The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-05-06
THE DRAMA IN NEW YORK.
End of Season Affected by Califor-
MIA Benefit Performances. ID -

MIA Benefit Performances. s-
NEW YORK, May 5.-But for the de-
lay in theatrical circles caused for the
benefts given In aid OF the sufferers from
the San Francisco earthquake. the atten-
ton Of the professional and, to greater
| or less extent, the professional world.
would be turning in the direction of the
| summer season performances. The fact
| that 1t has been an unusually late spring,
! coupled with the fact that there has been
| n genuine outpourin3 OF charity In con-
| nectlon with the Pacific coast disasters
| has undoubtedly had the cuect or holdlnB
| everything back and preventing 1t from
assuming a summer resort flavor up 10
| the present time.
| is nearing n close there is IL disposition
| on the part OF the critics to sum up mat
! ters for the year, for IL may be taken Tor
granted that nothing save OF the lighter
vein of music and drama Will be pro-
duced before next September. One critic
| declares that there has been decided
| failure of the playwrlghts TO maintain,
to say nothing of raising the level of their
output. and at the same time there have
been evidences of marked advance In
Intelligence and catholic receptlVencSs on
the part of American audiences This
may sound. declares the critic ns II
Broadway were lifting itself up by the
boot straps. And he concludes that this
Is about what has happened. He con-
cludes his arguments with the statement
that of all the arts the drama Is the
most closely identified with its public
and dependent upon it for inspiration. y
poet In IA garret, he argues may pour
forth his soul for time with few cents
worth Of ink and paper; a painter at the
expense OF so much for color and canvas
but the work of the dramatist does not
exist until II is given concrete form In
actors and scenery, and is presented for
many in the open playhouse. And this In
a country where the theater Is organized
so largely on n commercial basis Is 4 con-
summation not easily attained, The
source of the drama is iii the popular
consciousness and the author as gem
eral thing does not rise above his source
However, IL is interesting to note that
several new offerings OF the not all-ab-
sorbng all-Important sort made the
past week at least theatrcally interest
Ing, Mary Van Buren, an actress who has
been popular In Western cities. made her
first important appearance I'm New York
at Dalys theater in the title role of "Cou-
sin Louisa Il comedy by Frederick Paul
ding. Daniel FroHfnan and Joseph Brooks
produced the piece several weeks ago In
Boston, where II made considerable sue
cess. \ young couple agree To divorce
each other because OF 'incompatubl1ty OF
Income" each intending to remarry for
money. The woman mnrricS millions. the
maker OF which conveniently dies, lcay-
task OF distributing 100000 among GER
tain relatives. To these relatives she is
Cousin Louisa, and In attempting to study
them incoGnito she runs across her first
maincd single for her sake. The play I'm
three acts. takes place in the country
place OF Cousin Louisa's relatives Nat
urallv any number OF provoking
situations are evolved, from which Shot
land rCsCueS Louisa
Patterned apparently after the good old
Harrienn and Hart model and dealing
with the ALWAYS r1cy topic of Bowery
politics THE District Leader" musical
play. Is giving forth genuine amusement
ut Wallack'S theatcr, This week was the
week OF It's local premiere and though It
undoubtedly requires some revision. espe-
cially on the political side, It has In II
material FOR capital entertainment. Mr..
Joseph l. Howard comes forward I'm tho
double capacity OF author and COMPOSER in
connection with the MAY Mr.. Howard
has written. in "Thc District Leader" n
story Of contemporary East side politics.
and has contributed 10 It's cnlivcnment n
dozen songs Of the CATCHY sort.
This - not the only political PLAY which
is on the boards here though the other
production has it's local color drawn from
. State half way across tho North Ameri-
can continent, II iS poltiCal comedy
drama represented hv Edward F. Roses
"Sduarn Deal" which is Mt tho Four
teenth Street theatcr and which has been
nlN wing to crowded housos Otis B Thay-
er is the star and Kansas furnishes the
scenes Tho story moves In an atno-
snherc Of political bosssr0. IT is the story
OF fight mndc against machine" meth
eds In politics bv an energetic farmer. and
his succoss In Nnallv defeating an iniori-
tous land gra bbine bill In the Legislature