New-York tribune., 1912-12-31
EVA" NOT THE BEST EVER
Lehar's 0peretta Has Musical
Color but No Spirit.
SALLlE FISHER AS EVA
Has a Gentle Personality, but
Does Not Fit Into a
Viennese Operetta.

| his best work No composer should have
! his finest inspiration before his last one.
because the gradual retrograde is as dis
| coura ging for him as II is Disappointing
for his admirers Franz Lehar seems TO
be gradually declining in power since the
days OF his great Merry Widow"hood.
! His Count Of Luxembourg was pleas
| ing. but had neither the dash nor the
swing of the Widow Eva lets US
down stlll more from the dizzy heights OF
romance to which we were tossed by the
| Villa song the waltz, the coaXing Maxim
4 tune and all the rest OF them In that long
| remembered craze that struck New York
some FIVE years ago. Comparisons are
unfair. but II Ia unfair not TO expect them.
The whole world. not only the muslcal
comedy world. is balanced by them
Eva" sounds like nothing so much as a
collection OF leftover tunes thrown to-
gether To make musical comedy Tor
"the provinces Argentina liked II, out'
then. we are told they had 1t there In
different form. Things" were left out
for New York. And places where things
might have been are apparent here ana
! there especially I'm the second Or wine,
woman and song. act.
The action OF the piece is cast In a
place I'm Belgium called Montarier. ana
in Paris. 1t would be agreeable incl
dentally, n there were even one member
Of the cast that did not pronounce the
! Belgian town Mon-tarlier. But there 10
not even one. Eva IS a maid in glass
factory. She has nothing in the world
but a guardian and a desire TO live the
mi Il a K
ing girl she loves Jewels and laces and
soft. lovely things. Enter Octave Flau-
bert-doesnt that name make laces sound
possible Ito take possession OF the glass
7 factory I'm which Eva works. He Is
young. rich and appreciatlve. He is at
tracted by Eva. and acts the beast. as
ne describes il later on. lie announces
his engagement 10 her before every one
in Montarlier and then In the next min
ute sings 10 her that II was a lie. Eva
unlatches the pearl necklace that he has
casped about her throat. and. clad In
the finery OF one OF Octave's proteges,
fees to Paris 10 look for honest work.
There Octave. repeutant. finds her In the
last act a milliners assistant. earning
twenty pure francs a week. Eva's guar
for a reformed man is better than
naturally good one.
! Armed with which CHEEKY sentiment.
those Of us who have not yet had our
fling can go out and face the coming
events care free.
The Lehar music accompanies all or
this however. and there is more melody
and richness I'm the score than the aver
age musical comedy composer provides.
The inevitable waltz song is also a love
song Love Is Pilgrim" Is the name
OF Il. Eva sings IL and repeats IL sew
erel times during the course OF the even
ing "On the Day ] Mary was perhaps
the most spirited Of the lighter songs.
although there were several other all
man songs that bid for favor.
Hugo Riesenfeld. who conducted the or
chestra at the New Amsterdam Theatre
last night was the directing spirit OF the
evening. musicaHy speaking for he fairly
coaxod for rhythm and melody from both
his orchestra and The stage. lie got A
fair measure OF both from the orchestra.
but there was a minimum Of melody from
the stage. with the exception OF the lower
range Of Miss Fishers voice The other
members Of the cast sang as little and
as badly as possible the way people in
musical comedy casts hereabouts always
do sing And the local audience Is tired
Of this kind OF singing. in spite OF n gen
eral belief that they know no better.
il is a pity that Eva" should have
nothing new In it nothing distinctive or
sparkling or romantic or interesting. But
what can be expected from a piece over
which so many people have worked?
Franz I,ehar conceived the idea hrst. WI
ner and Bodansky made q book for his
music The piece went on fits travels, be-
Ing altered in every place ~ visited. Glen
Marlborough rewrote the whole book for
New York according 10 either his own or
some one ese's ideas OF what this city
would like and the play was then mount
ed by Herbert Gresham. with Julian
Mitchell called i'm to work over the "en-
sernbles" Almost as many helpers as
though the thing were put on by a church
social. Small wonder that the whole la
bored and expensive affair falls 10 make
unified impression, fails to make a
hit
Perhaps this will appear to be taking
musical comedy too seriously. But musical
comedy is really worth taking seriously
because II is very ingratiating and
worth while form OF dramatic art There
is no end OF mood and spirit possible TO
IT, No one knows this better than Lehar.
That Is why one goes TO an operetta OF
his full of hope.
CAST or EVA"
I No