The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-10-04
SCHUMANN.HEINK AS A STAR.
DyDrT LOVES LOTTERY" FAR
SHORT or brilliant.
Grand Opera singer Could Not Take Her.
self Seriously in Laupdrcss Part and
Iieli0trOpe GOwn--BOok Thick; Score
Muslcianiy; the Rest Very Pretty.

Ueio,rope GOwn--Book thick; Score
Muslcianiy; the Rest Very Pretty.
Nine. Erncstine Schumann-H eink came
10 this country few years ago as grand
opera singer with no reputation and an ex-
,remelv large voice She Is now comic
opnra singer with a very large reputation
md an echo Of the old voice. just why
she deemed it advisable to abandon Ortrnd
and Bran0dne and Ndgddlend for the Tits
and IA -a-lal of operetta she alone knows.
Fabulous tales are told of the pecuniary
inducements offered to her to do 30, and
there may he some substantial foundation
for these stories. Possibly in the sweet
bv and by her manager will explain to
himself why he did it.
Nine. Schumann- Heink made her oper-
eta bow last night at the Broadway Theatre
IN comic opera entitled Loves Lottery.
The book Of this creation emanated from
the teeming fancy Of Stanislaus STANCE and
the music WAS constructed by Julian Edo
wards. Much sympathy is due these gen.
,Iemen, for the task placed before them
was not one to be undertaken with con-
fdence or gladstone anticipations
Nine. Schumann-H eink was always q
formidable parsonage, even when she
wss Caroling in her own familiar German
and leaping like a vocal antelope up or
down two octaves of the harmless, neoes-
sarv diatonic scale. But clad in the glitter
Ing panoply OF the comic opera stage,
speaking a German English dialect which
not the livelieet imagination could picture
as Intentionally comic. and carrying with
her grand opera aspirations after spot
al "a q
emotions and cadenzas unto her own glory,
She became problem Of appalling char
Rcter.
In his struggle to fit her with a part
Giving full scope to her equipment for the
line Of business into which she had been
lured by the temptation of the press agent
and the treasurer, MIR. STANCE fell into
.vertable slough OF deepond. Picture Nine.
,Schumann- Heink as an amiable German
ice and a traditional satin operetta skirt
bf lilac and white, and enaoting a role by
turns financially kittenish and tigsrishly
sentimental.
This is the sort of parsonage Mr.. STANCE
evolved from his meditations. Doubtless
Nine. Schumann- Heink had not little
share in the composition OF the character.
II she did, it may be said that the admirable
comic skill which she used to show at the
Metropolitan Opera House in Wagner
comic opera has fled far away from her
and left her wabbling dismally between
what she would be and what she unfortu-
II was impossible to tell last night whether
che was trying to impersonate young
woman in the throee Of her first love and
suffering from a truly German temper, or
q middle aged damosel affecting to be
giddily Youthful and assuming tantrums
for the purpose OF worrying mature army
sergeant jealously in love with her, =,
Perhaps she did not really know. II
In the heliotrope velvet. 1t was impossible
to take herself so in the scarlet and black
Carmen" rig Of the second act. The COS
tune reacted on Mr. Edwardss music at
this point and it reeked with Renaissance
Of the segllidilla.
Let us add that for the sake of scenery
and costumes the thickened plot Of this
thick operetta was laid in merry England,
which for the occasion became as solemn
ss British saysty itse on The lGfa,s
did he use them, especially in the
view of an English baronial seat in the
second act The costumer also performed
some feats, trihe more astonishing than
those Of the painter, and these, too, dis
played themselves chiefly in the second act.
But when all is said and done, nothing
could gloss the dulness OF MIR. STANCES
hook or infuse life into the hopeless inanima-
ton Of the puppet offered to Nine. edhu 1
self could certainly not dc, the latter. She
was pitiably heavy, and her hiImor con-
fined itself to crude emphasizing, OF her
own cumbersome attempts at English;
She burlesqued her own dialect and I'd press ssi
audience ceased to laugh at them.
Her singing was by no means what must
have been expected Of a grand opera celeb
rity thrust into the narrow realm OF oper-
eta. There, according to popular idea;
above Ter associates. The truth IL. how
ever. that Mime. Sohumann-Heink is not
the singer who dazed this town few year
ago with Sunday night feats in the brindisi
from 4Lucrezia Borgia.'
Mr.. Edwards. be il known, discharged his
part of the contract with care and must
cianly skill. He Is a composer to whose
music one may listen with respect " not
always with vigorous admiration. He ie
an artist in construction and orchestratlon;
home character. and he we'll knows how to
produce the dnts OF early English song
so as to give the needed local favor to a
eoore accompanying an action laid IN his
Majesty's kingdom;
two spots, the score OF Loves Lottery
lacks piqlancy, sparkle and incisivsness
One song, @Follow Your Countrys Flag,
delighted the audience by ite snap and
vim, 4 there had been more nor t such ar music
Louise Cunning, soprano. was the chief
,ot Nine. Schumann- Heink's assistants;
She sang her music tolerably and acted
intolerably, Four young women who were
ntT7lsted with small roles, Margaret Craw-
ford, Z. Tekla Farm, Ivy Clyde and Lucia
Nola-it sounds like Swedish ladies' quar-
tet--sang very well. Indeed, the chorus
was one Of the best singing assemblies
brought together since the days OF the
boasted Castle Square chorus,
1t is pity that some OF the principals
did not sing as we'll However, .L2yes
Lottery" may serve its time as vehicle
for the exposition OF Nine. Schumann-
Heink's singular ambition to narrow the
range of her artistic usefulness. Mean
while the world will wag onward to other
shows in which the cakewalk, the coon
song and the variety specialist will afford
1t easier amusement. It Is all a great pity,
for this seems to have been lovely oppor-
tunity entirely missed.
"AFTER MIDNIGHT" SCENES.