The Washington times., 1912-02-20

1--WE sail the ocean blue,
And our saucy ships a beauty;
We're sober men and true.
And attentive to our duty.
When the balls whistle free over the bright
blue sea,
We stand to our guns all day;
When at anchor we ride on the Portsmouth
We have plenty of time for play"
Thus sang the opening chorus n
male chorus, too!-at the Belasco IA
evening, and a capacity audience which
also had plenty of time for play"
settled back expectantly rs the open
ing notes of Gilbert and Sullivan's in
imitable "Pmafore' came from the
vIolins and brasses Of an augmented
orche stra.
Last week l commented on the fact
that Shakespeare had most certainly
not lost a whit of his popul1Iity-this
week, and from the sane thcater,
Will remark ttat the theutcrGurrs of
Washington, have lost not q particle
of their love for real music, the kind
which is tuney bot not vulgar, catchy
but not reminiscent, pleasing but not
accompanied by manifestations of the
terpsichorean art which makes one long
to be elsewhere.
The life of the Gilbert and Sullivan
operas-"Pinafcre" the Pirates Of
Perzarce." THE Mikado," ct al.-mav
be somew hat shorter than that Of the
ShGkespCarean dramas, but as long as
the vogue fer popular music lasts as
long as people love clean comic opera,
so long will the compositions OF the
talented Englishmen continue to delight
please, and entertain audience after
audience.
The present tendency nf "mus,ca;
comedy" as used in comtradistinrtion to
comic OPERA is perhaps, never bet
ter presented than in the production OF
'Pinafore' Mt the EelaSoo this week
Here is a musical performance which
present craft by opening with a male
chorus. which has no pony ballet, :"
which dispenses with all big ensemble
numbers put on solely fog tho purpose
Of viewing the physical charms Of
the female portion of the chorus.
or for the daring color schemes
OF the producer, and which Is not luu-
dured a. an excuse for the exploiting
OF beautiful figure, a dazzling dress, a
million dollar chlnchilla coat or a
ParisiAn turkey~trot.
Comic Opera That
Is Comic Opera.
Here Is a comic opera which Is a
comic opera tn the best use of both
words), with music which is delightful
and words which keep one straining
ones ears in order not to miss a single
bon mot. There is only one word to
describe the performance, and that is
treat"
Produced for the first time in Lon
don May %, 1878, "Pinafore," like the
Shakespearean farces, has lost none of
its pungent satire, and its quips are
appreciated just as easily today as
when, written, thirty-four years ago.
True, some of the slang is bit anti
quated, but, as most of that occurs in
the songs-particularly of Little Butter
cup--it is not so noticeable. All the
lines, songs, and business included in
the present revival are guaranteed by
the Messrs. Shubert, Brady, and Ar
thur to be the bona fde original" and
last nights audience-some of whom
remembered the first "Pinafore" pro-
duCed in this country, soon after the
London premiere-was enthusiastic in
its appreciation of the production and
the manner in which the atmosphere OF
the piece had been retained.
And, speaking of the audience. only
one who was there could have appre-
Ciated the looks of rapt joy on the old
faces as the half-forgotten songs and
somewhat vaguely remembered jokes
came to light. one after the other. From
the rise of the curtain on the sailors
chorus to it's fall on the famous For
He's an Englishman" there was rapid