The San Francisco call., 1913-10-21
TRIUMPH SCORED
IN MADAME
BUTTERFLY
Carmen MeIiS and Nina Bel
! ucci Earn PIaudits in
| Puccini's Great Opera

the raising of the curtain on a ra-
overlooking the gIittering waters Of
Nagasaki bay to the end of the final
poignant scene of Puccinis pathetic
tone tragedy. the evening was an
overwhelming triumph for these two
splendid artists.
Not for years has such a character
fzation been seen on a local stage
as Melis' Madame Butterfly Run
ming the gamut OF human emotion as
she did, this beautiful italian poured
all the vibrant notes of her voice
into the story of the crushed little
Nipponese Geisha, toying with the
arch coquetry of the happy bride to
be of the first act, throwing a world
longing into the famous aria of the
second scene as she knelt by her
sorrowing Suzuki, and accepting the
crushing news of her lovers faith
lessness with a pathetic dignity that
seemed to presage, with a terrible
sureness, her final passing out by her
own hand.
STORY OF THE OPERA
When Madame Butterfly came in.
radiant, expecting TO find her return
Ing Yankee and learned. instead that
he had married an American wife, the
patnos of the situation, intensified by
Puccini's harmonies. tugged at the
heart strings. And when after kiss
ing PinkertoR's picture, and putting
the flag of her adopted country into
her baby boys hand. she disappeared.
dagger in hand, behind a screen and
staggered into view a moment later
with throat swathed in bloody wrap
pings, frank sobs welled up from
every part of the theater.
A bald, hopelessly brutal melody
crashed out from the orchestra pit in
fortissimo unison. and a moist eyed.
much subdued audience filed slowly
out of the house.
The performance marked the apex
of artistic production to date by this
company. Not a weak spot could be
picked out in the perfectly balanced
cast
Luca Botta. the sensa tiona1 young
tenor OF Tuesday nights La Tosca,r
sang the thankless role of Lieutenant
Pinkerton- His best work was done
at the close of the first act, when he
made Butterfly forget her loneliness
In an impassioned love duet that gave
full scope to his powers of vocaliza-
tion and acting.
AUDIENCE WARNS UP
The somewhat cold audience had it's
first chance to get up enthusiasm at
this point, and from there on the ap-
planse was frequent and vociferous
Montesante made the most of the
trying role of Consul Sharpless. He
presented a handsome figure in white
fanne1s and used his rare. virile barry
tone to splendid advanta~e
Luisa Cecchetti gave a sympathetic
Suzuki. She has a pleasing. flexible
contralto. and scored heavily with
Melis in the charming flower due in
the second act.
Emilio Sesona did a clever bit OF
character work as the aged priest
who curses Cho-Cho-San for renouno-
tng her religion and her people.
Goro, the marriage broker and
Prince Yamadori were capably ham
died by Carpio and Sesona.
GOOD WORK OF CHORUS
The chorus did an excellent piece
of vocalization in the second act. Be-
hind the scenes. out of sight of Be-
luccfs masterful baton, they sue
ceeded in overcoming the difficulties
of Puccinis ascending whole tone
medulation with perfect information.
And in spite of the fact that at
times the symphonic Interpretation
overcame the singers on the stage,
the hard worked Belucci merits the
highest praise for the way in which
he exploited all the exotic oriental
color in the pathetic music tragedy.
Tonight we have verdi's I'll Trova-
tore" with the following cast:
I'll TRovAToRE..
An opera in four acts. by Giuseppe Verdi.
CHARACTERS:
The Count di Luna A. Modesd or Geo. Mascal.
Fernando. in his service. q. Sesona or P. Brill
The Duchess Leoncra Lucia Gresham
Inez. IN her service. Miss II. Markon
Azucena, gypsy. y...........-.- Fanny Anitua
Manrico. the troubadour, her reputed son
.;;;......:..-...-.-. Umberto Chiodo
Followers of the count, guards nuns. gyp-
sies etc
The scene is laid partly in Biscay and
Tme-BegInning Of the fifteenth century.
Musical dIrector-Nini Bellucci.
Radiant in a gorgeous gown of gold,
trimmed with yards of rich black fur,
dainty Mildred Elaine tripped through
'The Count of Luxembourg" at the
Columbia last night and forced a
rather apathetic first night audience
70 give her the glad hand They
gave her the glad hand, and then in
turn they lavished applause on indi-
vidual members of the company, and
splendid music, pretty gowns and
genuine humor by outbursts every
little minute. Verify, "The Count OF
Luxembourg" made a hit-and 1t
made a hit simply because it's worth
the best enthusiasm that even CO.
lumbia audience is able to conjure UP.
Maybe the "highbrows" that attend
that theater think IL breach of eti-
Cuette to respond Immediately and
show their entertainers that good act