New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-10-08
THE WOMAN HATERS"
More Viennese Waltzes in
Musical Piece at Astor.
LESLIE KENYON A HIT
New Play Agreeable, but Not
Distinctive.

supplied New lOIh WIN "N'NA " ~
,oyorites in ode Frauenfresser," which
anne TO the Aston last night as The
Woman Haters.'
l., the new play there is much that is
.oreeable. nothing that is disagreeable
Va nothing TO mark ii out as special"
lever. the grouping of men on one
.,do n the stage as woman haters and OF
.bo resentfu musical comedy ladies' on
nc other made a novel arrangement
- worked well in the musical num-
bers.
a, aqsemblage of bitter bachelors
s.r,,od themselves into a club of am
a,o,rs in affairs Of the heart, whose des-
a.-ate nurpose il was to hate women-a
alar doomed TO failure in the third act
ond therefore suitable for musical COM
edy The clubs leader major In the
army. has as cause OF resentment that
hts inamorata cut him with whip be-
oouse he was masterful one afternoon
,opr wears ago. She wrote to him and
onoIogized, but the letter was not deliv-
cred then. 1t is delivered just before the
anal curtain The bachelors drop out or
.be club one by one, and every one OIL
then, finds a mate In the chorus.
Lord Eyerbee. the automobile lover OF
tho lady of the whip, brought new
comedy element for musical plays INTO
..rho Woman Haters." Leslie Kenyon
,loved this part, and played II 80 as
90 draw applause every time he finished
= scene. OF course. he was the English
.r,stocrat. He is always that. He called
,bs woman haters these Johnnies VINO
nate women and all that" HIS COM
adv Is a comedy OF lines, emphasis ana
vocal expression--not of makeup or OF
svseserations or buffoonery OF any hno.
This was new and relief from the usual.
In fact, Mr.. Kenyon seemed to have IN
tho hack Of his head somewhere that
-,uo,cai comedy need not be wholly friV-
olous and inconsequent 1t could, II II was
40 written, be as appealing and purpose
e., % drama in it's different form and
mood. A delightful thing II some one
would finish this idea out and write one.
saule Fisher played the lady who
brought all this hate into the world with
the cut of her whip. Miss Fisher has an
jngratlating manner and knows now 10
remain in the picture.
Youth in the person Of Joseph Santley,
was, grave. graceful and charming. He
IS one of the few young men OF the
stage who can be interesting ana yet
ouiet. Every one liked him last night ana
felt enllvened by the scenes, songs anu
dances in which he and his partner. Dolly
Castles, figured
Walter Lawrence. as the major woman
hater. had the part Of crouch. II Is an
ungratifying part in musical comedy
when every one else is more or less elias
tic in mood
TIE music Of the play was composed by
Edmund Eysler. who composed me
Love Cure" Nearly all the numbers
were waltzes, TO which every one on the
stage swayed ana swayed. There was no
set opening chorus. The most spirited
song was The Racing Quartet" sung by
sauie Fisher. Dolly Castles, Leslie Ken
yon and Joseph Santley. Little Girl
Come Back TO Me-" was another that
was we'll received last night
The original book Of the play was writ
ten BY Leo Stein and Karl Lindau'
George V. Hobart adapted 1t. George
Marion is responsible for the staging
and in this he has shown his usual effort
TO keep away from the conventional-one
might say the inevitable-of musical COM
edy. In his arrangements choruses are
not perpetually rushing on the stage TO
make a finale for each song, and singers
do not break mechanically into a clog
dance before the echo Of their last words
has died. There Is a spontaneity in his
Ideas.
In this play there are less Of the Ameri-
canisms Of musical comedy than usual
and that is an agreeable point in It's
favor, since it is frankly Viennese in tone.
Perhaps some day native musical com
edy seed will be planted In the mean
time, while we are having everything
from Vienna, 1t would be better II 1t were
Kept wholly Viennese.