The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-28
"YHE ROSE OF The RANCHO"
TRIUMPH or 4 BELASCO MADE
ACTRESS-FRANCES STARR.
Again the Decorated MeIodrama-DecOra-
tIons Beautiful NJ Ever -NeIOdrama
Dnu $ and min hut With Possibilities
Largely Realized by Miss starr.

DlftlSe ana TIM Dut Win PvssiDtuttes
Largely Realized by Miss starr.
The production of ~The Rose Of tho
Rancho" last night at the Belasco must be
recorded with a red letter, but in the rubTio
tbe name of a new Belasco, made actress
shines brighter than the play though
that. TOO, is far from dim. For some years
now we have watched the progress OF Miss
Frances starr from the local stock COM
NAMES 20 the Broadway playhouses with
admiration for her youthful beauty and
talent. 1t remained for Mr.. Belasco to
place upon her the stamp Of an artist. Her
youth has blown to the full rose, and her
kalent has become a song.
In memory she is a daughter of New
F~neland-fragile as the petal of q lily, but
refined, gracious and altogether charming.
last night as a maiden Of the old California,
half Yankee and half Spanish, she was
still refined and charming. as few OF none
of Mr.. Belasco's heroines have been; and in
addition she had acquired the touch Of
caprice and passion and the color OF quick
romantic blood which elevated her into the
realm OF poetry. An audience to whom
abe was all but a strsnger warmed and
thrilled to her. and rose to her with accla-
nations.
The story il Of marked possibilities.
The period is that Of the American ao-
,~orption OF the land acquired in the Mexican
war. The two opposing currents Of i'm
pulse which ran in this Judnitd's veins
kre al war in the life about her.
The fire and the folly OF Spain are opposed
bv American fraud and American pro-
gressive force. JUdntf0 is Threatened with
q lazy and inefficient, II aristooratic, lover,
IL A.A hA- eur.sIxy &. Nh--o2.-~I
by the ruthless Yankee land grabbers.
American justice. embodied in the man
she loves, steps in and carries the day.
Land shark and hidalgo alike are vsnquished.
The drama sums up in its comprehensive
outlines the fate Of a time and a people.
As far as an actress could, Miss Starr
realized all this. The blood of Judnid's
mother was rashly amorous and d~eliciously
capriCious. But her clear sense and strong
will were her fathers. To denote both
strains and to embody them with convino-
ing force was a work of talent touching
upon genius. JudRiid firted and danced,
was fiery, p~etulant and lowering; she was
Quick in apprehension and in wit, clear,
strong and courageous.
Sometimes, when the m skill Of
Mr.. Richard Walton Tully, h wrote the
plav and produced it last year in the West,
mounted highest. or when the pictorial
genius Of Mr.. Belasco was at its best, there
were moments of absolute delight. But
there we're other moments when the action
tagged in scenes aimless and i'll constructed
and then not even richness Of color and
atmospheric glamour could quite keep at
hay the spirit of boredom.
As a picture of the times and as a story
the play was prevsilinRly weak The Don
LUIS Of Hamilton Revelle was characte risti-
Callv handsome, polished and futile; but
both the charm and the folly of the man
were Crudely denoted in the lines and
the action, and beyond any actors power
- ~ loon A. tha land itinnraF kiDL0s1
John W. Cope had a few moments Of broad
and refreshing character; out they were
spasmodic and detached rather than in
tRgral in the development.
Even the love passages between Judnitd
and her righteous American lover (stolidly
played by Charles Richmanl were con-
vincing only by spells. A scene of great po-
tentiaI charm in the first act went wrong
for the lack Of clear cut and cumulative
dramatic movement. In the second and
third acts the plot was a mere matter of
melodraInatic Observation-Disclosures that one
word of common sense must have cut short.
Nowhere was Miss Starts triumph more
pronounced than in the way in which by the
mere force of her personality and art. she
sustained the whole.
She was seconded, to be sure, by Mr..
Belasco's stagecratt which, though external
az always. was, as always, potent. Before
the curtain rose upon the mission garden OF
San Juan Bautista the music OF William
Furst had caught the audience in the spell
Of a beautiful peace. The garden itself,
luxuriant with red and white roses bTeathed
southern beauty and repose. Don Luis
Law in n stupor Of midday sleep On a bench
overgrown with roses. Padre Antonio sat
nodding in his chair over luncheon and a
flask Of red wne. The very sky was turned
full Of sunlight and somnolence-
In the second scene the patio Of the
Rancho was alive with festal color and
brilliant with costumes and dancing. A
ekv STEPPED i'm moonlight dripped eful-
gence upon il all. There were candles and
vari-colored lanterns, a Spanish dance
and the Simmer Of paper streamers and
confetti. The last act was on the azotea
roof Of the ranch, obscurely illumined by
masked lights and the vast velvet blue OF
the summer sky. To the perfume Of ripe
young wOmanhood was added that OF
poetic color and atmosphere.
In response TO applause which was I'M
mistakably spontaneous, Mr.. Belasco
bowed his thanks. The duty OF speech
making he put of on Miss Starr. who looked
very pleased and very scared. Her n
little gasping Thank you" however. was
as moving by its very artlessness as all
her art.
There rave been many far stronger plays
At this playhouse, but they have also been
msrred by excuses and defects in taste.
Az far as this one was beautiful il had the
beauty of sincerity and good taste.