The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1908-01-14
New Orleans Enthuses Over
the Savage Production.
Company Can Both Sing and Act Far
Above Other English Grand
Opera Companies.
WONDERFUL SCENIC DISPLAY,

Stanley c. Arthur, in the New Or
leans Item says of Madam Butter
fly which comes TO The Kentucky
Friday night:
Enquisitely acted, magnificently
staged. most pleaslngly sung and cos
tuned to a degree OF correctness sell
dom attained in these days of make
the-money-qulck" and ''the-more-of-it-
the-better." Puccinl's latest opera,
MADAM Butterfly" pleased house
crammed full OF critical '.frst night
ers' last night at the Tulane. who sat
(and stood) through the three in
tensely interesting acts of this heart
tearing little story of Japan.
Puccini's Music Seductive.
The seductive charm of Puccini's
music FOR MADAM Butterfly" is most
prominent feature as the sad little
tale is unfolded. The wonderful har-
monies OF this Italian genius finds an
element of epic beauty in the spirit of
the terrible Samurai. OF Japan. that is
foremost In the faithful and fearless
littse Geisha, who bears the title name
OF the opera Puccinl has clcverly in
te-woven the august mystery of odd
japan and sparkles Il with 4 touch
OF American patriotism. using the
opening strains Of the Star Spangled
Banner" at the most opaortune times.
Most entertainingly the music OF
e Madam Butterfly kindles and quiv-
ers with the meaning Of the story and
Eliminates every exquisite picture in
IT, now with the httle pattering melo-
dies of the Gdshas wooden shoes.
here with the ripple of the Geishas
laughter; then with the ominous
orGsh OF brasses 'and thunder OF the
drums 10 sweep passion to It's climax,
and again the lofty and impsrsonal
threnody OF strange harmonies that
almost suggest Wagner, TO fall and
fade into the thgobbing songs of the
yiolins that blend exqulsltely into the
duioot note OF Cho-Cho San. the little
girl-wife.
Dainty Musical Numbers.
Far more pronounced in any of his
previous operas docs Puceini tell this
story OF Japan with his music-mBsic
daintily japanese and graphic with a
fresh lyric charm and heart-appealing
tenderness. His closing duet in the
first act. "oh, Night OF Rapture dis
closes the full sensuous beauty of his
woong numbers. The music Of the
second act has all the eagarness and
hope In It's broken cadences
that run through Cho-Cho Sans breast
Pucclni plying the most delicate mean
iRgs in music TO color memory with
fresh pigments With the virgil that
marks the closing of the first act the
musician brings In faint murmuf OF
melody. like the sound OF distant
has the fullest stress of ten
terness and pathos. The opera closes
with powerful tonal effect In Mad |
At, Butternys" heart-breaking Fare
we'll" song to her child that portrays
he final trugic episode with wonder
full graphic beauty. l
Wonderful Scenic Display.
To Belasco went the stage manager
who supplied the settings of Madam
as did Puccini (who by
he way. is about to set Belasco's
''The Girl of the Golden West to
musicl. when he wanted theme. The
settings are of the Belasco correctness
" detail and the Belasco gorgeous
no ftfsL Of
ing locale and atmosphere by series
Of lights and pictures, before the
theme proper starts, is resorted to and
with great success.
The orchestra plays an overture
with four themes, that of Japan. the
tender music of love, the temptestu-
Gus music OF passion and the strain
OF the star Spangled Banner. 10 iiA
The American. The oyertures finished
the house is plunged INFO inky dark
ness and. light gradually steals intol
the first drop shown. First there Isl
but u slight sllmmer, like the first
blush of dawn, then the great figure
of the Budda. at Kamakura, looms
high above the fields and streams and
in the dim light il looms solemn
and deadful silhouetted
figure that prophecies. the tragedy thst
is to come. Another swift patch OF
darkness and the laughing, merry
hearted Japan is shown. A mountain
torrent dashes to the distant sea, the
waving flowers are so real In this set
ting that the sweet scent almost as
sails the nostrils and high and unde7
filed rises the beautiful mountain, the
whlta-coned Fuilyama, the sacred
mount of Nippon. Once more the
total darkness and the light steals on
gradually showing the garden OF
Madam Butterfly" high on a ter
raced hill overlooking the narrow har-
Dor of Nagasaki, with its distant man
of-warsmen swinging idly at pchor.
The house is covered with its bios
SONS brightens the garden with its
thousands of iris buds. In the r,ar
a red lacquered arch feads the way
to the Shinto temple on the higher
hill, enter the lieutenant and the mar