The Washington times., 1908-12-13
Has Assembled Coterie of
Real Stars and OrcheS-
ira of Merit.
THE TEST" CLOSE
TO EARLIER DRAMA
Miss Walsh and @. Bert MaTburgh
Garry OFF Honors in Good
man Play.

Ivan Abramson has accomplished
wonders. His week OF Italian opera at
the BeIasco Theater is a fine attain
ment He deserves to succeed, and
he has-sO far.
Consider for a moment the size OF his
task First, he must find stars. II
they were easy to come upon. does any
one think the Metropolitan and Man
haitian companies would be paying hun
dreds Of dollars for the singing OF a
single role at a single performance
There are scores of applicants, to be
sure. So there are for every part in
every non-mUsical COMPANY; but no one
would argue from that that good actors
were easy 10 obtain.
Opera requires the ability Of the actor
coupled to that Of the vocalist. and de-
veloped according to the special limita-
tIons OF representations which require
an admixture of the two. Thns:
The soprano must appear calm in
given scene The aria written for that
scene exhausts all the resources of her
musical art. She must breathe as
deeply as she can. Yet the inhalation
of deep breaths must not interfere with
the calm exterior required OF her as an
actress.
Again, she is in the depth of de-
spair. For a dozen bars she must sing
"Ah" and "Oh." and what not The
actor must simulate despair only as he
speaks or stands. The singer must keen
up the illusion if he can, while he fol-
lows the composer through maze Of
musical fandangoes.
Work of Real Ant
Mr.. Abralnson has not been easy TO
satisfy. His stars are real stars. They
both sing and act capably. Anyone Of
them would set the accustomed musical
comedy on fiTe-vOCally. if not pulchri-
Iudinously- And they have the sustain
ing force Of a serious art, a fine under
standing. a high purpose. That is why
this impresariO deserves credit-Cone of
the many reasons why)-that he has
round Nine Therry, NJ Bari, Miss
Allen Mile. Strauss, and so many
others.
But he has done more. He has as
Seilbled an orchestra of pronounced
merit Ordinarily any company which
presents grand opera at popular prices
ADDS six or eight pieces to the orchestra
regularly at the theater This WAS a
compact, unified. special organization OF
accordingly we'll In "Cavaleria" Fri
day night the intermezzo was heard as
happily as. any OF the singing and de
SetNed as much attention.
now and then there was slight break
ia the even bearing Of the orchestra
as when on Monday night the horn
PLAYER and the trOmbonisr fell to chat
terlng CCmplaccntly on the virtues of
the score in entire ignorance that they
We're ObtTuding their conversation into
n hT~ Trra
But this is = little thing compared TO
the cvenneSS, the Solidity. and the color
OF the accompaniment provided by this
orchestra; night after night, in work
alter work.
A little too scant an attention was
given by Mr.. AbramSon "a the mounting
or his operas. A little too muc.. l.een-
tion was given 10 this lack by the crit
lCs. opera is the projection Of a dra-
matte Idea by means Of acting and
Ii,iSd n,Gsic, Inc question in the critics's
Can I find any fault with this per-
projected across the footlights?''
Capably Interpreted.
Verdi. Mascagni. Gounod. Donizetti
and the rest were all reverentIy and
capah'y interpreted and in the light Of
that fact it was wrong TO overempha-
80 . AiAA9AAN AAAAAOA III ueIes = wig that
didn't match somewhere else. .Neverthe-
less, Mr. AbramsOn viii do well. before
he goes much further. to make sure
That he does not again have to borrow
scenery from every playhouse IN the
city where he undertakes to present a
new bill every night.
Ihe Test was closer to Mr. Good
mans The Right to Live than Wash
lnSton hoped Miss Walsh il is-Miss
walsh and competent assistants-who
do most for the production displayed
at the Columbia this past week. Mr..
Goodman himself negiects it most IN
Warrantdbly. Here and there the newest
playwright could improve The Test -
mis- one ought by all means to be with
manager and star working the play
over as a preliminary TO the forthcom-
Ing opening in New York AS a matter
OF fact, he Is in London and the play
Is taking care Of itself. As far as "The
Test is withstanding the test Of pub
lie opinion, the credit belongs to Miss
Walsh, who gives here, as always, a
direct. rather blunt. heart-reaching i'm
personation Of her accustomed Magda-
lene.
Laurels to Miss Walsh.
To Miss Walsh and one other the
credit goes chiefly: the one other being