Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-29
Foreign Stags Gossip
Special Correspondents q me Star.

Special Correspondence o. The Star.
LONDON. July IS 1904
In all probability 1t will be talts 4 long
time before Edna May Is seen again In the
United States And the reason for this
is that the former Belle OF New York
who IS now the Belle of Mayfair" has 50
completely reeaptured the hearts OF Lon
don piaygoeFs that Charles Frohmaa and
| the Gattis. at whose vaudeville theater she
Is now appearing. have decided TO star her
there again next season. instead of send
ing her on an American tour. What her
next attraction will be. however. has not
been settled. and hardly thought OF. for
The Belle of Mayfair" Leslie Stuart and
Cosmo Hamilton's modern setting of the
| Romeo and Juliet story is enc OF the big
draws OF the year, and likely TO run well
into the coming autumn at all events
| A poor enough thing on the opening
night. 1t has been made. uncommoniy tune
aside from Miss May. There is not much
| doubt. however, that most people who
patroni5e the vaudeville go to see the Amer
lean star. whose popularity is now quite
equal TO that which she enjoyed as hero
| Inc or the other belle" and IL Is only fair
to say that Edna May has regained her
former position here By hard and consoien-
| tfous work After her first big London
| success IL may be remembered the fair
| singer suffered an eclipse that at first
threatened TO be permanent. and which
| must have caused her genuine distress
| For, although her admirers had packed
| the ShaftesbuTy for nearly l,0o0 nights to
see her in THE Belle" not even her pres
ence as star could keep the same authors
\ American beauty going there for more
| than month. and thus we had another
vivid illustration of the Shakespearean dio-
tum about the plays being the thing. Soon
after. moreover. having signed with
/ Charles Frohman. Miss May had another
| failure in The Girl From Up There" and
although both of these had been thorough
| ly bad PLAYS. folk were not wanting to de-
| clare that the singers day In London was
over. and that her success had been more
or less of a fuke.
Miss May probably owes her restored luck
to George. Edwardes. who engaged her by
permissien of Charles Frohman" after her
run rum Is III fortune and provided her in
/ THE School Girl" with a series of parts
which suited her and gave her a chance to
| show what she could do. No one who saw
Miss May. however In the difficult part OF
the doll IN La Pouges- E!l.. deny thai
/ fair she gives ouite a satisfactory per-
| Torrance of modern daughter OF the
Capuets, a part quite unlike that which
| she played at home last year In The Catch
| of the Season." II is likely that the Ham
| ilton- Stuart musical comedy will be pro-
duced by Charles Frohman In the United
States next season when, after years
| pruning and shaping In the metropolis, 1t
should prove an attractive offering.
| Mr.. Frchman. who returns to the United
States before long. is ending rather un-
fortunate London season with flying colors.
| for besides THE Belle of Mayfair" two
! of the other undeniable successes of the
year are under his management. These
| are THE Beauty OF Bath and Rallies"
| and the latter is a reritable wonder" To
| begin with. the Hornung- Presby piece
IA moi lie
| then business took a boom, and now IL ~
declared at the Comedy Theater that never
| in the history of the playhouse has such
| success been quartered there. That Is
/ saying good deal too. for not only was
| La Mascotte" first produced at the Com
/ edy. but 1t was the home of Jane and
| also of Sowing the Wind" not TO mention
Monsieur Beaucaire." which was played
| there some 400 times.
| As for THE Beauty of Bath" the Hicks
Hamilton musical play which Mr.. Frohman
produced at his Aldwych Theater some
| months ago, It. too. Is drawing packed
| houses and like The Belle of Mayfair
and "Raffies" Seems likely to be with
| until the snow files. So. IL airs well that
| ends well. Mr.. Frohman can afford to for
1 get, in these SUCCESSES the calamity of The
| Lion and the Mouse" the failure of Cap
| tain Marshalfs "Alabaster Staircase" and
| one or two other mishaps of a season at
whose end few people except George Alex
| ander are In position to do any gloatins.
| One hundred and Twenty-Five years after
| its production. Glucks opera "Arnide.'
was heard for the first time In England
| last week. when IL put on at Covent
| Garden The fact Is remarkable in an age
which declares that work of art is a
| masterpiece one day and Is almost for
| gotten the next. The origin of "Armide'
| is rather peculiar. Gluck wrote 1t I'm his
sixty-fourth year to combat the criticism
brought against him by the supporters of
| the italian school that he had no melody
and that he made his singers Shrek"
| These charges seem simply incredible to a
generation that has been brought up on
| Wagner with his Discriminatory theories.
which seem to have come to the point, In
London at least. of being adversely criti--
cised by the advance guard. In Germany
| itself. of course. the great of Bay
reuth holds his own. for he was heard
seventy-fve times at the Berlin Opera
House during the season 19o5-6. but then
Gluck was heard nine times with much
smaller repertoire to choose from. Gluck
is also being recognized at Covent Garden