The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-11-25
The TheQterS
The Spring Maid has come.
The Spring Maid has gone.

AC opl lib Ildlu huo SohO.
We are not SO sure. however, that
we should continue
Long Live the Spring Maid!"'
Because if she lived too long she
might lose her freshness and this is
what one likes about her.
And when the bloom is rubbed off
the peach-the glory of the peach has
departed.
Therefore 1t is a theatrical pleasure
to know that Miss Macdonald retires
the Spring Maid about January LIST to
give her world something new.
1.-THE Spring Maid" as presented by
Miss Macdonald and her company is
neither strong meat nor milk for
babes.
It's too good for the mediocre order
of comprehension and not good enough
for the connoisseurs.
1t is delightful little op-
eretta with lifting and
lucious repertoire of melodies
that melt into each other as indefinite
ly as the tender color nuances of a sun
set.
For it is the music of ''The Spring
Maid" that constitutes it's chiefest
claim to consideration.
Sweet and dangerous, like the odor
of magnolia but with vivacity enough
to save it from the merely saccharine
as was that of the unlamented Mad
anne Sherry-the score of 1.-The Spring
Maid" possesses an allurement hard to
define, since, separated into it's COM
ponent parts, If it might so be put, the
latter are only to be called pretty
which in it's way is a damning thing to
say of anything or anybody.
The merely pretty has sent many a
soul careening into oblivion and much
that is theatric.
Miss Macdonald, who plays the role
Of the Spring Maid-whose story is
too we'll known to repeat here in detail,
but concerns the masquerading of
princess, impersonated by Miss Mac
Donald. as the girl in charge Of the
spring at Carlsbad, and the love she
wins from her sutton prince as the lat
ter characters a Coincidence Of re-
finement. Never does she stoop or
trip.
And her refined theatric art per-
meates the entire presentation.
Strangely enough in this day of slap
stick method which is not alone found
in variety but on the legitimate stage
this impersonation convinces with
it's truthfulness.
The bizarre, stilted and unreal
which dominates the comic opera sto-
ry in all Of it's forms is, in this in
stance, given verisimilitude by the ex-
quisite finesse of Miss Macdonald
And when all's done this is the very
essence Of stage art.
Miss Macdonald, in short, is possess
ed of the real theatric stuff
In Mr.. Thomas Conkey, as Prince
Aladar, the Spring Maids" lover, Miss
Macdonald has an opposite worthy Of
her dramatic steele. Mr.. Conkey, in
addition to an extraordinary voice
which is of exquisite timbre and I'M
usual in that it is a baritone which
reaches high c and is accounted by
many tenor but has all the excel
lences of both baritone and tenor-has
histrionic acumen of high order and
an aristocratic bearing which lends it.
self to role Of this sort.
In other words he not only sang the
part but looked ia rare combina-
ton in this day of theatric hits and
misses.
The company. indeed, was good
throughout from Miss Bowen. the char
ming rabbit" whose physical attrac-
lions We're of the order to make the
front row sit up and take violent no.
tice. and Mr.. Hart, an actor and tenor
who, in the role of Baron Rudi," was
one of the successes of the presenta-
ton. to the chorus girl at the end.
But let us to the comedian
Tom McNaughton is one of the best
comedians of his sort the writer has
ever seen-and she has seen some
few"
McNaughton is exquisitely funny
without vulgarity, or a resort to the
cheap or banal
AS a down and out actor he was en-