Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1904-09-07
THE THEATRE SEASON OPENS
First Performance Given Last Night
At The Colonial -"The
Sign of The Cross"
The Initial.

Whether or not it is poor taste there
is nothing that appeals TO an Annapolis
audience. en- masse, so much as a
musical comedy. That the production
of an entirely different class of play
which was billed last night for the
initial performance at the Colonial
Theatre may have been the reason for
an audience of only fair size, is ques-
tion. Certainly the house was not a
paying one. The audience was rep
resentative one of the town, but there
were many vacant seats in both au
ditorium and balcony.
What the audience lacked in num-
bers, however, it made up in enthu-
siasm, and telling" points through
out appealed to various parts of the
house whence came prolonged ap-
pIause 1.-The Sign of the Gross, =
the play produced last night, is a
celebrated religious and historical
play in which there is a mixture, not
in equal proportions, of Bible history,
love, hate, malice, vengeance, cruel
~ and horror. Nero is Emperor of
Rome and the fulfilment of his edicts
are of such cruel enormity that they
send cold chills chasing each other mp
and down the spinal column of the au-
dience. The wicked imbecile Nero,
through the plot of jealous woman,
or two of them, sends the hero and
heroine of the play. two young lovers,
to an awful death, and the curtain
falls on these two young and beautiful
creatures going into the arena to be
eaten by lions and tigers.
The denouement is intensely thrill
ing, but it leaves a horrible night
mare, and in this twentieth century is
very far fetched. The company was q
fairly good one, although not strong
Mr.. Walter Law, as Marcus Superbus,
was a fine character. He is possessed
of a magnificent stage presence and
his scenes where passion held sway
were tempered by the mlldness and
gentleness of the love the Christian girl
had inspired in him, the first pure,
noble love IN the life of this great
Prefect of Rome. The defective
speech of Mr.. Law is his only draw
back and his effort to enunciate dis
tinctly detracts somewhat from his
strong points. Miss Dorothy Lambert
as Mercia, the Christian maiden, was
much admired. She is very pretty,
petite and graceful and acted her part
well. Miss Lambert is quite young
and gives promise of greater accom-
plishments before the footlights.
Miss Nellie Clavie as Stephanus was
fairly good in the character. Miss
Esher Marsh as Berenis was one of
the strongest characters of the play,
and ranks next best to Mr., Law as
Marcus Superbus, with whom she was
madly and insanely in love. Miss
Marsh depicted all the emotions of
love, hate, malice, revenge, temper
and passion successfully with strong
effect. II the women of Biblical his
tory possessesed all these frailities to
the extent portrayed by Miss Marsh,
they were much like the women OF
the twentieth century. The stage set.
ting was fair, the costumes were those
of Rome at the time of the play, with
q touch of the modern. The waits
were not:long or tiresome and good
music was furnished during the inter
mission by portion of the Naval
Academy band. All mechanical effects
worked smoothly and the audience was
unanimous in its praise and admira-
ton of the pretty little Colonial Thea
tre, one of the most attractive in the
country, that opened for the season
last night. The only thing to be re-
gretted is that the choice of play for
the opening night was not of the class
to make everybody leave the theatre
feeling that the hero and heroine
Lived happy ever after.