The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-01-01
THEATRES
.Parsifal. in English .

sParsifar' in English and spoken, not sung presented at the Montgomery Theatre last night told for the first time in Montgomery the great poetic and dramatic legend upon which Wag- ner founded his great opera. The name no doubt, which has been given great advertising since Conried broke the Wagner traditions and put the opera on in New York drew Q great part of the large audience, but some who went to criticise and went only because they could learn the story in no other form remained to praise.
 It was not. of course. great per- forrnance and nowhere near the stand ard of the operatic production. yet the audience found in 1t much to approve. Primarily the work of two or three Of the principals pleased and secondarily the scenic effects were decidedly good. Their excellence lay not so much In the stage settings themselves although a couple of them were very striking as it did in the splendid work of the stage electrician. "Parsifal' quite eclipsed Lewis MoErison's Faust" in this respect. Stage electricity was put to some new uses and lights and shad- ows were used most effectively.
 The fault in the production was not from the spectacular side. That was
 
 Q difficult and some of the players
 Id not negotiate them to the satis-
 ion of the audience. In one respect v olss9effowg .of .of@zgeHsr1tiunsUrnt tive exS1E the -stage moderns of today n5. that is the ease and ability with W ch they could render blank verse the literature of four centuries ago.
 in "Pareifal. "- except%s-fosA two e or .e of the principals. the company
 
 the poetic lines. he comparison between their enun-
 ion and the elocution of the Ben
 et Players when they presented the
 Morality play a few nights ago was
 ftable and the comparison was all
 other to the advantage of Ben Greet
 his associates. This indictment of
 Icism is not meant to be so broad
 to cover the entire company for
 te were two or three of them who
 ke their lines with as much skill understanding as Hamlet would
 had the players say the word Of
 mock piece before the King and
 tr names shall presently appear.
 he program says the play was
 apted by William Lynch Roberts"
 note the author overleaps Wagner
 goes back to the same source rom
 ich the musician drew his inspira$
 u ~ wolfram von Eschehbachf and Cretien' de Troyes. The romance dealt with the Holy Grail, the cup in which, tradition says, was caught the blood of the Sa- vior This tradition, in the days Of chivalry, when religion was more mys- tic and more symbolical than it is now, the beautiful tradition of the Holy Grail fired the zeal and imagination Of many knights who voted to devote their aT n- tenance of this great, sacred relic.
 This tradition. this fiery and conse- crated zeal of the devoted knights have inspired the poets of every age. Ther fancy has been singularly drawn by the beautiful and romantic story. IT no other poet than Tennyson had touch . cd 1t the world would have lent its ear and learned the great story.
 The "Parisfal" of last night follows closely the story that runs through wagner's Opera. Amfortas, Prince Of Capodocia and Chief Warder of the Holy Grail loses the Holy Spear, the sacred tailsman which Is set apart for the defence of the Holy Grail. He loses 1t through the machinatiou of hlinsch- or, prince of darkness. whose instru- rnent of evil Is Kundry. "the fairest wo- man in the world" Through his sud- den passion for Kundry evil enters the heart of Amfortas. the talismann is lost to him, and he shows himself breaker of his oath.
 Only one that is pure in heart and unspotted by sin may recover from Klinschnor the Holy Spear. Parsifal. a beautiful and, simple shepherd, is entrusted with this great commission. The greater part of the play when this condition has been revealed has to do with the steadfast course of Parslfai. the incorruptible to youth n his search