New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-10-19

! the many-headed monster to which ne
makes his appeal. He has set himself
| to outbid the music halls. with their
| ''Revues" and ragtime and sex sag
| gestiveness, and he has succeeded.
| Joseph and His Brethren at His
i Majesty's and Mile. Gaby Deslys, at
the Palace, nightly crowd those two
! important theatres: each Of them play
| ing, 1t is said in the jargon of the box
office. to their capacity. Sir Herbert
| Tree and Mr.. Alfred Brett, the two
managers. are alike TO be congratu-
lated, and for the same reasons. They
aim at financial success and financial
success is theirs. At the Palace there
is usually much better singing and act
ing and dancing than any Mile. Gaby
| Deslys can offer; but no such display
of underclothing as hers. This is
where Sir Herbert's superiority Is
clearly seen, for he can make his stage
attractive without stripping off the
outer garments of his company Yet
from the truth of dramatic art un-
derdressing and overdressing are
equally remote.
| To the credit of the British let 1t be
said that if they flock to the Palace
and His Majesty's they crowd also the
Coliseum, where Nine. Sarah Bern
hardt is playing. She plays in French.
The language is Ineligible to but
fraction of her audience. but the lam
guage Of such art as hers is universal
A novelty she is not. Her best self she
is not. 20 actress at sixty-nine ever
was. Her methods in the course OF years
spent before audiences less susceptible
than the French to delicate impress
sions have coarsened a little. Her
voice is less golden. But her art is
still incompatible with that OF any
living actress except herself
The competition Of the music hall
with the theatre has had visible in
fluence on the theatre, but the music
hall still, as a rule. does best what II
processes to do. 1t does not pretend to
elevate Its appeal is quite free from
pretence and frankly sensuous; that
Of His Majestys being sensuous but
| not frank. The Russian ballet at
| Covent Garden. which turned itself
last summer and this for weeks into
| dance-house, had art values Of q high
order, at high prices. Such houses as
the Alhambra and the Empire were de-
voted to what they call Revues, which
are not Revues in the French sense,
but a series of turns; each Of which
has to be judged by itself. The Lon
don Opera House-do you recognize 1t
as the edifice in which Mr.. Hammer
stein sought to show London how
operas could be brought out for love-
was also devoted TO the Anglicised Re-
vue. Quite lately might have been
seen there a Spanish dancer, Senorita
Carmelita Ferrer; quite the most del
icately finished performer in that kind
London has known.
From the Empire the Revue has now
vanished. short musical comedy
foolishly called vaudeville takes its
| place. and in this musical comedy Is TO
/ be seen an actress hitherto known
chiefly as a dancer, Miss Unity More.
She is now both dancer and actress;
with a very pretty method in both
these sister arts and with a light
hearted simplicity which comes pleas
antly across the footlights. There is
no pretence. There is no lesson.
There is nothing Scriptural. There is
just sense Of enjoyment in beholdfng
a performance which the actress her
self enjoys. She neither outstrips
| Mile. Gaby Deslys-which indeed the
police would hardly permit--nor COM
| petes with Miss Maxine Elliott in the
gorgeousness of her 'raiment She is
content to make the best use Of her re-
sources and Of a temperament sympa-
thetic to the house.
, -- for a Jntrast. Mr.. Galswor-
thys business in life is not TO amuse
but to paint this world black. lie
paints a picture all black, unredeemed
by light, presents that black picture 10
you on the stage, asks you to accept IT
as a portrait Of the world in which you
live. That is what he did in Strife"
and in Justice" That is what he las
now done in THE Fugitive" They are
all worlds, or watertight compart-
ments, peopled with distractions. The
human elt nent is either omitted or So
caricatured and so black that 1t no
longer seems human. You sit through
two or three hours Of this and come
out into the blackness Of the night and
there are stars visible, and you say TO
yourself, the real night is better than
Mr.. Galswcrthy's day. II there were
no stars, but black fog, you would
still say, yes, that Is more cheerful
thing and a better al 10 breathe than
what he gives us. Mr.. Galsworthy Is
didactic but not persuasive. He is a
writer of books, with an explanatory
, style. and Of plays in which the sense
OF unreality is omnipresent. He has a
mission. He is a preacher, but with
out the gifts which make sermon OF
DR.. ett's an exercise in religion and
q work of art. Is 1t necessary to say
more?
can spare but a word for Mr.. Ber-
nard Shaw's conversational farce of
"Androcles and the Lion" now play