Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-05
"L' AMIGO FRITZ"
TO BE SUNG HERE
MASCAGNPS MASTERPIECE is
BILLED AT MASON
REPERTOIRE FOR THE SECOND
WEEK is ANNOUNCED
Also Some Further Discussion of "The
Greater Claim" Which Can't
Keep Itself Out of This
Column
RY w. HERBERT BLAKE

history of local grand opera are an
nounced in the repertoire for the sec
! ond week of the International COM
pany's stay at the Mason, which VIII
begin next Monday night Chief in in
terest is Mascagni's Il AMIGO Fritz
! which will he heard Wednesday even
ing for the first time in Los Angeles.
Signor Colombini viii sing the title
role Nine. Bertossi will be Suzel, Ar
cangeH will be David and Miss Strauss
Beppo.
Friday evening "Otello" will be sung,
| with SamoilOff in the title role, Ar
cangeli as Iago and Nine. Bertossi as
Desdemona. Monday night and Satur-
day matinee Fedora" is the bill.
Faust will be repeated Tuesday night,
and III Trovatore" at the Wednesday
matinee. Thursday night La Travi-
ata," the operate version of Camille y
| will be presented, and Saturday even
ing a composite bill is being arranged
in which the entire company will be
heard, and including Lucia, second
act, with the sextette and mad scene;
III Trovatore," second act; "Cavalleria
Rusticana."
For the rest of the current week the
bills are: Tonight, III Trovatore': Fri
day night, "Cavalleria Rusticana' and
Il Pagliacci"; Saturday matinee, Car
mem; Saturday. evening, "Rigoletto.'
i A second view of "The Greater
| Claim" at the Burbank last night con-
firmed my impression of Sunday that
Linton Tedford has written a Virile and
| thoughtful drama, and further rein
forced my conviction that the conclu-
sion, as at present voiced by the char
acters in the last act defeats the plays
very evident purpose. When Boss
Stone says to the Rev. Armstrong.
7 r11it chic oh -
he states precisely the battle-ground of
the play. 1t is not fight between the
man Armstrong and the man Stone,
but between the church itself and or
ganized corruption. Again, it Is Stone
who cries out to the bishop in the last
act. TIN sick of you narrow minded
bigots." He leaves the church. The
Rev. Armstrong must stay. The con-
clusion is irresistible from the internal
structure of the drama itself, and en-
trely apart from what your and my
ideas of the rector's duty may be, or
even the entirely different question of
the utility of dogma, which is quite
gratuitously raised in the closing dia-
logue
"If 1 go. you'll go with me-" yells
Stone, as he takes up his hat to go.
If the rector quits his church organiza-
tion, Stone wins, and all the $50 900 in
/ dependent edifices of the Rev Arm
strong's loyal supporters cannot alter
that fact Mr.. Tedford has obviously
planned his drama with the intention
of making the clergyman a victor in
the duel and that victory demands his
fidelity to the principles on which he
waged it. Those principles are repre-
sented by the bishop who supported
him. and TO turn his back on his faith
vitiates the victory
1t may also be remarked that con-
stant parochial association with wo-
! men of the community which has been
ablaze with the sensation of her past
is rather too painful an ordeal to be
| forced upon the young woman who has
| won her battle for the righting of a
| great wrong To remain i'm that com
| munitY under any circumstances would
be to her a more cruel ordeal than any
which the play inf1iCts upon her. This.
not for her own fault, but because of
the very bigotry and pharlseeism which
are at least as prevalent outside any
church as in 1t. The town in which
the scene Is laid, presumably. is as
phiistne as is Pasper Stone when he
gives the dancer to understand she IS
good enough for him to dine with. but
not good enough for his son to marry.
To leave the town and the parish is
logical, but the church is bigger than
either.
The Burbankers acquitted them
selves admirably last night. Mr.. Des-
mand stands the wear and tear of con-
stant impersonatiOn of an eXacting role
without material deterioration from his
fascinating work of the first production.
He let down ever so little i'm his dig
nifty in the first act yesterday but
caught himself up readily and played
the big moments with his stage adVer-
sary with a firm fortitude which rep
resents his hest dramatic achievement
Of the present summer season.
The best proof that Colonel Stone is
"a consistent character, both in design
and execution, is the fact that at both
performances have seen one very
vociferous portion of the audience sided
with him right up to the moment of his
final discontinue. Mr.. BOSWorth dOesn' t
let his character know that he's hypo-
| crte that's the secret of this singular
fact The man at times is more con-
vincing than the rector. because he be-
lieves i'm himself as firmly as did Cap
tain Kidd or Tamerlane while the
clergyman has the humility of con-
| scous frailty, for all his flamboyant
self-confidence The typical boss, so
far as I have studied him, is nearer
like stone than either "Ready Money
| RYDER i'm 'The Lion and the Mouse"
or the hrusuue old chap who stamps
and struts through "The Man of the
| Hour" Mr.. BOsWorth makes him a hu-
man being, but a many sided one, as
most men are. He is a pietist in
church, a curmudgeon in business, an
idealst as father, a good fellow at
| dinner a miser and a bully to the
waiter before and afterward. a pol
ishcd diplomat when he is winning. q
coward and a boorish brute when he's
beaten. Who hasn't met him in real
life? His like may he found in every
city in America. Sometimes he runs a
foundry: sometimes a newspaper.
Mr.. Yerance's bishop is true crea-
ton Shrewd and kindly. he cOnVinces
us as a real character even when our
sympathies are with the young woman
who at length wins his approval. Of
the same kind of cameo-likc minute
moss is Mr.. Mestayer's Harold Stone.
! one Of the most luminous things in the
play is his outburst against his fathers
brute banter in the third act. Mr.. Mes
taver acted sincerely and well. An
other bit of lifelikeness is the unWill-
ingness of Mr. Marks as the old serv-
ant to name Colonel Stone as his as
sarant-an ugly tribute to the men
aCing power Of the boss-and so acted
| Mr. Stockbridge is genuine and natural
in his part but should restrain some Of
his exuberance, which wins laughs from
the gallery, but also mars at times the
serious import Of the action. Perhaps
| the playwright should be blamed for
this, and perhaps the character
The work of Messrs. Duffield, Gilbert
and Andrews is Creditable. and Miss
buffet evidently has missed her voca-
ton: she Is obviously a born reporter,
There is also something incomparably