New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-01-07

u. the orient. ba IclfN .hdNh"s' 80
THE CAST o. CHARACTERS.
hsiaHe.
,.c,,, ........ Frederick Warde
80, Tauia NarnoT
raigf ....... .Jeror'e Patrick
1ts,,t . Prank No, or-1ack
.,.Igrc ......... ..... .. Edmund Eotn
European.
Sosu.faouche .>nelH"', l-Nls
psmt,lno- ...............A len Thomas
iI.- I.rufr ................ Joseph q. smith
CapoCoaico .............. .---...h'i'! t. N'~''
The Arabian NIGHTS story OF Turandot
ne beautiful princess OF Picking. and
cslaf. Prince Of AstraEAan. already pre-
sented IN dramatic form I'm Germany and
i'm England. reached the shu-e:t Theatre
last evening. The American version is BY
Perez MIackaye. there il music by VIII
lam FIRST. which helps some. and scenery
and stage managemeut somewhat N The
Reinhardt manner. ascribed TO J.''. Hun
man. which hc'p sJll more.
An entertainment Of this kind. frankly SCI
in key o. extravaSant fautasv. depends
10 a considerable extent FOR lis success
on the number and variety and pictorial
Viyduess OF it, simple thrills. We are
rot seeing anything associated with our
everyday lives or point OF Jew. but
world apart where almost anything can
happen without disturbing us. We not
only can see heads Topped off and the
Forty Thieves boiled ia oil without a
qualm. but even demand TO see them
That is what happens I'm the Arabian
Nights and what, therefore. should hap
pen here. For this reason We watched
Mi. Otis Skinner IN "kismtt' drown
gentleman in the harem pool by laugh
ingly pushing his head under time after
time-behavior which no hero Of real
istic play would dare to risk on his audi
cnco-without the slightest dismay. And
partly for this reason "Sumurun was
even more. fun than "kismet." because
there were no everyday voices and every
day words to give something like realty
to the dreadful behavior Of the people in
the play
MI Mackayes play is less interesting
than "Sumurun. which in general char
acter it resembles because there are
fewer of these simple thrills. which strike
eve and fancy without disturbing any
thing else-indeed in the earlier part OF
it there were almost none. And the "a
borious attempts at rollicking whimsi-
cality. through bringing band or stroll
ing Italian players-Sc aramouche. Pun
chinello and the Test-before the walls OF
Picking. there to indulge in Mr.. Mackaye'
humor. were dreary enough.
Nothing very interesting happened. and
the bookish language used by everybody
was maddening.
Later or. as tho romance or Turandot
and the beggar prince develoed-esoe-
cally with the guessing Of the riddles IN
the Emperor's great hall-the piece Je-
came more entertaining. And then tire
scenery began to pick up. too. some OF
it was very queer. to be sure. There were
scenes that seemed to have been done 10y
cub!sts. backdrops that looked like pct
ures Of exploding shells. The Reinhardt
elimination and simplicity were apparent
only i'm the simple materials of which
tie scenery itself was made-they were
curtains for the most part instead OF stiff
canvas sets-and there was little of Rein
hardt vivid concentration Of lights and
colors. his poster-like emphasis on sig
nhcant points.
There was good deal of interesting
color nevertheless, and scene in SiI-
houettc which was particularly novel
The princess was dreaming, trying TO
guess her suitCrs name. in a sort Of
nightmare over II. and the scene ca
pressed her dream The stage was dark,
except for a metallic blue background.
diagonally across which rose the black
silhouette Of hull. Up this hin the prin-
cess toiled-herself a mere silhouette. and
after her came the other characters.
When Capocomico. the guiding spirit Or
the whole fantastic story appeared in
teresting flashes of reddish light from
below Just touched now and then
mis- srinning face. There was another
vivid use of lights in the scene
in Calais bedchamber i'm which the
princess disguised Harlequin.
comes To- put the magic drug on Calais
lips The stage again was dark Calaf
VINO had recognized tie princess. was
CHASING her about IN this darkness. which
revealed her only when. at unexpected
moments a narrow beam OF frightened
white light famed down from above. All
in all the performance was agreeably
divcrting although scarcely brilliant in
any Of It's parts
Miss Rita Joivet was a comey prn-
cess. with rather curious accent. espe-
cialIv as 10 what she did with her rs
il was hard to tell what-and Mr.. Jerome
Patrick. a sufficiently graceful prince.
Mr.. Henry L. Dlxoy did rather more
talking than any one else. as the leader
OF the Italian players and the general
manager of the Calaf-Turandot romance.
lie made what ne had 20 say as funny
as he could. but even that wasn't so very
funny There was trifie too much OF his
Jolly Mephistophelian laughter. few
dance steps that he did in the last scene
recalling old times. seemed 10 please the
audience more than anything else. Mr..
Joseph c. Smith mad the luck 10 be Har-
leauln. which must be D delightful thinG
To do, II one can do ii. and NJ Smith can.