The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-13
"PIPPAPASSES" on BROADWAY
A RITE OF WISCONCEJIED ZEAL
AND REVERENCE.
Mrs. lie MOyne plays OtIIma and MonsignOr
Ahly. and Mabel TalIareVrs u Finely
ingenious as Pippa: Hut the Play
Is Lost In BrOwDin= esque syntay.

might nave echoed in his heart the most
famous of the prayers OF Voltairc. Over
his enemies he has always tTiumphsd, but
he needed more than ever TO be spared
from his friends.
y 1t has been a long cherished dream with
Mrs. lie Moyne TO assist in the production OF
-Pippa Passes" and in Henry Miller. fhIsh
from his triumph Of artistic adventure in
THE Great Divide" she has at last found
an aIly-the word that here first suggested
itself was accomplice. As a poet Browning
il not celebrated for clarity OF diction. and
what is not clear in the permapence OF the
printed page does not become manifest in
the touch and 20 of the spoken word. As a
dramatist. even at his best, as in "A Blot on
the Scutcheon, = he has never held the stage
nor deserved TO hold it. And even he did
not intend that "Pippa Passes" shonld he
acted.
As a rite of reverence the occasion was
worthy OF respect. Blu unless a rite Of rev.
erence is most aptly conceived 1t doesn't
escape becoming a solernnity. In spite OF a
friendly audience. self-hypnotized by the
enthusiasm Of poet worship, the occasion
was for the most part solemn enough.
The central theme Of this poem (even
its profoundest admirers have not called
il a play)-is the universal and persuasive,
il somewhat capricious benevolence OF
manifested in the person of an Italian
factory girl on a holiday. There are fsir
distinct stories in the poem, each with a
separate set of characters. In yesterdays
production the number Of scenes was eight.
At the crisis of each of the stories PipPd's
voice is heard of stage, singing her play
time happiness. all unconscious Of the pend
ing fates of those who hear her; and Under
the inspiration of her song what was dark
in their lives becomes clear; what WAS
sinister. fair.
Gods IN His heaven
Ans right in the world,
Brimming with the generous exuberancs
of Browning's youth, the poem breathes =
serenity and beauty of hope for humanity
which has seldom OF never been surpassed.
But as "a play
IL is not necessary TO take up the cudgels
for Aristotle's poor old Unity of Action.
though it has seldom been shattered INTO
such fractions as here. PiPpd and her
singing are the touch of nature that makes
all the episodes kin. IL II the lack Of dra-
matte skill in the fractions Themselves that
moves one to despair, and laughter.
The first scene sho VIZ us Plpp0 getting out
of bed at the breaking Of her holiday. IL
is a dTab little working girls room. with
her drab lttle day clothes hanging on pegs
bv the wall. She gets out of her drab little
bed, and. having slept in most of her cos
tune, manages TO crawl out OF her mighty
and into her calico gown.
IL was seemly enough, and Miss Mabel
Taliaferro lent it a touch of really ingenu-
Gus simplicity, even beauty. But the bed
manners with which Browning had sup
Piled his heroine, when dragged from the
discreet retiCence of the printed page and
planked on the stage, proved, TO say the
least, appailingly realistic and unpoet-
ically redolent of Italy. Pippd gave herself
a high-neCk wash, and burst into a Brown
ingesque apostrophe to the un. Then tho
enthusiasts, suffering from auto suggestion,
applauded with great endurance.
The second scene was also dedicated
wholly to P,'pPd. II showed her Chamber,
ing up a hillside, picking wild flowers and
singing her little song about God and His
world-only that and nothing more. 1t
was, however. the one moment Of perfect
beauty. Here, as throughout, Mr.. Miller's
stage setting was rich and pleasing, and
Miss Taliaferro. though no singer techni-
cally, delivered the lines in a way that
brought a catch to the throat and a mist to
the eyes.
and Sebdid, tragically emotional, was we'll
enough played by William Beach, while
Mrs. LIE Moyne evinced her fine talent for
elocution. But it was exquisitely, excru-
ciatingly undramatic. The most that can
DE RdlQ OF INNS oeOutQ Is JldJ, Ildn Oh near
and conscience though he be by the book,
he shines forth on the stage as hopelessly a
gutter. II was no credit TO Pippd that,
consciously or unconsciously, she inspired
him to xiii himself. leaving his paramour
to face life and the corpse OF the man they
had murdered. As rendered dramatically,
the moral was that when you pick the man
to murder your old husband you must be
sure not to get a man with weak knees and
cold feet.
The story Of the sculptor Jules and the
model he was tricked into marrying Jared
as i'll. The first scene among the Venetian
art students, though undramatic, was
effectively stage managed, costumed and
acted. But when the bridal pair were alone
in the stud o face 20 face with their ira ged ',
il was TO laugh. Jules speaks pages and
pages of ~fugue-like heart-searchings in
blank verse; and when at last Phene gets
a chance she allows that she could answer
better If she understood what he was saying.
For the first time audience and actor
were at one. With that one line PheHe
scored the only popular hit Of the after
noo But right on the heels of il she too,
ignorant and simple as she was, began
10 talk Browning. Ii was all very fine, nc
doubt. but the audience got stuck in the
mud of B~rowningesque syntax and meta
phor. Even If any one could have under
stood the lines the scene would have gone
for little. In the crises Of their fate folks
do not make long distance records of elo-
Cution.
Pippd presently sang her song outside
the song Of the pa ge and Kate, the Queen
which is hard to parse and harder TO vocG lize
clearly. And granting that the artist and
his simple model had heard and understood
IL, IL was a question whether in a moment
OF such troublous emotion it would have
had the striking effect attributed 10 il. As
a. dramatic ded er mGchinO, in short, 2ippd
and her SINGING are most unlikely.
In the final episode Mrs. lie Moyne played
Monsignor in his Bishops robes. Though
obviously marred by nervousness, II was
a striking bic Of acting. The whole pro-
duction was a tragedy of misdirected
intelligence, reverence and zeal. The poem
IL Of extreme beauty, and even under the
handicap of the stage many Of the lines
are of compelling potency. But that only
made II the more regrettable that so many
more Of them we're ~extinguished or turned
awry by an artistic medium to which they
were not adapted. Almost anywhere be-
tween time and eternity, between an arm
chair and infinity, "Pippa Passes" paints
visions Of hope and of sweet, strong faith.
But not before the footlights.
ZOE HERE RS PITT RN