The Minneapolis journal., 1905-11-03
Z ADJUSTMENTS
! MetropoIItan-HThe CROSSING. y


; The play of~'.The Crossing resembles
Winston ChurchilPs we'll known novel
just about much as a cabbage does a
cauliflower, and only a blind man who
had lost his sense Of taste and touch
would confuse the two vegetables It is
not at all necessary to read the book to
grasp the meaning in the play, and after
you. have seen the play you can read the,
book without the slightest fear that its
plot has been revealed. n Playwrights
take all sorts Of liberties with books
when they go .a-d1amatizing. But "The
Crossing" has been robbed Of little save
half dozen characters and the title.
The book Is the story Of the conquest Of
the west, while the play tells only Of the
search OF a. young man for his erring
mother. c.g Staid Davie Ritchie the hero
of the book, Is made to give place to that
!rollicking. blade, Nick, Temple, only In
the play Mr. Temple is transformed from
young dare devil into romantic
dreamer. You are told that his ,audacity
and humor, have won the attention
of the peppery Spaniard,r Baron de Car
9ondalet, governor of Louisiana, but you
cannot for the life Of you see why-for
MI. Temple shows a woful lack Of humor
to the audience. The play has more talk
than action; and only. in the third act
does 1t rouse more than passing interest
1t is rather a somber picture, frightened
only occasionally by Etienne Giardet as
Auguste deaSt. GresR the gambler and de-
generate. .sagez j. .os2.. = ezs%-.s r. sass.e
|: Mabel Bert as Mrs, Temple, dominates
the story, and very well does she repre-
sent the woman who left husband, son
and home some fifteen years before to
run away, with Harry Riddle. Under the
name Of Give, Riddle has won an in
ftuential = position with the Spanish
army in New Orleans and is planning to
marry Antoinette de st. Gre Hating the
man she once loved repentant and dis
traught, Mrs. Temple is yet forced to do
his bidding for the fear of the rnadhouse
in which he"threatens" to hide her. is al
ways before her eyes. Miss Berts work
is quiet and restrained and the third
act, where she strives to rouse some feel
ing Of pity for the mother in the heart
Of her son, her agony when she sees
son and lover with their swords drawn
her thought only of the son when the
lover lies dead by his hand, shows real
emotional power.
John Blair scarcely fills ones idea; of
the hot-headed, }merry Nick Temple of the
novel. He Is romantic and thoughtful.
rather than gay and careless. His best
work is in the, scene with his mother,
when, without knowing who she is, he
hears her story and later avenges her
wrongs. Mr.. Blair has a most melodi-
Gus voice, but he might well infuse more
spirit: in his work. Alex F. Frank as
Harry Riddle, who nnasquerades as Give,
has the ungrateful part of the Villain,
and despite the fact that he occasionally
Inumbles' HIS lines, plays it In a most de-
ternined fashion. Violet Houk is SYM
pathetic Antoinette de st. Gre, for whose
hand hero and villain aspire. The other
members or the company are satisfactory
and the play IS staged with careful at
tention to the period and the place.
The final scene was robbed Of much of
its impressiveness last evening by the
fact that the man in charge Of the cur
tain was SO absorbed in the denouement
that he neglected his duties, and Mr..
Blair stepped out Of his impersonation
to ask him to ring down the curtain.
= -.-..- ...4s. g.s IF. r. Sterrett.