The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-25
Joe WEBER'S "DREAM CITY,"
A NEW VENTURE IN LOW COMEDY
SETS 4 NEW MARX.
Cecilia Lotus Travesties Musical Comedy

Cecilia LOTUS TraVesties Musical Comedy
and Lillian BlauNeIt Grand Opera
Joe weber Pipe Dreams the city
Under the influence OF Farm wine.
= Nothing short of a heroic confidence
n thcir new show could have led Messrs.
Toe Weber and Victor Herbert TO submit
il 10 the test it endured yesterday after
noon. Dirpensing with the customary
first night audience of friends, p~erfunctory
spplauSe, flowers and all that, they invited
the representatives Of the press to the
final dress rehearsal. Behind Mr.. Herbert,
who conducted his band in his own person
and sh.rtsleeves, the floor was quite empty.
Empty was the gallery, too, except for a
sleepy spotlight man. The entire audience
wa, made up Of the critics, who, instead Of
their usual seats down in murderers' row.,
,at by twos and three s in the first tier boxes.
There wa, no laughter but their laughter,
no applause but their applause.
The result, as far at least as that audience
was concerned, was a triumph. In spite Of
Il temperature in which every one shivered
but the SuDerheated conductor and in spite
of a performance almost four hours long,
that audience laughed and laughed again
applauded self-forgetfully and was once
on the point of demanding an encore-when
Mr.. Herbert anticipated them by calling
for a rehearsal of the encore he expects
70 get tonight.
The simple fact is that this Dream City:
A Dramatic Pipe in Two Puffs" Is a real
substantial SUCCESS from way back, the only
one of its kind that has been scored since
some years before Weber and Fields parted.
The old side partner was missed, as always,
and as always in the case of these Sismese
twins of artistic fooling the absent one
seemed the dearerf 1t was the ancient story
of distance and enchantment. Something
Of the same kind might nave been felt with
regard to the Weberfield horseplay and
the EdgarsmitH wit. Age does wither and
custom stale the best variety turn. But
the fact remarked hat Mr.. Weber was fun
nier than in years. One guess will go wrong
il Weber's wrestling match with that ex-
uuislte Re1IbeH, Will T. Hodge, and his
wager as 10 whether he has a whole shirt
on his back does not convulse a whole sea-
ron Of audier(ces.
The great appeal OF the performance.
however, waf in its novelty. It maj count
for little that instead of the old hurry burly,
higglety piglglety type Of show there is a
bona tide plot n some attempt at reality
of atmospheric: but even that little is some
thing. TheS first act shows Mr.. Weber as
Dinglebendet, a lazy Dutch farmer on Long
Island, whof lives by his wife and she by
sumner bohrders and whose land a real
estate spectator attempts to buy for the
site Of a futtre city. The second act is the
only true ptff from the pipe Of dreams,
and il shown the Dream City as it arises
in the imagination of Dinplebend der, stimu-
lated by honfe made wine and the ~eloquence
Of the real e. ttate speculator. An interlude
which wa6 yesterday played as an after
piece but wiz probably be inserted in future
in its logical place-shows the Dream City
version Of fhe opera of "Lohengrin" as it
rises in the(mind of Dinglebender under the
influence OF the aforesaid wine of the ooun-
try. Not Aince Catherine" has Broadway
Witnessed 80 delirious a burlesque.
Mr. Herpert's music, which throughout
has more freshness and charm than has
ever gracdd these shows, here rose to the
height OF genuine travesty. and delicate
may be outraged, but in spite of the oom-
blned Efforts OF the warning impresarios
there is still a great public which will de-
light in IT,. III thoroughness OF the at
tempt at D~inglebending the real thing may
he Judged in the fact that the Elsa OF the
occasion was none other than Lillian Blau-
welt, Who, though plainly nervous in her
new surroundings, sang with great purity,
sweetness, two dlmple5 and a smile.
The other prime novelty Of the occasion
was Cecilia LOTUS, now again in danger OF
being called Cissie. She was Din g~iebeRder's
daughter, her mother being that Eifel
tower Of f~emininity, Lillian Lee. 4 don't
know how she got to be mein daughter"
says Dinglebender, but she ISIS it," To
any one familiar with the salaries of the
stars Of grand opera and vaudeville, a
more pertinent question is how Dinget-
bender is 10 pay for her and for the ESQ
Of his pipe dream. Miss LOTUS gave a
series of limitations of current Broadway
singers, ending one of them with a real
vaudeville cartwheel. With Otis Harlan,
who lent her capital assistance in imper-
sonating the entire family circle Of Patricia,
she enacted a scene of THE Chorus Lady"
with a fidelity hat made one actually see
Miss Stahl, 20 say nothing of hearing her
chorus girl slang and drawl. The whole
AFFAIR was as convulsing as it was finely
artistic.
Maurice Farkoa sang Lohengrin in a
delicious ~falsetto, and Madelyn Marshall
was prettily grotesque as Dinglebender's
help on the farm. The chorus was re-
kplendentlY costumed. and as to looks a