Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-05
.BELASCO|TES PRESENT
90 MILES FROM BOSTON,
NationaI-PoIIard Opera Company
Sings the ''Mikado' at the
Auditorium
By SHIRLEY OLYMPUS


Fifty Miles from Boston" is enjay-
able from first to last, and the Belasco
players are to be congratulated for their
best efforts. In some respects the cur
rent Belasco attraction is the best
musical melodrama George M. Conan
ever presented to the public. The
characters are truer to life, the music
Tor that which the Belasco production
presents) is less Cohanesque and there
fore more enjoyable, and the story Is
far and away more interesting than any
stories told in other Cohan pieces An
evening passed at the Belasco is an
evening well spent If light amusement
and entertainment is the aim. OF
course there are rough spots in the
production, but they are not extra
rough. One must take into considera-
ton that it is a dramatic stock COM
pany presenting a musical comedy.
Charles Ruggles singing Back to
the Old Home" Adele Harrington in
Help, Help, I'm Failing in Love" and
Nellie Montgomery In waltz with
Me" made the musical hits. of the even
ing. Miss harrington, who essayed the
role of the village gossip, was scream
ingly funny before she sang. But
when she gave Yocalization to that
ludicrous ditty and supplemented her
singing with gestures and dance she
became a riot, Mr.. Ruggles put
depth of feeling into his solo which one
hardly looked for, although he is one
of the cleverest members of Manager
Blackwood's organization. In inter-
preting the character of Jed Woods,
a youth who steals in order to secure
funds to take away his wife, whom he
has married clandestinely, Mr.. Ruggles
gave one of those portrayals which are
usual for him but surprise to all his
friends. The depth of this young mans
versatility and cleverness has not yet
been sounded.
The story of Fifty Miles from Bos-
ton" involves a girl with whom two
village youths, the son OF the richest
man in town, and another the village
hero, who has gained his laurels
through winning a baseball game for
Harvard while a student in that col
lege, are in love. She is the village
postmistress. Her brother. her assist
ant The boy steals postal funds at
the behest of Dave Harrigan, son of
the rich man. Dave makes futile at
tempt to use his power to win the girl
but fails. In the end, when Dave has
lost and when his father is about to
give the young thief over to the author
tiles, it is discovered that Nellie Har-
rigan is the wife of the thief and the
girl for whom he stole. Curtain!
Lewis Stone as the village hero and
baseball player has little to do but look
and act youthfully heroic. He does that
well. Richard Vivian contributes much
comedy in his role of the village con-
stable Charles Giblyn enacts Harri-
gan, senior, with a proper dramatic
sense, and carries his brogue excellent
ly Eve Kelly is pretty to look at in
her role of the postmistress, but she
fails when she attempts to sing and
dance. Charles K. French as Nathan
Wescott, Bessie Tannehill and others
in the cast are acceptable The chorus
is willing but not very expert
The charm of "The Mikado" will new
err be lost, nor will the drawing power
of Gilbert and Sullivan's greatest work
be taken away, no matter where, when
and how produced. Old in style, an
cient in comedy and cumbersome in
music, judging from present day mu-
sical comedy and light opera stand
ards, 1.-THE Mikado" still has a hold
upon the public Every performance of
it makes one wish that there were more
Gilberts and more Sullivans in the
world, and that they were writing bur-
lettas today, using their great brains
and wonderful creative ability in a
modern manner
While nothing brilliant marks the
production of "The Mikado" given by
the National Pollard opera company at
the Auditorium, still no exact or point
ed criticism Of the production may be
made. 1t is an acceptable offering all
the way through. To call forth enco-
rniuns of an opera as familiar to the
public as 1.-THE Mikado" the production
must be brilliant. Still. an evening
snent at the Auditorium would not be
an evening lost. / dare say there are
Thousands of theatergoers who would
dearly like to see the present offering in