The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-29

New York, May 28.--(Special. )--Generally
speaking. the 1so9-l910 theatrical season is
now over. True, a number of leading
playhouses have their doors open, and &C.
casionaily the first nighter" is called on
to see a new musical production, but
| large majority of the theatres are board
ed UP and no event of dramatic impor-
lance will grace the boards until next
| fall
| 1t might be interesting at this time to
take a glance over the past season with
a. view of seeing what has been accom-
plished by the progressive managers and
| producers.
Financially the season has been fail
IRE. This is admitted by all and Is un-
doubtedly due, TO a greater extent to the
enormous amount of new productions
which passed away within few weeks
otter their premier. To list the number
OF failures would require much time and
space, as the season has been banner
one in the number of new plays. To the
onlookers 1t appeared as though the man
ayers were trying to Guido one another
in the quantity of productions without
paying much regard to quality. Half
! n dozen openings were crowded into one
night and the first nighter" was doing
what might be termed continuous Mar
athon all season In an effort to cover the
ground Fortunately for him the lives of
most of the productions were short and
many died a natural death before he mad
time to get around.
Several plays, however, have managed
to run through the entire SEASON and one
or two more are still playing and viii
| Ill
But aside from the opening of the new
theatre the season has been marked by
no great dramatic event. numoer OF
PLAYS have been successful and will no
doubt prove their worth on the road, but
none has attained the popularity of The
Music Master" or 1.-THE Merry Widow
both of which had phenomenal runs.
The most successful plays of the season
that is. the plays which have had the
longest runs-are comedies 1.-THE For
tune Hunter" with John Barrymore In
the leading role, and Seven Days" are
two of the best. Another is THE Bach.
elors Baby" with Francis Wilson at the
head Of the cast. All three plays will I'M
6oubtedly have good road runs.
To select the best dramatic offering Of
the past season would be a hard matter
In making the selection the new theatre
would have to be considered, and this Is
a subject that must be treated at a
greater length
THE City," Clyde Fitch's last work. has
proven immensely popular, and FULLY
Marshall. who plays the role of the
dope" fiend, has achieved personal tri-
umph. Madame X Is another drama
that has appealed to the public, and al
| though the New Amsterdam theatre has
closed it's doors for the season, the man
| egement announces that this play will
| open the theatre in the fell. The success
of this production is undoubtedly due to
the great work done by Miss Dorothy
Donnelly in the title role. New York au-
diences have rarely seen anything more
| realistic than her Interpretation of the
role OF poor drug-sotted creature. who
at one time was the wife Of Frances lead
| ing lawyer, has now sunk to the lowest
depths and passes her time with her
cigarette, glass of abstnthe and bottle
| of ether. The play itself has rather
gaudy style, but in the last act-court-
room scene-the work of the principals
lifts it out of meodramatic world into the
realms of real art.
| ! Miss Ethel Barrymore did some excel
lent work In "Mid-Channel," but the play
was decidedly too melancholy for the av-
erage American audience.
| A recent production which bids fair to
have a successful run is "The Spend
thrift" at the Hudson theatre. This play
| Is unusually clever and has thoroughly
competent cast
Musical comedies are largely matter
| of taste. The past season has witnessed
| an unusually large number of failures in
| this department of the stage, and the
| failures were well deserved. The most
tunefu musical play on Broadway this
| season in the writer's opinion Is ''The
| Chocolate Soldier" This Is described as
an opera bouffe." and is sung by the F..
| G. Whitney Opera company. The opera
Is the work of Oscar Strauss and the
story is based on Bernard Shaw's Arms
and the Woman" The music possesses
real merit. and is so far above the ordi-
nary variety that there is no comparison
1.-The Arcadans" "The jolly Bachelors"
and 1.-THE Dollar Princess have all
proved very popular and deserve favora-
OF some merit is "A Matinee IDOL" De
Wolf Hoppers new play.
before any opinion is expressed on the
| work accomplished by the New theatre
| it might be well to glance over the num-
Der of presentations In "a weeks the
management produced II plays. AS the
majority of these were performed by one
stock company. it required great deal
| of work in rehearsing. and naturally the
principals were not well-driled as they
should have been.
Financially, of course, 1t was not ex-
pected to be success, and as 1t Is an
endowed institution. this question needs
no consideration.
Its location-which is considerable
distance from the theatre DISTRICTS
partly responsible for the lack of popular