East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-12-15

For three hours last night 700 Pen
dleton people who attended the pre-
sentation of Queen Esther" were
transported to the eastern court of
King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther, in
such a realistic manner that 1t fingers
| in the memory as one of the semi
realities of life.
All of that old, old story was there
The beauteous queen pleading for her
people, the loyal, gracious king, grant
ing her request, the intriguing, cruel
Haman, hanged at last upon his own
gallows. the patient, long-suffering
Mordecai one of the most faithful and
devoted characters in biblical history,
Zeresh. the sorrowing wife of Haman
with her bitter lamentation over the
fate of her wicked lord, the prophet
ess, encouraging her downtrodden
people with songs of hope and thanks
giving, the devoted and hopeful SIS
ter of Mordecia, buoying up the OPP
pressed Jew with her tender and fasci-
mating words of hope and cheer, the
austere and sanity high priest, whose
| leANh III tiAC NIOu VI 10 ntNti
shaken, the powerful Hegai, support
er and friend of Mordecai and char
acter of intense interest In the drama
all were there. together with beau
teous maids of honor, pages, dancing
girls, kings guards, scribe. princesses
and last, but not least in the cast, the
beggar.
1t is difficult to undertake a criti-
cism of such performance, and the
East Oregonian will not attempt such
but for less than three weeks of train
ing, and with perhaps 100 members
of the cast who were wholly unfa-
miliar with the music, the performance
was excellent, 1t showed careful
skillful, expert training in every de-
tail, as well as native ability of d high
order voices of surprising sweetness
and range and a possibility of home
performances which the East Oregon
ian would be delighted TO witness more
, frequently in future.
, The selection of the leading charac-
ters was most happy. Pendleton is t.
be congratulated upon having within
her gates two young women capable
of taking the parts of Esther ant
Zeresh-roles of intense dramatic ant
operate value and high standard.
Miss Bess Kinsella as Queen Esther
reached the ideal Of that sweet AM
inspiring character. She fully grasp
ed the meaning and almost diVin
mission of her role and with a so
\ prano voice of excellent range an
touching sweetness, presented the par
OF the queen in a. manner not oftel
i! seen outside of the small circle of pro
: fessional players.
As Zeresh, Miss Mytilene Frakei
whose rich contralto voice was hear
!, at it's best, charmed the audience. She
too, fully grasped the character sh
represented and perhaps the mos
: thrilling strains heard in the entir
. performance were rendered by Mis-
. Fraker as Zeresh and Prof f. X
: Noordhoof of Pendleton academy q
. Haman. In the farewell song at thei
3 parting Just before the execution c
9 Haman.
. All the soul of the sorrowing VIII
: and doomed husband were poured OF
q in this little song. Competent mus
3 cal critics class this as the mo'
. charming portion OF the great oper
9 and It was especially well rendere
. last night. Prof Noordhoof has
. tenor voice of range and richness.
= AS prophecies. Miss Grace Hawk
. and as Mordecai's sister, Miss Bernie
9 Ruppe, both of whom have excellei
9 voices, interpreted their parts well an
. added charm and hopefulness to II
= cause Of the downcast Mordecai.