The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-30
NOTES ON The PASSING SHOW.
WEBERS "DREAM CITY" REALIZES
A REPRESENTATION GENERALE.
Grand Opera a In Cenried. Hammerstein and
Observation-Disclosures Adams, "Peter
Pan" and the Poetic Drama Passion
and Character In 'The Great Divide"

an and the Poetic Drama Passion
and Character In 1.-THE Great Divide
Here is a case that should bring joy Z
the comic spirit. Many a time and oft
on the Rialto the self-appointed ex-
ponents of dramatic art have promised
us-or was il a threat?-that in order to
do away with he haste and alleged I'M
fairness of first night Judgments on plays
they would institute the Partisan custom
of the representation generate or critical
dress rehearsal; but it has remained for
Joe Weber and his company OF music hall
comedians to make the innovation, and
successfully. In any case their new
Dramatic Pipe in Two Puffs,' which they
call Dream City, would have turned the
trick, but hanks to the boldness Of the
little Yiddish exponent Of low comedy and
high jinSs il has taken the rubber.
If Mr.. Weber had any intention Of capt.
talizing dramatic art and dramatic criticism
il must have been in the way Of his long
famous transactions on the Stockings
Exchange. But his Investigation in this
pipe dream was shrewder than usual and
more fortunate. The show had against
1t the rival opening OF Col. Savage's comic
opera. The Student King which at best
would divide the attention OF the press.
And the night set for both was Christmas.
Hard experience has taught the managers,
or should nave done 40, that Yuletide good
will does not extend to the dramatic re-
porter. Torn way from his Christmas
dinner. he is little likely 10 be in a coming
on humor. whether he has been bereft
of his plum pudding or has bolted it and
is suffering from indigestion. Whatever
their intelligence, there are respects in
which the critics are almost human. Som
years ago Clyde Fitch invaded the holidays
with The Girl With he Green Eyes and
received such a drubbing as he had never
had before. The piece ran a hundred
nights and more, enjoyed a prosperous
life on the road, and has since been listed
in a national repertory as one OF our most
original and striking character studies;
but if it had been produced on any other
night its slow success would probably have
been an immediate triumph.
Mr.. Weber felt confident that his new
offering would prove a. popular as il was
novel and, as he declared in his invitation
to his critics, had decided, with the approval
Of Mr.. Victor Herbert who wrote the music,
to let it stand for itself without the aid
OF the usual pumped up first night en-
thusiasm. The trial was even more severe
than in the case of a Partisan representation
generate, for with the exception of a scat
tering of newspaper men in the tier of boxes
the house was empty n cold; but the
result was such a sendof a. no Weber
field production has received in years. The
astute Broadway anage will do we'll to
sit up and tax notice.
The success was well merited on the
score both of novelty and of excellence.
There is a story in the play. and at least an
attempt to catch and fix local atmosphere.
The first act represents a decaying Long
Island farm, the haunt of summer boarders,
with the advent of a real estate Spectator
unfolding a plan for the founding of a city
to rival the metropolis. The farmer, Din
glebender, a lazy and bibulous Dutchman,
falls asleep in his chair on the lawn, under
the influence Of home made wine and the
dope pipe of the agent, and his dream
of the future constitutes the second act,
which includes a ~Pipedream City produc-
ton Of "~Lohengrin.'
The sketching of local types does not go
very far beyond the familiar. Mr.. Weber
as the farmer, Lillian Lee as his henpecking
wife, Cecilia Lotus a. his daughter, Mad
elyn Marshall as the help, Otis Harlan as
the real estate boomer and Will T. Hodge
as the village hackman and corner grocery
oracle. all appear in their long familiar
roles, first as the real thing and then under
the influence of the prosperity Dinglebender
imagines. But they are all capable comedi-
ans and are fortunate in having good
material to work with. Miss LOTUS is
especially fortunate. and has never been
seen to better advantage than in her bur-
lesques of current popular ~favorites. Her
mimicry Of Rose Stahl in The Chorus
Lady" a marvel Of minute fidelity and
broad humor, is quite the most laughable
performance of her career.
Probably the most successful novelty of
the production is the travesty OF -Lohen-
grin" If Mr.. Herbert's intention had been
to make a mere study in psychology he
could not have been happier in representing
the result of this Observation-Disclosures
dream reminiscence of grand opera. A
Wagnerian aria heightens and kindles into
a Weberfield chorus ballet. "Du sisser
Schwanl' sings Maurice Farkoa as a AL
setto Lohengrin, and Otis Harlan as a
henpecked bass Frederick replies in the YER
%nacular of Long Island "Quack, quackl"
The Elsa is none other than Lillian Blau-
Ntlbt anu III ANAitiO w NV ihti Y
ness and purity OF her voice she reveals a
full sense of III burlesque humor of her
role. To the new question between grand
opera a la Hammerstein and grand opera
a Ia Conried a newest question is added,
and it is a safe go that a popular majority
will be for grand opera a la DtnoLebepder.
The pipes of Peter Pan are playing again
on Broadway with a whole new tune, as
delightful as the rest, and Miss Maude
Adams has lost no iot OF the grace and
buoyancy OF her supremely whimsical and
poetic impersonation. The programme
calls the new scene "Marooner's Rock, or
the Mermaid's Lagoon" and obligingly
assures us that IL represents a typical days
adventure in ever-Never-Never Land.
At the rise Of the curtain mermaids are
singing on the rocks. with the tropical sea
surging about them and the tropical sun
dancing in their hair. Fine ladies'. IL they
only could, would make il the fashion to
wear fishy tails. That, at least. il the
burden Of the mermaid's song. Peter and
his crew come swimming out to the rock,