The Indianapolis journal., 1904-05-01

y4tNf@At performances here of Maude
- Adams and Viola Allen being in
the nature OF supplementary engagements.
Taken as a whole, the season has been
great Improvement over that of 1923, both
from the artistic and box-offfce standpoints.
1t is doubtful IL indianapolis play-goers
were ever before given such a fine list OF
varied attractions within single theatrical
year Nearly all of the best actors OF the
American stage and several of the bright
est stars of the English stage appeared here
during the six months which made up the
theatrical year, and all of the important
musical productions and spectacular shows
paid visits to the Indiana capital
Indianapolis is peculiar a theatrical
city. and managers have come TO a realiza-
+ tion of this fact For city of over 10000
1nhabitants to be among the 'one-night
stands is surely no "colsummation de-
voutiy TO be wished" There are a number
OF the foremost dramatic stars who refuse
10 come TO this city for more than single
performance as they declare that when
tney nave played longer engagements their
ventures have been losing ones. John
Drew, Nat Goodwin and several other cell
eDrities of the American stage have ex-
pressed themselves while in indianapolis
during the season just closed upon the un-
usual conditions here, and r. III. SOthern,
who has always been a local favorite,
declared that indianapolis seemed TO be
"going backward instead of improving in
its support of the best theatrical attrac-
tions- However, as before stated, the sea-
son OF 1864 has been successful, as a
cnIy ninS-a'ass a,hn,,s he,ng ose LII
factory, except in some instances, to the
| local and 70 the visiting managers. The
truth OF the matter Is simply this-Indian-
apolis will support with some enthusiasm,
| the lighter class of attractiOns-the big ex-
| travaganzas and musical comedies-but re-
| TO giving its attention TO the higher
branches of dramatic art. When the re-
viewer OF this paper deplored, upon one oc-
casion last wintef. the smailness of the au-
diences during a noteworthy engagement a
| correspondent "came back at him in a let
ter TO the editor pointing out that the prices
charged by the management of the. theater
| were too high. and that Indianapolis people
'were not To be buncoed out of their
| money or words to that effect.
This argument is pretty thin when one
takes into consideration the fact that
'-Bluebeard played to big business for
full week IN Indianapolis, While the
Forbes Robertson engagement of three per-
formances. at the prices was any
thing but successful from the financial
standpoint. The prices charged by the
leading Indianapolis playhouse are, as a
rule. the same as those charged in all other
first-class theaters of the country. II there
Is advance in priceS-aS in the case OF
the recent Mansfield engagement-thiS is
+ due 10 the demand made by the manage
ment of the visiting attraction. Richard
>
and never lowers them under any circum-
stances. He holds that his productions
are worth the admission fees asked. and
st may be added that he is entirely in the
right. Mansfield is a great artist and his
productions not TO be surpassed How
ever. his two performances here did not
bring as much money to the box office as
did the matinee and evening performances
of the MUSICAL comedy Red Feather'-a
brilliant spectacle with pretty music, but
with a hbretto that was childish III the
extreme.
There is no occasion for decrying the
popularity of the bright musical shows, for,
81 some Of them are silly and Improbable.
there are others that are delightfully."- en-
pertaining and are deserving of the high
favor in which they are held. But it does
seem too bad that Indianapolis should
continue, season after season, to neglect
the higher forms of art on the stage and so
remain among the lone and two-night
stands" so far the legitimate drama is
concerned. Kansas City. with population
that is little larger than that of Indian
apolis. supports the legitimate attractions
with as much spirit as il supports the
shows" each attraction playing en-
gagement of three nights and matinee. This
policy of booking each attraction for q
half-week would be followed by the lead
ing Indianapolis playhouse if the manage
ment had any assurance that the play
goers of the city would rally to the sup
port of such innovation. 1t had been
hoped to adopt this policy next season, but
or looking back over the theatrical year
just closed IL would seem that the time
IS scarcely ripe for such an experiment.
=
Turning from the troublous financial side
OF the local theatrical situation TO the
more pleasant occupation of looking back
ward over the artistic field, one finds that
there has been a goodly number of dra-
matte performances in Indianapolis since