Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-07-25
BY w. HERBERT BLAKE

HH HE week in Los Angeles theaters
which will begin next Sunday
Il will be the most promising in
prospect of pleasure and artistic
achievement of the present summer
season. There is iudicious variety,
too as if the various manage
ments had benevolently conspired to
play each others game and their own
into the bargain. Every form of dram
attic offering is represented on the play
bills from opera to linockabout vaude-
VILE, with the single exception of farce.
That has it's inning this week in 'Ihe
Man on the Box" which the Burbank
stages beginning this afternoon, sub
ordinated as the farcical element is to
the comedy of an interclass love affair.
THE College Widow" will hold over
at the Belasco for this week, owing
to demands for its repetition.
over at the Majestic, Harry Girard's
energetic band of singers are to be
permitted to essay real, unapologetic
opera-"Cavalleria" and The Mikado."
The change will follow this weeks
rendition of "A Runaway Girl
THE outcome Will utlllDlloAi ~ '''Ae-A
-the good music lovers of this city really
want what they have been demanqlns
for these many years badly enough 10
nav money for II. Opera IN EhSHSh
NAV have its artistic objections, put III
the hands of the Castle Square ana
other intelligent eastern companies II
has proved the most potent educator OF
the popular musical taste in American
operatic history. 1t has also the solid
advantage-Which is an artistic one,
too, in a certain sense-of enrlchlnS the
sensuous pleasure derived from melody
by enabling the hearer to understand,
in part, why he is pleased. The Amer
lean public is intensely rationalistic, so
far as art is concerned. II demands TO
know why 1t enjoys. And in the alb
sence of any general Italian or French
or German culture in this country, the
only possibility of its satisfying that
craving is the production of opera in
English. In the case of such operas
as Lucia" which already has borne
heroically the strain of transferral
from a Scotch locale to an Italian OPP
cratic setting, a careful English rem
dering may even be an Improvement
over the original This, only from the
the standpoint of the realist, of course.
Be that as it may Oliver Morosco
has done a big and a noteworthy
stroke of work in brusquely banishing
of entertainment which not only has
legitimate excuse for existence, but
has more and better fun in fifteen min
utes than accidentally slipped into
three long and painful hours of Ser
eeant Kitty" "The Mikado" always
was a popular opera because it's a good
show. The lyrics mean something. The
music means something. The humor
has the sardOnic note which rings in
yt,a a
common, every day humor The Lon
don music hail crowds laughed at
patience" and "Plnafore" and THE
Mikado" because they We're 'jolly
good shows, don't you know The
American crowds expressed themselves
q little more respectfully, but they
laughed even harder They are laugh
ing yet--in almost every summer gar
den of the east and middle west. You'll
be laughing with them at the Majestic
next week
First in popular curiosity among this
weeks novelties is THE Merry
Widow" the Viennese operate comedy
with which two continents have been
roaring for many moons. The Mason
production, we are promised, will be
adequate and unsparing in perfection
OF detail. When the cost Of transport
ing such a mammoth scenic affair
across the continent is considered,
that seems almost unbelievable, but
there is only one Merry Widow" and
! trust she may be as lavish in hiring
pretty satellites as she is of her sunny
smiles.
One week from tomorrow night the
two weeks engagement Of the Interna-
tional Grand Opera company will open
at the Mason with Aida" Lucia, "
Faust" Carmen" I'll Trovatore, -
"Cavaileria," "Pagliacci' "Rigoletto"
and "Otello" following in sequence. 1t
may sound chimerical but 1 believe
the coincidental performances OF opera
in English and italian will be mutually
beneficial, at least to the visiting COM
pany. People who acquire the taste
for opera in English will be interested
to compare their experience with the
original version of "Cavalleria." And
the staccato patter Of Gilbert and Sui
Ivan will serve as a very toothsome
salad between courses of Faust and
az misunderstanding that the Ma
iestic double bill holds over for sec
ond week, as it should.
The Grand will continue to serve red
hot melodrama.
The Orpheum offers four new Vaude-
willie numbers tomorrow afternoon, and
four serviceable followers.
The Los Angeles theater presents a
new bill tomorrow, the Unique Will Of