woman. They are not un- common, beautiful women. They are cas- fly obtainable for the chorus at $O and S25 per week. Many of them are in cho- ruses now and they are destined to re- main there. The charm of magnetism is not only more potent. but It Is more en- during It was this which gave to Miss Cahill and retained to her possession oI her audience.
 Without it her humor might have ap- peared silly or far fetched but as 1t was there was none of this in her comedy. It was spontaneous and refreshing. real funny woman Is a jewel, rare gem. Now, Miss Cahill, without a seeming eff fort could make her audience laugh It. self into enthusiastic applause.
 Her methods are of the quiet. repress- el order. She doesn't go out in an osten- tatious way to make fun. She doesn care apparently what sort or an erect she is producing. nor does she fall into the great error of so many actresses or watching the audience and displaying a manifest fear that she may make her- self ridiculous. Why, she even made some of the authors bad puns felightful- iv amusing. She got every possible ef- feet out of her lines and she did It With out trying. She had her audience straln- ing it's ears, so quiet were her metnous: lest it should miss one or ner gooo
 Probably no actress excels Miss Cahiil In her great ability to sing coon song, to make her hearers catch what beauty there is in the music and in the sentiment. Snc Ia slnRularly fitted for the Interpretation or eccentric rag time music. People who non estly dislike coon songs listened Whh keen pleasure to Miss Cahills rendition Of them That little piece she sang, You Can't Fool all the People all the time" set her audience wild It was not the number or encores she received that proved thls' TOT encores are not in themselves sufficient nroof of the excellence of a number in a Too theatre-ROerS are fiends on the sordd principle that they are there to get their moneys worth MISS Cahill had made her hit before the time came for encores. The audience was so W ell nIaased with her effort 1t could not wait until she had completed the first verse be- fore 1t began to show It's appreciation The appreciation come with spontaniety that left no doubt of the genuineness of her hearers pleasure Her audience really ap peared to draw more pleasure from this number than from her famous "Congo Love Song"
 Julius Steger's magnificent vocal efforts are worthy of more than a passing notice or a mere mention. He showed last night that far the musical portion of his work was concerned he was head and shoulders above any musical comedy singer we have heard this season. Mir. Steger is evidently ready to graduate into grand opera if that should prove more profitable to him. His song. "A Soldier Is the Nations Idol" was nothing short of thrilling.
 II. W. Frederick the Bey of Ballahoo was responsible for some divertlng and en- tertaining comedy work and he gave two songs in fine style, He Is a valuable adjunct to Nancy Brown"
 A young man under the name of Harry Atwell did faultless character sketch as an idiotic. lisping young American swell It is not to be forgotten that with scant op- portunities George Beban took his French count part and made 1t one of the refresh ing bits of the evening
 There are no rivals of Miss Cahil among the feminine contingent The women of the company are not possessed of startling talents or gifts. The best of them was per haps Miss Clara Palmer. who did a demure secretary of the marriage broker
 The chorus was not large enough to be | unwieldy. It was altogether good The finales and the ensembles were espec ally | fine. Moreover, its members were grace | full and well drilled Four young women as dancing girls won much admiration
 Two stage settings were shown, both of them very handsome.
 A large and fashionable audience witness | ed the performance The management long | before the opening hour found 1t necessary to enforce the standing room ordinance and | shut off the sale of tickets.