The Washington times., 1906-12-23
THEATRICAL NEWS AND CHAT OF THE WEEK

has certainly secured it. For whateve
popular interest the production possesse
centers in sir. Lackayes impersouatioi
OF the piCturesquely contrasting phase
OF the life and character of Jean Val
Jean. II backed up by a better play
thls might have scored a considerab bl'
success, artistic as well as popular.
does not now need TO be said that her,
we have an actor of extraordinary yer
satility in finished portraiture, and o.
uncommon power.
AS the escaped prisoner from the gal
leys. Mr., l-ackaye was glOomily pathetic
and brutally powerful. AS the able anC
wisely humane Mayor of Meme, he was
stalwart with Il touch OF real nobility
and as the aging and benevolent Ii
Blanc, he evinced real melIowness and
spirituality.
There is no real villain. for Javert
is too episode TO be regarded in that
light, and only the slightest possible
heart interest" and that centering
against all tradition in the hairless and
toothless Famine. while the only ap-
proach 10 love story appears only for
few moments In the third act IN
the person of COsette.
For the rest F. Pollard was capital as
Champm thieu. the wheelwright. double
OF Jean Vatican; his makeup was par
ucularly good. William Lamp plays
Marius eXcellontly. Louise Everts. the
EDonine, shows a dramatic instinct
which should be useful; Melbourne Mac
Dowel, Jenreys Lewis, and John ID.
O'Hara make villainy quite as hide0us
as II need be. On the whole it seems
probable that The Law and the Man
mil na.
the less sophisticated pIaygoers tears Of
NalIean's sufferings aud thrills Of pity
and Of JOY for his successive dangers and
escapes.
Aside from this the only thing on
Broadway this week that savored nj an
- novelty was a Browning matinee
"ColomDe's Birthday" on Tuesday at
the Hudson Theater. The affair was a
benefit for one OF the local hospitals IL
was presented by Henry b. Harris and
the cast was made up from the several
Harris companies now in New York and
included Grace EuistOn. Jennie Eustace.
orrin Johnson. Campbell Gollan. and
others The performance served its pur-
pose il that il realized a considerable
sum for the charity concerned. but il
added nothing 10 BroWning's fame. and
next 10 nothing TO that OF the distfn-
gulshed actors participating.
It was In reality four long acts Of
deadly duliness. Grace EIliston did not
make particularly good impression, (
neither did Orrin Johnson. In fact the (
nearest approach 10 a hit was CamDbeu I
GOIlan's BeTthOld-aud that was MOI I
near enough 10 necessitate any dodgfng /
Inc audience was almost entirely fem
mime, The men could have been counted I
on one's 3 fingers and looked terribly con
scious and uncomfortable. The Der-
Iofmance viii probably be repeated at
special matinees. and for special an
dlences II viii possess some interest.
The craze for special Tnatfnees has
nothing like exhausted itself and {t baz
certainly served "a useful purpose In at
least two instances. The specials of
MIS-. Danes Defense" attracted so
Ihuch favorable comment that Lena
Ashwell has added Mrs. Dane to her
repertoire on tour, and Guy Standing 10
4ieI company. II was generally admitted
that THE Shulamite" would have Fs-.,I
better with a betetr leading mar, ,r5
that Miss AshWel would have ,,s5a
more Of an impression with a better
play. Now she has the play. and the
company has the man. and both are
making good IN Boston. Which is one
thing the special matinee has accom-
pilshed.
Another thing-it has induced Nat h
Goodwin to revive when We Were
IWenty-one,' and add that to his road
repertolre-whereby both the public ana
Nat are likely 10 profit. Mr.. Goodwin
has had nothing so good since ne played
The Only Oscar" is giving Broad
way more 10 talk about than it has
lad since Leslie Carter's marriage. He 4
ana ms grand opera company are a
faithful source of gossip, and confec- =
ure, II rather looks as If he ,vo,,I,, =
max good-and make money. which {
5 by no means the same thiug. The I
rites are treating the Manhattan com : =
amy with At least as DISTINGUISHED con- :
.IdeFation as the Metropolitan. And =
while its patronage is not as fashion e.
'ole as that Of the Broadway housa
mere Is plenty OF IL. and it knows
rood music.
Ia iact. there is so much Of il. that q,
VT Hammerstein has announced that
owing 70 the increased demand from
'lpscribers, he has decided 70 give on !,
,ra on Tuesday and Thursday i'm addi- .
Ion 10 the regular performances, after i
he nrst Of January. Opera every dav p
% The Week-three chers for Oscarl
And again, three cheers for Oscarl For
le mas issued q mandate that under no
circumstances, shall a singer at rbf !
manhattan Opera House respond To an Y
Moore II that rule were ADOPTED gen Y
rally by the managers ct musical pa-- a
ormances, the horrors OF the average b
omie opera and musical comedy first S
lshts would be materially Iessened for t
u concerned.
ana before leaving the house Of Ham y
aersteiu, re il observed tba+ vyiI1T.,,, n
iammerstein, son and factotum of tba n