Omaha daily bee., 1906-02-02
At the PLkYHOUSeS

"The serto-Comic GirT' at the boyd.
Those of us who have passed pleasant
and thoughtful hours with Israel Zangwill
in his serious moods were lily prepared to
romp with him in his lighter moments.
When Mr.. Zangwill turns his humor out
to gambol in fancy's fields. it is a digni-
fed and irrcproachable lambkin indeed, one
that apparently knows the propricties. and.
hesitates to venture in any direction not
already tested under the guidance of an
experienced sheep. Result. not a frisk or
a frolic that it not most proper and eX-
tremely good form. When Mr.. Zangwill
set himself about the task of providing a
comedy for the uses of the wife OF his
very good friend and fellow author, Justin
Huntly Mccarthy. he had in mind the
fact that as Cissy LOTUS she was once
famous through at least two continents
for a wink, and that her earliest claim to
public notice was grounded on a song that
some of the older present day patrons Of
the theater may racall-"Tarara- boom-de-
ay." Well. with this to guide him. and a
sincere wish to do his friends wife full
justice and at the same time provide for
her a vehicle that should afford her ample
scope for her established qualifications
Miss LOTUS has since added several fea-
lures to her wink and her song-he
fashioned The Serio-Comic Governess
II has humor of pale. intellectual type.
such as moves one to say. "Ha, very good,
quite clever and then go on reading.
Its skeleton is Of well tried material: An
Irish girl the heiress to a noble name. loves
a soldier. who goes away to spread civiliza-
ton in Afghanistan: in the meantime, her
family fortunes have fallen into a dread
full state. and she has to 20 out as gov
erness school girl friend weds with a
Crummles what pity Mr.. Zangwill didn't
go to the Bowery instead of TO Dickens for
his managerl, and she points out to the
girl that she might as well earn $3.50
week on the stage and pay of the mort
gage on the old castle; the son of an
alderman (aldermen count for more in
England than on this side) has fallen des-
perately in love with the girl. and de-
termines that he will have her in spite
of that soldier, D Him: the girl goes
on the stage only at night when the lights
are turned on, and earns the money needed
to clear the title of the old home; of course
she makes hit, and the soldier comes
home and all are happy save the son of
the alderman, who is a regular son-of-a-gun
besides and he is foiled. after having tried
some of the lowest-down tricks ever sprung
outside of a Hal Reid drama 1t takes
a prologue and three acts to tell this. The
tedium is more or less relieved by the in
PRODUCTION of number of songs and some
chorus work.
With the name changed to The Serio-
Comic Girl" and a great deal of its humor
Americanized and some of its jokes local
lied. this piece was offered at the Boyd last
night Miss Nellie Beaumont, who has
fallen heir to the Cissy LOTUS part is a
young woman of apparent capacity, whom
IL would be a pleasure to see in a better
role. She sings well. dances a bit and is
very graceful and altogether good to look
upon. Richard Carroll. who has been seen
in Omaha before has the role of the man
ager OF a caravan show. who afterwards
becomes manager of the Savoy Music Hall,
and gives further evidence of his value as
a comedian OF genuine JUNCTION. out of the
scanty material that falls to his lot he
makes a good deal of healthy fun. His
scenes with Miss Beaumont are the re-
deeming features OF the piece The others
in the cast are simply incidental. 1t ought
to be explained that the cast Is changed
for each OF the three acts and the pro-
losue just as is the scene. The company
stays at the Boyd tn after Saturday night,
playing each evening, with a matinee on
Saturday.