The Washington times., 1907-11-05

Anybody who fails 70 see ''The Road
90 Yesterday" playing this week at the
Belasco Theater, betrays a lamentable
tendency 70 neglect the good things
that come 10 Washington. Minnie Du-
pree and the remainder Of the cast make
the performance charming IN every way.
AS to the play itself, only praise can
be spoken. Il is refreshing and delight
ful. a welcome departure from the ordi-
nary stories one fnds IN plays. There
is no woman with a wicked past, no
domestic vows broken, and even the
villain in the year 1908 Is good TO seel
The play is a fantasy, and by this is
meant that il is full cf the delicate play
Of fancy. a fairy story so set of with
appealing humor and prettiness that
the grown-up and the child alike must
be attracted by H.
IL Is all about a girl who falls asleep
in London in 1903 IN the first act. In
The second and third acts the girl. VINO
Is Minnie Dupree. Is back IN the year
1903 She knows Il is a dream. but It all
seems very real when she meets in the
dream the people who were with her in
the London studio, and it appears hor-
rible when one OF the men, in the role
OF a stern lord, tries 20 force her 10
marry him, and also nearly succeeds in
having her yeoman lover killed IN the
fourth act she has awakened 10 hnd
that her yeoman lover Is really a man
OF the twentieth century, and she and
the yeoman are undoubtedly and IN
speakabIy happy.
With such a story. there Is no chance
for anything but romance. beautiful
scenes, and all those things that appeal
TO the best IN people. That the appeal
went home last night was proved by the
enthusiastic way in which a capacity
audience received the play.
Minnie Dupree, who Is the star Of this
company that illustrates reincarnatiOn
and living again." brings to the part a
fund OF naturalness, humor and pretty
sentiment that make her work brilliant.
She is as charming as the story Of the
play. The skill with which she enters
into the 1908 period, with just enough
OF the 1893 things IN her 20 make her
work humorous. could not be surpassed.
Her personality IS fitted to the part
and her art handles thoroughly every
demand made upon her BY the play.
Miss Eleanor MOretu, Julia Blanc
White Whittlesey. Robert Dempster and
Charles Clary deserve especial mention
for their clever work. while F. Owen
bd&NEE Is Eptu IN a COMEDY role NIaL
could very easily be bungled-
The great beauty OF The Road to
Yesterday Is. OF course the fact that
Il puts before tbs audience the dreams
OF every child OF lovers and heroes and
adventures. When Minnie Dupree, at
. the beginning Of her dream life, asks:
But where is the heroT' she voices
the universal question Of childhood.
And the play does more. II suggests
and embodies those vague questionings
that beset people as 10 whether they
have had previous existence and
known before the people they know
now.
But all this reincarnatiou atmosphere
/ Is not thrust forward as a tIresome
theory It is merely interviewer with
/ the plot, a pretty part Of the general
scheme OF things. Nothing is blunt,
nothing is coarse, nothing Is inartistic
/ 1t Is a perfect fairy story. which Is
| given fairy-like settings and characters
and events.
And, II you don't Ike fairy stories.
| 90 10 see THE Road to Yesterday and
I find out how TO like theml