Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-12-01

king John" will be repeated Friday
night. Hamlet" Will be played to-
mighty
New National
The New York Hippod-ome produce
ton Of III. NJ S. Piraecre; or the Lass
mat Loved a Sailor" presented by the
Shuberts at the New National Theater
last evening. II one can forget the de-
lightful satirical humor of ". $. Gill
bert and the beautiful! music OF Sir Ar
thur Sullivan. which set the country
Wild with admiration between thirty
and forty years ago. was stupendous
scenic success. In other words II ls
precisely what might be expected of
H1ppodrome production. which. as &
rule. Is designed to startle or to de-
light the eye and subordinates those
other charms which appeal through the
| ear 10 the mind and heart. IF, there
fore, in the audience last night, which
seemed wanting IN size after the nj
Turing stories OF the press agent. there
were those who Eel. sense Of disap-
pointment and. afte: II time. II feeling OF
! fatigue from the sameness Of the
, loi.ged for more of the Gilbert and Sui
Ivan of old and less of the atmosphere
OF the llippodrome.
Promises o. "a real ship In real
!
In the real English frigate' for
stnge purposes) OF half century or
more ego. with its two massive masts
wards, ropes and rigging In such COM
stage) regularly manned them, perched
upon the yarderins and went up and
down, hand over hand. on the ropes
from deck to topmast: 1t had Its
Its corapanionway. UP which passen-
gers from the shore rowed to its side
| in small boats, clambered aboard. while
alongside foated the bumboat women
With their wares to sell.
And when night fell and the ship
was shown with her lights fore and
aft. while In the distance hoated the
feecy clouds that obscured the moon
which tried to peep through. the pic
/ ture was a pretty one. Indeed. if the
whole might have been set up. with
the action Of the people aboard. be-
fore a moving picture camera, tie re-
a ''picturi.ation'' of "Pinafore" that
would be real delight to those who
trusted to memory or other accessories
to recall the words of Gilbert and the
music of Sullivan.
But here laudation ceases. And while
adverse criticism may be withheld.
those who have heard the charming
little Gilbert and Sullivan masterpiece
as It can really be presented. and who
perhaps heard it when it was presented
mere for the third time in the United
States by an amateur company that
Will never be forgotten. may be par
doned a feeling OF regret that in other
respects the Hippodrome production
falls SO far short of what many hoped
it might be.
The jolly tars were jolly and real
indeed. even as they were on the good
ship years and years ago. But the Sir
Joseph. the Josephine, the Dick Dead
eye. the Capt. Corcoran and the But
tercup of yore have found new realiZa-
lions, new representations, that seem to
rail- short i'll many. many respects.
Here and there rang out a semblance
of the old familiar airs, one in particu-
lar. For He Is All Englishman," adj
nlirably sung by Len Litchfield: and at
times Marie Horgan seemed to catch
the sweetness and inspiration of the
Buttercups of long ago. Vernon Dali
hart. too. sang the plants of Ralph
Rackstraw sweetly, even if he did not
look the part. Albert Harris Dick
Deadeye seemed a cross between a
chimpanzee and the burlesque comedy
of latter days. not the old one-eyed
Dick that the preceding generations re-
call. Bertram Peacock was not at all
bad as "picturization' of Sir Joseph,
but his aunts seemed to outnumber his
sisters and his cousins by large ma
jority.
Taken in it's entirety. the "Pinafore"
of old to admirers of Gilbert and Sulli-
van is preferable to the modern pro-
|duction with all its scenic magnificence.