The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-11-17

New York. Nov. 15.-Theatrical audi
ences, as I observe the two-dollar kind
In broadway, are quite as commercial
as theatrical managers in their dra-
matte standards. The Christian PHI
grim" as | think. is such a stage Illus
tration of Bunyan's religious allesory,
THE Pilgrims Progress" as would, II
reduced to silent pictures in book,
make a volume Mt for the alcove of
treasures in the rarest library in the
world The spirit of the play by James
Macarthur is reverent, the music by
William Furst makes il a melody
drama in the original sense. money has
been spent prodigally to pay artists for
designing untheatrical scenery, and the
acting of Christian by Henrietta Cross
man Is the supreme effort of gifted
woman; yet the question among the
dispensing people on the first night was
not, rs It fine dramatic art?" or rs
81 good religious stage literature?" but
''WIn it draw" and What is its win
ming chance?" There were those who
tried 70 rate the play by its merits as
an exposition of the famous book, no
doubt; and a few appraised its worth
by its reverent exploitation on Chris
tian faith; but the valuation that I
heard voiced related to its fate as a
business venture. Will it pay? Don't
ASK me. nut 90 uecldfc lndi II 10
enchantingiy pictorial, and that its
hours of defamation, although not
drama of activity. is strictly Bun
yanian.
I don't like to write disagreeably of
a woman, even if she be an actress.
Yet / am bound TO say that 1t would
help the Illusion of Bunyan's Pilgrim
in this play of Henrietta Crosman had
fba nd oil hac
OF an audacious Irishman I'm Mistress
Nell" and when nearly caught in the
SEXUAL fmposture, escaped through a
window with the cry: ITO hell wild all
OF yeeZ." I couldn't help recalling that
incident of comedy when the same
actress, in the supernatural tragedy of
Christianity faced Beelzebub defiantly
for a few passes of swordplay, and
then fled toward Zion with the cry:
fair to Miss Crosman. Excepting the
fault of sing-song cadence, like a
camp meeting revivaiist land that
may prove attractive to people who &c
from churches to hear her in a the
atre). she satisfies the Requirements
handsomely. Her Christian is a gal
liant fellow. and not very damagingly
feminine. although she ought to cut
her tunic shorter. or else her com
-
should one pilgrim expose legs TO the
thighs and the other only to the knees
because the one is acted by a woman
and the other by a man.
The arranger Of 1.-THE Christian Pill
grim" needed sharp scissors and sticky
mucilage more than a smooth pen and
flowing ink for his job; and a moder-
ate amount of facility only was redui.
qifn in sir n rac for h
matter of the play consists simply OF
as many selections from Bunyan's
composition as can be presented on the
stage in three hours; the action beins
not connective, but episode; and the
aesthetic success depending on the
pictorial merits Of the production. The
portions transferred by Macarthur
from Bunyan's narrative are Chris
tians vision of Tiphet, his start from
the City of Destruction 10 the City Of
Zion. his approach TO the scross by The
way of the Wicket. Gate. his passage
through the Valley Of the Shadow o.
Death to Vanity Fair, thence 10 anc
out of imprisonment by Giant Despair
in Doubling Castle. and his stops il
the Enchanted Ground and at the
Shrine Of the WantOn, before the
Crossing of the River of Death TO the
Celestial City. Now. Il is no dispar.
agement Of Henrietta Crossman's
achievement, with the stage direction
OF ner husband, Maurice Campbell. Il
say that a beautiful result has beer
reached by the simple process Of buy
ing what was wanted. The program
names ten persons. or firms, from
whom materials have been purchased
from dramatist TO wigger. composer t,
property maker, scenic painter TO car
penter, and electrical artist to dress
maker. A point in theatrical processes
has been reached where TO producer
with sufficient taste and money, the
thoroughly artistic presentation OF q