Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-02-17
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. ;"
AMATEURS PRESENT SPECTAC.
ULAR PANTOMfNE.
Cast Of Characters, Graceful Dan
GERS, Pretty Fairies, Bril-
liant Audience at
The Colonial
Theatre.
HIGHLY PLEASING FROM RISE
TO FALL OF CURTAIN.

For the last three or four seasons
Annapolis has been pretty well sup
piled with amateur tbeatricals. vary.
| ing from minstrels to serious drama
In The Sleeping Beauty Of last
nights performance we had new
| departure--a spectacular pantomime,
which took quite as successfully with
the audience as any OF its predeces-
sors.
AS in all spectacular productions its
| effectiveness lay not in the acting. but
in the grouping, the dancers and the
| color effects. The fact that these
effects were so highly successful
speaks well for the enthusiasm of ali
who took part and the patience of the
| manager, who had the task Of drilling
into shape in few rehearsals, soue
bundled amateurs, many Of whom
were children, and larger number
Of whom had never faced the foot.
lights before
Being pantomime, the Sleeping
Beauty had few speaking parts, but
relied on the eye to take in the story.
On this account there were some
places where the connection was not
perfectly clear to those of the audi.
| ence who remembered of the fairy tale
only that beau tiful princess. sleep.
-
the kiss of handsome prince. The
first part of the first act is an instance
Here Puck summons Titania and the
fairies to the christening of the prin.
cess in a sign language that is not too
easy to comprehend. However, after
the wicked fairy Blackstlck swoops
down lpon the happy scene and utters
her curse on the infant, things clear
M amazingly, 1t appears that Black
stick was not invited to the ohristen-
ing and, in revenge for the slight,
prononces that the instant the princess
touches spindle or fax "she shall
die Titania, the good fairy. does
what she can to soften the curse by
making rs effect profound slumber,
rather than death, to be dspelled by
the kiss of a prince.
The first scene of the second act re.
veals the princess as grown.up, but
shut away by her parents in a tower.
from which she slougs TO escape.
Blackstiok gives her the opportunity
to get away, and the second scene
reveals her ia the court with slin.
ming wheel, which the malicious fairy
spindle, and at that instant size falls
asleep. Titauia appears then and puts
tile entire court also in heavy sleep
for a hundred years. The last act
sees the breaking of the spell by the
kiss of the prince, aud the denouement
is tableau of great beauty with the
| entire cast on the stage. After the
| curtain had gone down on fitting
climax to most beautiful and spec.
tacular scene, it rose again and the
| ensemble sang the college song writ
| ten by Miss Starr
From rise to fall of curtain the en-
tire performance was highly pleasing.
The pantomime was arranged and pro-
duced under the direction OF Mr..
| George A. Gardner, of Baltimore,
who is skilled in this line of work.
Hs pupils of last night were truly a
| credit tohim The music, which was
beautiful, was by Professor Zimmer-
mans orchestra. Much credit is due
Mrs. Fell, wife of the president of
st. John 5 College. to whose untiriDg
| efforts in managing the renearsals
and to whose paiustaking skill in de-
| signing the costumes aud suggesting
the details, the success is largely due.
| DR.. Fell also aided materially in the
work as coach and no was assisted
largely by the college students, who
| took part and worked hard to accom-
| rlish the good results attained
| The heroine was Miss Louise Nun f.
| roe, who was cast rs the princess.
She twas dainty and sweet, graceful
! and beautiful. She acted her part ex-
| oeedingly we'll and won the admira.
| tion of a pleased audience. Mr.. Burke
made a capable prince Charming
and Mr. Allen, as Knight to the
| Prince, was excellent and won much
applause The court jester. Mr..
Rouse, was very good. His dance was
graceful and artistic and he was
obliged TO respond to an encore. AS
"Eitania the Queen of the
! Fairies. Miss Golda Munroe was
| splendidly cast Besides possessing a
| handsome stage presence, she is very
graceful dancer and was a typical fairy
queen. Her gestures were easy and
natural, her movement in the dance
| was light, graceful aud artistic and
she made typical queen of the fair
! les. Indeed. Miss MGnroe, cast a.
| Titania, carried off the honors with
her sister in the title role as 1.-THE
PrincesS' or the Sleeping Beauty.
Much OF the pantomime depends
| upon the action of the wicked fairy
| Blackstiek, in which role Mrs W. O.
| Stevens was admirably cast. The part
/ was we'll taken by Mrs. Stevens, who
did splendidly. Her entrance in the
court scene was especially effective.
She had not been invited to the christ.
euing OF the princess, and she was in
dignant and feveugeful. She did not
storm and rage or rant as most ANA.
| teurs woald have one~similRrly cas- {,
but she put enough force and snap in
her action TO make it Just what il
should have been and throuhgout she
acted her part we'll. and shared the
honoSs with Miss Munroe, cast in the
title role and Titania
The nurses deserve credit. They
We're Misses Claggett. Howatt, Sass.
Ger, G. Armstrong aud H. Moss.
Their costumes were fetching and they
played an important part OF the
christening OF the baby princess.
One of the most beautiful dancers was
the Peasants DaHce. This was led
by Mr.. Edwin Warfield. son OF the
| Governor. snd Miss Withers The
figures were graceful and pretty snd
| the dance was executed with military
precision. Il was enc Of the most fak-
ings features Of the program. 8 The