The Washington herald., 1911-10-29
NEW YORK THBATERS

finally reached New York, and took its
place at the Park Theater as one of the
leading musical productions of the pres
ent season.
The Garden of Allah,' which had its
premier last Saturday, might properly be
included in the list of the present week.
Liebler & Co. staged this wonderful pro-
duction at the Century Theater, former
ly the New Theater, and set a new
standard for lavish production.
Other plays of the week included Mrs.
Avery" at Webers Theater; Mutt and
JEFF" at the Grand, and The Million,
at the Thirty-ninth Street Theater.
"The Return of Peter Grimm"
We cannot neglect this opportunity to
make an additional comment on THE
Return of Peter Grimm" David War
fields new vehicle.
Since the days of Hamlet aye, and
even back TO the Ptolomeys and beyond,
there have been ghosts upon the stage,
but it has remained for David Belasco
to blend realism and the psychic with a
skill that strikes new note and marks
an era in the drama. Nothing like The
Return of Peter Grimm" has ever been
seen or even contemplated since the
drama became worthy of chronicle.
WIN DdNlQ arnelQ IN the title role,
II should crowd BelasCo's for the season.
To many the theories propounded and
the paths trod by this strange piece are
familiar, but to the multitude they must
break new ground and set afoot specula-
ton that could he engendered in no 9TH
er way. Its scenes and situations are re-
plete with humor, pathOs, and realistic
fantasy of the spirit world.
Peter Grimm. in the flesh, is a pleasant
old bachelor, whose only thought is for
the happiness OF his adopted daughter
He has arranged a marriage for her with
his nephew, an unworthy rake and she,
through love for him, promises to COM
plete the match.
Peter dies. after arranging with his
physician to return to earth if such a
feat is possible. He does and finds his
adopted daughter still faithful to her
promise, and about to marry the nephew,
who by this time has added to humanity
one small son by a former parlor maid
Old Peter is Mortified and tries to reach
the girl to absolve her from her promise
The efforts of Peter to accomplish this
communication from the spirit world form
the action for the play. Peter finds that
he can only transmit message through
the Legitimate child. He walks about
the scenes of his early life. but is un.
seen. He talks to his former friends
but is unheard. Yet through the inf1u-
ence he is able to exert he straightens
out the tangled love affair and the cur
tain falls with every one happy.
The action is most deliCateIy conceived
and moves with realism that makes old
Peter $ unCanny appearance seem but a
natural succession Of events The play is
clever hut icOnoclastic. It has been on
the boards for about a year and has been
played with varying success; yet what
ever ones beliefs, one cannot afford to
miss such a marvel of Stagecraft, dra-
matte construction and character acting
Is that combined in David ReIasco's pro-
dICtiOn OF The Return of Peter Grimm
or the actinE Of David Warfeld as old
Letter himself.
THE Quaker Girl"
The Quaker Girl has settled in the
Park Theater, formerly the Majestic,
after twO-year run in London. 1t land
ed with a reputa tion, and promptly pro-
Ceeded to accumulate another. The mu-
sic and lyrics of the piece are the fea-
lures chiefly to blame for its success.
Both OF these features are rather re-
markable-remarkable from an artistic
standpoint The hook for The Quaker
Girl" was written by James Tanner. the
music by Lionel Monckton, and the lyrics
by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank
The story Of the operetta is decidedly
nebUlOuS. and serves no other purpose,
apparently. than an excuse to set forth
the eNquside drolery OF Clifton Craw-
ford, who plays the role Of Tony Chute,
a member Of the American Embassy at
Paris, and the demurc humOr of Ina
Claire, who is cast for the role of
Prudence, Quaker girl who chafes un-
der the restriction of her sect until she
bursts the bonds, and appears as the
wife of Tony, the marriage bells, of
course, ringing forth in the last act.
ba r,lC a Will
a certain captain OF the English army.
who is to marry a princess of the old
French aristOCraCy. Here he meets
Prudence. and in some song-burdened
and ineXpliCable manner all four in
wade Paris, where the somewhat watery
plot thickens to the consistency of very,
very thin tissue by the introduction of
a former mistress of Tony. The in
PRODUCTION Of Tony mistress serves the
purpose of setting forth some pretty
dancing and trite dialogue and a musicO-
terpSiChorean war between the Quaker
ess and the Parisienne. ending in the de-
feat Of the latter and the aforementioned
Wedding bells
There are several songs that will be
whistIed some hand Organed. and many
more rathskellered. What greater sue
cess can be gained by an operetta? The
chorus is handsome. Ina Claire eXCes-
siveIy beautiful. and Crawford Conss-
tently and perennially funny.
"The Garden of Allah"
No attempt at dramatization of recent
years can compare with the wonderful
and lavish production given The Gar
den Of Allah" at the Century, formerly
the New Theater Money, apparently,
is only an object to the end of visual
izing Robert Hitchins popular novel of
that name. 1t is a glorious storybook,
a veritabIe wonderland of stage craft,
done in a riot of color that surpasses,
II possible, even the vivid description OF
Eastern life contained in the pages of
the novel. AS an optical feast, THE
Garden of Allah has no equal.
In the dramatization. Mr.. Hitchins has
refused to sacrifice his novel TO drama
tic carpentering. He has plucked the
story from the book, and set 1t down
among the wonderful scenes provided by
George Tyler and his cohorts, unsullied
by the tricks that grace the works Of
most successful dramatists. It is here,
il anywhere, that THE Garden OF Allah
falls below expectation. It's action drags
noticeably in places, and were it not for
the fine acting of Lewis Waller, as the
Trappist monk, Boris, it would rather
resemble a beautifully Illustrated love
story, told by a series of masters and
mistresses Of elocution, than a drama.
Waller, however, saves the situation.
His portrayal OF the introspective battle
between ascetic and lover mounts the
heights of histrionic art. He quickens
the piece into life and saves 1t from