Evening star., 1908-01-26

| phatically on both sides Of the water In
Capt. .Brassbound's Conversion. are 20
reappear in the Shaw piece at the King,
| Theater. Hammersmith. on February ~
and then will start on tour. Miss Un-
gers new play. a romantic drama. Wnlcn
| as yet is not named finally. Is to see tne M
| light in the Irish. capital on February q
| The part Of it's heroine. the famous Eliza,
| by Miss Terry. and incidentally 1t is the
| longest she ever has undertaken. MISS
| Unger's story. however. though concerned
with the adventures OF historical person
ages. has only the slightest foundation IN
| fact The action takes place during the
turbulent period of the war OF the roses,
or at the time when the heroine OF the
play was just entering on womannooo:
The hero is Henry of Lancaster. who VIII
be played by James Carew. and some
thing is seen also of the Earl of Warwick
and of Richard III. The first act Is laid
in a bIacksmith's forge in Yorkshire and
the remaining three in castle In the
same country. where Elizabeth and war
wick are held prisoners.
Miss Terry declares that she is delighted
with Miss Unger's play, quite positive OF
it's success and looking forward with the
greatest pleasure to acting In 1t. II the
actress expectations are realized IT Will
be the biggest kind OF score for the
American girl dramatist, and one that she
deserves for her grit and perseverance.
Since "The Merry Widow captured both
Europe and America light operas by Wen
nese composers have been In great de-
out two of the best recent ones will be
on view shortly at London theaters con-
trolled by George Edwardes. whose CHIEF
production, the Widow" itself. is con-
year. anyhow. The first Of these two
pieces, 1.-THE Dream Waltz" already has
been described in this correspondence; the
second. the rights In which have just
been secured by Edwardes. is THE Aollar
Princess" Composed by Herr Falls, 1t
der Wen Theater, Vienna, none the less
perhaps-because the Dollar Princess" of
the title is an American girl.
She is a dashing millionairess who has
engaged an impecunious young nobleman
to be her secretary She finds however,
that he is by no means prepared to fall in
with her whims and vagaries; that, in
short, she has found a master where she
expected to discover servant. Or course,
she becomes passionately attached to him,
while he although secretly returning her
affection. remains stubbornly cold and
phegmatic Presently, being led to be-
lieve that a rival has appeared In the
field, her sense of injury prompts her to
reprisals of the most decisive description.
How in the end, like katherine and Pc
truchio the lovers are brought together 1t
is needless to reveal According to exist
ing plans. ''The Dollar Princess will be
put on at the London Gaiety in March,
following 1.-THE Girls of Gottenberg"
Beerbohm Tree has now produced at
His Majesty's Theater the much-talked-
of dramatic version of Dickens novel,
Edwin Drood," by Comyns Carr. and 1t
has, of course. made much commotion.
One wonders what Charles Dickens would
have said if he had been present at the
first night. Perhaps he would have OBJ
served that he remembered having writ
ten something Of the same name himself.
bat that except for some incidents in the
beginning, the resemblance was doubt
less coincidence. In the Comyns Carr
play John Jasper. the mysterious and
maleficent organist, is, so to speak, the
solo, with the other characters as the or
chestral accompaniment. brood himself,
Rosa Bud Landless, Grewgious, Girls
parkle. Durdles and the rest signlIy In
the same way as does the fine stage set
ting of Cloisterham Cathedral with the
long procession Of quantity dressed folk
pouring out after the service. They all
help to set off John Jasper. This. of
course, is as it should be from the point
of view of a playwright doing a play to
Mr.. Trees order.
We have in the first scene an opium
den, with Jasper screaming out under the
influence of the drug his passion for little
Rosa, and his determination to do away
with his nephew brood, who Is engaged
to her. The outcome is that at the un-
comfortable little dinner Jasper gives to
brood and Landless, Jasper plans to
strangle his nephew, but before he can
carry out the idea, resorts to the opium
pipe. and dreams SO vividly that he has
committed the murder and has carried
the body into a forgotten vault in the
cathedral and buried 1t in Quicklime that
he believes on awaktng he has actually
committed the crime, as young brood is
missing the next morning. According to
Mr. Carr, brood had heard his uncle
calling out in the delirium of the imag-
ined murder, and creeping out and over
hearing all had incontinently fled. for no
particular reason except that it heiped
along the plot and enabled him to return
in time to hear his uncle's confession of
the crime that was not committed, anu to
wed Rosa Bud after ALL The sum total Of
opportunities given to Mr.. Tree for chok-
ing, clutching at the air. raving, writh-
ing and making inarticulate sounds of
terror, hatred and despair will probably
be noted In the annals of the stage as
having constituted a record.
In the scene of the dream murder, after
Jasper sinks exhausted to the floor and
the curtain falls, one supposes human
endurance has reached its limit, and that
every sound of which the human throat
is capable has been made; but 10! after
a moment the curtain goes up again. Jas
per comes to, is terrified by caller and
proceeds to further, sounds. falling at
last into one corner worn out and Dark
ing hoarsely. 1t was considered per-
sonal triumph.