New-York tribune., 1910-01-07
DRAM
"The jolly Bachelors" at the
BroadzCay Theatre.

They set an eccentricity to music. and
Mr.. Lew Fields produced the result last
night at the Broadway Theatre The
achievement is called ''The Jolly Bache-
lcrs." and any one with half an eye and
half an ear could see and hear success in
1t after the curtain had been up quarter
of an hour. The long desired formula for
working out descriptions of things of this
class could be applied here IL only some
considerate soul had worked 1t out But
candor must confess that, however the
praises may run over other details, there
is one phrase In the formula which cannot be
repeated over this event: the chorus cannot
be praised for its beauty. But it is an agile
chorus; its energy Is astounding. So Is Its
capacity for noise. And let this special
praise be given: the members of the chorus
did not beat time with their heads. Thus
departs a bit of musical comedy business
which had long survived its usefulness.
There is a thin trickle of plot meandering
through fertile area of songs and dances
and seven scenes of jovial inconsequence
delightful to audiences that revel In this
species of entertainment But what 1t was
all about is neither here nor there. The
purpose of the F1eldian enterprise is to
make fun, and there is as much fun of the
rltluidH SOTl III tIllS CcilCOCtlOn DIS lIcAc
can be without Fields himself He, of
course, is not in the piece, but with the aid
of a taxicab he might contrive to appear
in 1t and devote the rest of the evening to
his other enterprise in 42d street. Then
his patrons would be in the last reaches of
delight.
THE Jolly Bachelors is called musical
spectacle not a musical comedy. nor a
comic nZ a
burlesque. Little does it matter what it Is
called. 1t is the sort of thing that the
greater crowds in Broadway hunger and
thirst for. And if the last verse that Nor
worth 'sings" In the college scene were
eliminated there would be nothing vulgar
in the sever scenes. 1.-THE Jolly Bachelors
will give many thousands OF New Workers
complete mental rest
If the first chorus was dressed by some
one who ish color blind the raiment which
subsequently adorned the men and wom-
en-, boys and girls. of the crowded stage
hummed lightly in the attent ear. The
clash of cOlOrs in most of the musical plays
in this city is usually noisier than the from
bones and the kettledrums. But New York
is not distressed by these clamors. Give
it plenty of movement; all the hues that
the dyehouse watts can pour upon a stage
PeChSu Will lNSly young men ana smiling
chorus girls; plenty of jingles; then the
town will laugh even If the performers
merely wink at it. Enterprises of such
pith and moment do not call for serious
criticism. They are to be taken as
found And this new piece at the Broad
way Theatre will please the patrons of
that house quite as much as did its
predecessor. Probably the performance
will be shortened. The so-called flight of
the airship' in the second act is absurdly
ineffective and can be cut out with advan-
tage, while the scene which precedes it can
be reduced to one-half its length, or even
abolished altogether, without bringing tears
TO any eyes. The piece is much too long
as 1t was given last night. The public will
have a liberal return for its money If the
curtain is dropped at II p. m. Miss Nora
Bayes seems to be the star of the occasion
and to consider mirthful, in one of her
songs, an interpolated reference to a for
mer manager with whom recently she had
dittculties Apart from this Indulgence she
is pleasing. And as much may be said for
Miss Stella Mayhem, who, as "a colored
chorus lady" is very funny, excepting in
the second scene of the second act, when
she gags foolishly. But last nights
audience was in mood to rejoice at any
thing. 1t convinced that the whole
affair Is quite good as anything pro-
vided In recent seasons by Lew Fields.
A. w.