The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-20
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

BY JULIA CHANDLER MANI.
In direct antithesis are THE Pass
ing Show of 1872 and "Ben-Hur," the
attractions which come this week to the
two leading Washington theaters whose
regular dramatic season has not yet
closed. THE Passing Show being the
quintessence of fr-ivollty while Ben
Hur'' is a notable exImpie of that re-
ligious drama which had it's roots in the
mysteries and moralitit presented by the
vaTious orders of the priesthood and the
English church in medieval days.
Plays dealing with the beginning of
Christianity have been specially popular
with the theater-going public because of
the beauty and pictureSqueness or the
time in which they are set, and OF the
heroic quality of the men and women
who first sought salvation in the tenets
of Christianity. The period was that OF
Rome's greatest splendor, when she was
mistress of the world and her strong arm
extended from Britain on the North
throughout the entire length and breadth
OF Europe, and into India on the South
The magnificence and wealth of the
Romans. pilfered from conquered nations,
was used to make the lives OF the con-
querors one long feast of luxury. And
this magnifcence and luxury forms a
splendid background against which to
show the self-abneSation, the humility
and strength of the early Christians.
During the past twenty years there
have been a number of remarkable pro-
auctions made of plays which give pic
torial expression u this period OF which
none mas surpassed i'm beauty of pagean-
try, magnincencc of spectacular effect,
strength OF dramatic force Gen. Lew
wallace's "Ben-Hur." the stage produc-
ton of which will be made by Klaw and
Erlanger at the New National Theater
this week.
The various dramatizations of Sienki-
VICES quo Vadis' met with complete
financial success twelve or fourteen
years ago preceding which by some five
or six years was Wilson Barrett's fer
vent DIANA. The Sign of the Cross,
which had it's first production in st.
Louis during one of Mr. Barrett's Amer
lean tours, but which was not generally
seen until after its long run in London
and its subsequent return to America,
where il was toured for eight or ten
years with continuous success
Mary Magdelene the scarlet woman of
the gospels. has been shown as the hero
inc OF three poetic plays seen in America
within the last decade, each by a master
poet These plays are Mary Of Mag
dala'' of Paul Heyse, in which Mrs.
Fiskc and Tyrone Power las Mary Mag
delene and Judas Iscariob created
lasting impression: Maurice Maeter-
linck's Mary Ma edelene," which Olga
Nethersole presented at the New Thea
ter three years ago, and La Samari-
tainc' which Edmond Rostand wrote
for Sarah Bernhard, and which she
made ono oi the principal features of
her recent farewell tour of America.
Even in The popular-priced theaters
and IN the circuits OF the one-night
stands the religious drama has had
wide influence and success. the most
notable examples o. which are THE
Holy CITY" THE Light Eternal and
a dramatic version OF "Parsifal." Wag-
ner's study OF the search for the holy
grail.
In "Bcn-Hur'' the religious note is
struCk at the rise of the first curtain,
which goes up disclosing the scene in
the desert with the Three Wise Men
waiting for the signal which is to lead
then, Ia the new born King of Kings.
and presently their search is rewarded
when the Star of Bethlehem flashes out
in refulsent splendor and serves them
as guide. Throughout the play the
religious strain dominates the story, but
il is in the last scene of all, where the
waiting throng on the Mount of Olives
at the gate of Jerusalem watches for
the coming of Christ with waving palms
and enthusiastic shouts, singing hosan-
mas and psalms, that at the supreme
moment the Ineffable Presence is indi-
Gated ", u shaft OF light, which falls
athwart the multitude in the form of
cross. on which inspirational picture the
last curtain falls.
In the new production of 'Ben-Hur,
which kiaw * Erlanger are giving this
season. j choir of a hundred voices, I'M
der the direction Of the distinguished
grand opera conductor, Gustav Hinrichs,
from the metropolitan Opera House. New
York, are employed to sing Edgar Stlll- (
man Kelleys music, who. with hundreds |
of supcrnumeraries, fill this scene with |
beautiful realism.
The Passing Show of 1872" which
comes to the Belasco Theater this week |
from six months run at the New York
Winter Garden and a successful Chi |
cago engagement. is a hodge-podge OF
ballet music, rag-time, vaudeville, and
buriesque. i'm which one may expect the
typical Shubert Winter Garden enter |
tainment. Travestied scenes from notable |
dramatic successes will be the backbone |
of the revue. in which Trixie Friganza |
has the leading feminine part. When |
Miss Friganza's eyes first swept the |
stage of life in Cincinnati no one thought /
of calling her anything but Della O'Cal- |
laghan. and so she was known until |
she went ON the stage as chorus girl. |
After her first experience in playing a
part in a musical comedy called THE
Tar and the Tartar" everybody forgot /
all about Della O'Callaghan and remem-
bered only the more euphonious
pseudonym of TriXie FriganZa.
II The Passing Show" comes up in
material to the claverness of the many
entertainers selected by the Messrs. Shu-
bert for its presentation, hilarious time
is inevitable during the present week at
the Belasco
The dramas which introduced Helen
Holmes, the leading woman Of the CO.
lumbia Players. and Thurlow Bergen,
the new leading man Of the Poll COM
pany, TO Washington stock devotees last
week, furnished neither the one nor the
other an outlet for dramatic power.
Clothes" the play which inaugurated