The San Francisco call., 1905-05-16

enga cement with the Pittsburg stock
He win begin rehearsing with the Alcazar
forces next Tuesday.
California.
Inez Carusi made her bow to a San
Francisco audience last evening at the
California Theate-. both as composer of
an opera and also as director. She is
also the maker OF the book OF the opera.
which Is entitled The Crusader and the
Sara cen"
, OF the music of the opera 1t may be
fairly said, without considering local pre-
JUDGE IN favor of a local musician, that
il is very cleverly orchesrated for the
most part: thai IL has passages of much
beauty; that il Is original in that il does
not remind the average auditor of other
mnsic that he has heard; that IL has at
least one more than satisfactory ensem-
bic. 81 the close of the first act, where
melody IS sbounding and where the opera
is al its best; that while the melodies
are singularly without the viyacity that
is ordinarily supposed TO be peculiarly
Characteristic Of comic opera. the general
excellence Of the orchestral score and the
vocal parts carry the interest so that
more rapid movements and greater va
riety Of tempo can be dispensed with
If the acting moves briskly-
The story OF the book is easily SUM
married King Richard the lion heart
ed" IS the CRUSADER" He Is bankrupt
and in danger of total impoverishment to
meet the demands of bis creditors. Far
from being the 'lion-hearted. he is cow
srdly and is ready to abandon the King
business A troubadour, "B1ondeI," who
is IA love with King Richards daughter,
appears on the scene and proposes to the
King, as a measure TO recoup his for
tunes that he shall invade the land Of
the Saracen and take possession of great
values in coin and jewels that the pagan
is reported by the troubadour to possess
There are three conspirators against the
King and they figure very largely in the
development Of the plot
The King goes with his army TO fight
the Saracens- Saladin, the unuttera bly,
awful, plots with the three conspirators
to deliver King Richard into his hands
With the British soldiers, the daughter
Of the King. Princess Guinevere,'' has
gone on the journey, disguised as a young
knight The conspirators succeed in fur
nishing Saladin an opportunity to cap
ture King Richard
Then the Troubado1lr cx,r,es m tbe res-
cue, enters the palace of Saladin un-
known. gives admission to King Rich
ards soldiers, rescues Richard and re-
ceiyes as his reward the hand Of the
Princess Guineyere'' whose disguise is
thrown OF TO meet the emergency. when
the king says that she is far away. The
bag Of gold that the three consparators
have received as their share for treason
is seized by King Richaru, who Is there
by once more afiuent. The curtain goes
down for the last time with every one as
happy as could be made as climax to
the story, Saladin excepted
There are three acts in the opera The
first two are too long as they now stand.
Some way to shorten by cutting would
hasten the movement The performance
consumes the time, with brief intermis-
sion between acts, from s:15 to 11:30 OF
later The last act is quite short It is
less merttorious than the first two.
A fine audience greeted Carusi and gave
her applause literally She was assisted
principally by talented amateurs, who
can sing better than they can act Edgar
Stern was the troubador: Walter de Leon
was the king: Clinton Morse, F. L. Ar
gell and NJ j. Jeffries the three con-
spirators; Basil Tetson figured as the high
herald: Helen Dubois, Princess Guine-
vere"; Marietta Bosworth and Florence
Young, ladies in waiting.
OF course a professional cast and pro-
fessional chorus would have been more
effective, as the professional almost al
ways outclasses the amateur in freedom,
volume, stage presence. The cast that
was selected made a good appearance,
Miss Du Bois, Clinton Morse, Basil Tet-
son and Edgar Stern took the vocal
honors- Carusi was given a wreath, of
laurel and a large floral array of offer
ings as she sat IN the directors box and
kept the company together. Her direc-
ton was energetic and decisive. Under
her baton every subsequent performance
is certain TO show Improvement. The
chorus is large and the orchestra is also
ample. The general judgment of auditors
was that the opening night was success.
Central.
Melodrama with true ring of excite
ment is on at the Central this week
"A Human Slave bids fair to outdo
anything seen at this theater in
months. The story is founded on the
great labor troubles of the East and
is remarkably we'll told. A threatened
strike is narrowly averted. in the steel
works at first. Then at the instigation
of the villain the men change their
minds and the strike is declared. 1t
causes untold hardships and misery to
many workingmen In the end. of
course, all is righted and the play ter
inmates happily.
AS sthe young workingman Herschel
Mayall has fine opportunity for good
effort and he again exhibits his 'ster-
ing histrionic ability Mr.. Shumer, of
whom it can be said that he is the
most popular villain that the Central
has ever seen, is good in his meanness.
He is one of the hardest workers at the
Central and his success is merited.
George Nichols as the leader of the
strikers gives one of his best charac-
terizations and it's a pity that the part
was not made longer. Miss Crosby
looked unusually winsome last evening
as Mildred and won the hearts of her
audience by her sympathetic work.
Millar Bacon is happily cast and Gre
ates many laughs. There is not enough
for Jim Corrigan to do in the play, but
what he has is, of course, inimitably
handled. Miss vane as the tough girl
gives a fine impersonation.