Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-17
Coming Attractions.
New National.

The long heraIded Arabian Night,
.'Kisriet" Edward Knoblauch's oriental
drama. which Klaw & Eriinger are pro-
ducing In conjunction with Harrison Grey
Fiske will be presented for the first time
in America Wednesday night, December
-, at the National The production will
be beautiful, and the plot scintiIlates with
interesting romance from rise to fall of
the curtain. The scenes of eastern life
are taken from the Bagdad of the
Arabian Nights The bazaar of the
tailors' and the market places, with their
picturesque crowds, are shown with cos
tunes in splendid contrast. The atmos-
phere is thoroughly ranspIanted; the
cries, the quaTrela aud the barterlns are
reproduced. one of the striking scenes
occurs when the crowd kneels suddenly
30 that the aiiph and his retinue may
pass. and when. he having passed, they
start UP screaming, chattcrlnS ana hght-
ing in the mad scramble Tor the back
sheesh which has been thrown them. An
Other shows the hall in The WaZir Man
Sur'S man sion, or the diNdn or aud1tnce
hal! Of the cdiiph, both exquisite interiors,
entirely eastern and quite different from
anything ever seen before in stage
reprod uCtiOn. The story Is clearly and
directly told. Hail. the beggar, is asleep
before the mosque of carpenters He
awakens to a busy day-an Arabian day
beggar asleep again on the same stone,
snoring as the curtain falls. Ii is "a day
of days for Hail; as the muezzln calls
the faithful TO prayer he meets his enemy,
Jawan, the man VINO stole his wife and
slew his son. and not knowing him blesses
him. for which he receives purse buIg-
ing with gold, but which. when thrown at
his feet is accompanied by Jawans sheer
ing retort IN which Hail recognizes his
ancient enemy. With the money Hail is
pursued by the worse luck He steals
bundles OF merchandise, presents for his
daughter Marsinah, fine raiment for him
self, and is captured and brought before
the wicked wazir, Mansur. by the mer-
chants who have tracked him To his
dwelling place. The wicked waZir tricks
him in1o oath to Stay the caiph, after
he has promised TO Hail to make Mar
sinah his wife Of wives, at which Hail
is overjoyed, not knowing that his daugh-
ter is loved by a stranger, who is none
other than the calfph himself, disguised
as a gardeners SON. Hail enters upon his
duties in the WaZirS household and is
made love TO by the waZrs chief wife
with whom he makes rendezvous. But
in the meantime he has attempted 10
stab the caliph and is thrown into a vault.
where he finds his enemy Jawan, who
has been arrested is already lying. Hail
snaps his chains, throttles his enemy and
escapes in the dead mans cloak to the
wazir's harem. just in time to rescue his
daughter from ManSur'S clutches killing
the latter by drowning him in the BATH
just as the caliph comes on the track of
his bride. The caliph marries Marsinah
and banishes Hail, who starts in the
morning on pilgrimage to Mecca.
The cast includes Otis Skinner, who
appears by courtesy of Charles Frohman
in the role of Hail, the beggar. The other
principals in the order of their appear
ance include: II. Tamamotto, John Web
ster Sydney Mather. Sheridan Block
Macy Harlan. Daniel jarrett. Harrison
Carter. Gregory Kelly, Fred Eric, Hamil-
ton Reville, George Relph, Bennett Kill
pack Richard Scott. William Lorenz
Thomas Audiey, Martin Saunders. Rita
Jolivet, George w yodthorpe, Amelia