The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-05-17

instances, to the tricky. humming
Letter Song III tho last act. tho whole
score Is enhancing. In the first act,
| there Is trio of women's voices. with
which. for difficulty In the way of I'M
usual. unexpected intervals and wicked
| reste, requiring constant counting"
this reviewer can compare only with a
similar trio he once heard In "Falstaff''
With all its difficulty, however, the
music is charming and beautiful. Only
the singers and the orchestra have
to bother with 1.-THE house, simply
settles down and drinks 1t in. and goes
out whstling its melodies, for the
most part wishing 1t could hear the
whole thing. all over again.
Given such gem of wit, comedy
and music. II remains only to comment
upon the men and women who present
cd it. and. is to them, there is some
-LopommI Su1IiM 10 1901 LoJ-6lIuouv,p
TO begin with. they are all singers.
not "bouffe" singers of the average
musical comedy class. but at the very
least, light opera singers OF very
| high order-any one of whom could
NIL acccptably the most trying of all
positions next to grand opera and pro
1essionn oratorfo work, big New
York church, where magnetism or
histriontc ability help not at all, but
where ono has TO sing simply and lit
orally sing. Lillian Poll. who has tho
role Of Nadina, is proba bly, the best
soprano in light opera that we have
had In years. Her voice is clear, pure
ana fresh and of an unusually appeal
Ing quality. and she plays with an I'M
affected charm that made her perform
ance altogether delightful. So good
was she. In her solos. duets and trios
n mr. ,-ha ..t.
Ing and listening for something to
knock" could find nothing that he
wished she had done or had left nm
done. Hon Bcrgere the second So
prano, divided honors with Miss Poll
Not only is she naturally funny. re-
markably clever as u comedian. put
she also sings like an artist.
Her low notes. in particular. were
revelation TO those who do not en-
pect any profundity in a soprano. Lotta
Gale. who was substituted for Miss
saunders as Aurelia, gave good per-
torrance and sang we'll enough: she
was especially effective In the female
trio Charles Purcell who sang The
Chocolate Soldier" himself. could hard
" be improved upon. 1t is likely that
he is not expected to be much OF a
singer. but Mr., Purcell not only PLAYED
the part with all the laughing mocha
lance and required indifference prov
Ing himself comedian of easy and
genuine ability, but he sang In a
smooth. pleasing and pure tenor ot
natural sweetness and much training
and made tremendous hit. Frank II
.Bclcher made the most OF the comedy
part Of Captain Massakrof singing
and playing his bit to the utmost sat
isfaction. Edmond Mulcahy. the Col
onel Papoff. sang with n rarely heauti-
full baritone or basso cantante. that
made one long to hear him sing "ElI
1ah" or st Paul" He ran down or
un as he pleased. without effort and
with quality most exquisite.
George Tallman. as Major Alexius
Spriidoff played the pompous. hombas-
Tic hear-hero In more than capa bic
manner. His voice, while not of n
pretty quality. is free and ringing. run
ming up above the treble clef with
ease Altogether his performance
could hardly be bettered.
Under John Lund. one of the mos,
musiclanly and competent directors
mat we have had in many dav. the
orchestra of twenty pieces was in IT.
self a thing OF Joy
The chorus. chosen not for lis an
penrance, did not come on until ti,o
second act. but then 1t sang WITH
volume that one could expcct only
rom one of twice its size The mail.
or the second act was almost stupcn
dous In Its tone and volume. "A
ana vet We scream and how, ba-
cause We do not have good shows,"
~. me house was not nearly filled. stsll
b9h inr'' and The Old Homes.aad''
VIII be back some day. ". II. q.