The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-09-24

After the first act of The Quaker
Girl in the Academy last night,
only a few hopefuls among the num-
erous critics In the lobby could see
anything wonderful in the successor
To "The Arcadians," These pointed
out that the music was dainty. arts
tic and altogether charming, espe-
oially the little melody for the qua
ked girls song: that the comedy Was
diverting, clean and quite worthy %
tf...--ssa,.s,e~ nd that it. gaze promise
of better things to come, so 1t prov
ed. The first act was sort of pas
toraI overture to the acts that fol-
lowed and this first act, although con-
siderable to the andante. Is someone
remarked, was all the more strfking
when contrastea* with. the. gorgeous
acts that followed.
There Ia plot enough to The Qua
| ker Girl for even an UP To GATE
comedy with music. A Bonaparust
! princess, exiled from France, comes
/ To an English village where sne is
married to an Englishman, royal
messenger. whose duties often take
him to France. When the princess
in spite Of the edict, goes back to
| France, with her go Prudence, the
| Quaker girl; Phoebe. maid 10 the
princess, and jeremiah. swain TO
! Phoebe. Jeremiah's mother was a
Quaker and his father anything but
| that, much to the delight of the au-
| dience, Tony Chute, naval attaehe
| at the American embassy, Is along
with his friend who has married the
| princess. and falls in love with the
pretty Quaker girl. She gets mixed
I - tat t,in Ef
| out of 1t as easily as any comic opera
/ heroine in the last scene of the third
| act.
| In the meantime the audience has
been treated to some excellent fun.
| contributed by Victor Morley and his
/ associates some excellent music and
some excellent singing by chorus.
which includes a number OF exeep-
tionally pretty blondes and brunettes-
/ 1t Is a remarkably good looking
] chorus Likewise there is exception
ally good dancing. gorgeous costum-
/ ing and the setting of the third act
! drew a viborous round OF applause.
SO the play may be said to be per-
fectly staged. The first act was full
IL equal to the last in this regard.
But II is the general excellence of
the company that makes the biggest
Impression Victor Morley settled
down fnto his role In the second act
and from that time forth was hit
as Tony Chute.
Amy Lesser, as Phoebe. was SO
I clever that a stunned house could not
| make up it's mind for some time
whether she was trying to act or was
lust a regular village Ounce with
solid ivory headpieee. When she gave
her dance in the second act everybody
woke up AMI the recalls must have
satisfied her fully. 1t was a great
piece OF work.
Il The scene between Andree toreiay
as Madame Blum and William Blais-
asn as the chief of the Paris police
was gorgeous superb and even to the
hits. especially the Quaker of George
r Game, the members Of the cast
were all that could be desired.
1t would never do to fail to mention
the jeremiah Of William Friend. nor
the prince Carlo Of Phil r. Moore, nor
vet the Diane OF Mignon Leris. for
each performed capitaliy and Mr..
Moore revealed an unusually good
comic opera baritone voice in the song
..Come to the Ball" in the second act.
What was most astonishing there was
not tenor in the cast, and II would
be hard to pick the star part, for II
Tony Chute is actually the leading
I role Jeremiah pushes him closely fer
the honnEs..5 .-,.s.-, -.
| "A Quaker Girl" and "Tiptoe.n and
| Jeremiah,s song, Just as Father Used
to DO. are the gems of act one.
| Phoebe's song. tor Thereahouts." "A
Dancing Lesson. 'Barbizon'' and
f"Come to the Ball'' are the gems of
1.-THE second. The latter Is a waltz wor-
THY OF Ptanuuetre and The Chimes
Iof Normandy equal TO any recently
out of Vienna and was sung In splen-
fdid style by Mr.. Moore. He received
numerous encares. Tony Fram Amer
lea an English tribute to ragtime,
apparently was one of the best things
tin the third and last act,
The Quaker Girl certainly is a
worthy successor 10 1.-THE Arcadians.