Los Angeles herald., 1905-01-31
SCENIC REvEL IS
MOTHER GOOSE"
MUSICAL COMEDY BALANCES
STARTLING EFFECTS
Fashionable First Night Audience at
Mason Entertained by Gorge
BUSINESS Of speetaeIe-ero-
tesque and Beautiful
"Mother Goose"


Written by ]. Hickory Wood and Ar
thur Collins Adapted to the American
stage by John j. McNally. Lyrics by
George v. Hobart Music by Frederick
Solomon. The leading characters were
cast as follows:
Mother Goose se.............. Joe Cawthorn
Jack. k.......,,s......,......, Harry Kelly
The Laird ....................W w. II. Machr.
Hsaeor ........Cl Clifton Crawford
JiT.........,.,....,..,.. Miss Neva Aylaaa Aymap
cero,ine Se,ln Evelyn Gwendoiyn scraggs.
Observation-Disclosures. Miss Edith St Clalr
1,ucboss Miss Zadoree Porter
vtra,nte Ilorehan ...... Charles Hessong
EsiTv aueen.,..........M Miss Edith Hutchns
ramon Sont...l,........... Allan Ramsey
Priscilla. .....,.......... walter Stan'oh
DonNess anu ~" .Messrs Dave and Seymour
King Goose. ........''. ; :. isowaru ~ psnaiie
Queen Goose e...........-. George u hapane
Last evening the people of Los An
zeles, jaded by previous lavish scenic
productions, feasted their eyes ana
ears for three hours on stage specta-
Gle which outdoes anything of the SORT
ever seen before in this city. There Is
nothing new in Mother Goose;" 1t Is
an old story told extravagantly and set
in a frame of surprising gorgeousness'
It borrows it's devil, its good angel
its tableaus, it's illusions and its trans
formation scenes from such produc-
tions as were seen long ago under such
as the Kiralfy arrangements. And into
this there has been woven the material
for a couple of good musical comedies.
The chief feature in the elaboration
on. the old spectacles consists OF an
aerial ballet in which one of the dane
ers flies out over the audience ana
scatters flowers to the occupants of the
orchestra chairs. The trick is one OF
amazing ingenuity and is executed SO
cleverly as to make even an audience
prepared for it by the work of an en-
ergetic press agent gasp with aston
ishment.
AS a foundation for this display OF
stage pyrotechnics and operate com
edians there is slight fairy tale. A
demon king and fairy queen dispute
as to whether contented mortal can
be found. Mother Goose is chosen for
the experiment, and goose which
lays golden eggs is sent to her for
test. AS long as Mother Goose is con-
tented the fowl will remain. If she
becomes, discontented the goose flies
away and the old woman becomes poor
again.
Mother Goose finally does become
discontented over a desire to be beau
tiful and accepting the deviFs counsel
she drinks from the magic well to the
he fulfilled.
The goose flies away according to the
terms of the contract and it is only
after long search which extends even
to gooseland that the valuable bird is
restored and Mother Goose convinced
of the error of her ways.
The revel of scenic effects in which
there are surprisingly few false notes
is excellently balanced by the musical
comedy portion of the entertainment,
and although it is mixture of the
beautiful and the grotesque there is
never clash. For the most part it is
a play for which gallery seat Is bet
ter than an orchestra chair. At close
range the magnificent pictures are
likely to resolve themselves into indi-
vidualities which are not always pleas
ing. Sometimes, too, the many chill
dren used in the production became
difficult to manage.
The comedians of the company are
genuinely funny and last evening made
themselves famous with probably the
most fashionable first night audience
which has gathered at the Mason this
season. Joe Cawthorn is easily the
leader of the comic supplement and his
work is natural and convincing. Har-
ry Kelly w. II. Macart and Clifton
Crawford were also excellent in their
roles.
Among the feminine half Corinne,
who is an old favorite. comes in for the
lions share of applause. Miss Aymar
and Edith st. Clair are good. The
songs were mostly entertaining and for
one selection the audience applauded
after repeated encores to an extent
that made it impossible to hear a word
of the scene which followed.