The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-01-20
DOROTHY DONNELLY
IN ASPANISH PLAY
"Maria Rosa" at Thirty-nintli
Street Theatre Proves
TO Be Dull.
LOU.TELLEGEN DOES WELL
Tragedy and ClOwmish lIumOr
Instead Of Real Ora
matte Art.
LOU.TELLEGEN DOES WELL


Dorothy Donnelly issued az a star at
the Thirty-ninth Street Theatre last
night to tho delight u her friends, who
made the tiny playhouse noisy with their
appreciation. Miss Donnelly was asso-
ciated With Lou-Telegen. who has been
seen IN this country before with Sarah
Bernhardt To keep the occasion alto
gether Urchidaccous. Miss Donn.lly APP
pearod IN play from the Spanish Of
Angel Guimera, author OF Marta OF the
Lowlands." Bertha Kalich acted IN the
English version OF this drama and the
heroine Of "Tiefland." which was Eugen
dAlberts musical setting of the drama,
was Emmy Destinn. Maria Rosa" was
the title Of the play acted last night. 1t
had previously been seen only at the pre-
cocious Toy Theatre In Boston.
Angel Guimera heard the tale in Cata-
seaiAn all it was translated into a
Spanish play by Jose Echegaray. Wallace
Fitzpatrick and Guido Marburg made the
English version seen last night SO Maria
Rosa has as many godfathers as a
Gaiety Theatre musical farce. This
peasant story is In the simplicity of its
outline not unlike Guimera's previous play
seen here. a wife Is loved by the swag.
gering beauty of the village. After a
while her husband. Is sent to JAIL charged
with murder he never committed. II is
the womans admirer that has sent him
there. In prison the man dies and the
lover IL free To pursue her. This he does
until the woman. losing the battle which
has ragged In her heart over her love
for the man and the duty she owes to the
husband he was Instrumental In putting
out Of the way. consents to marry him
At the wedding feast he loses in wine
the sense Of what he should and should
not tell and boasts that he sent her
husband away that he might win her
IN return she stabs him TO death.
Queer Product Ia Import.
Maria Rosa" was singular product
TO import to this city. AZ an example
OF the contemporaneous spanish theatre
II might have served as a curio in "A play
house devoted to such exotic!sms. II
does not possess a dramatic scene in the
Arst two acts The story il revealed
w straightaway narrative. one en-
aaavors in vain to sense some char
acteristic Of productions intended for the
theatre. There seems to have been
most obvious padding in the effort to
make the play extend throughout the
length of a theatre evening. The humor
is supplied by tn. clowning Of peasants.
which became WEAKNESS to the flesh
before the first act was over. But there
was NOR" of the same to come. Then
kquabbling couple added to the horrors OF
this same comic relief
Guimera's Investigations of the psychol-
ogy Of the Catalonian peasantry may in
t.rest his own people and their cousins in
the s.atn countries of this hemisphere
But they are mute in their appeal to the
emotions of others. Superstition kept the
widow from marrying the man she loved
for more than a year after the death OF
her husband She intuitlvely felt his share
in the plot that caused her husband $
death. To make this conduct plausible, she
should have been much less sophistcate ed
"A N
Miss Donncly made her last night. Her
affection for the determined lover led her
to admit him TO her room, but the thought
Of her husbands death kept her from ac-
ceptug him In marriage. This analysis
may bc true TO :ile type that Gulmera
was depicting. But II did not serve to
make the rolict of the departed wine
prssscv interesting.
But Maria Rosa failed theatrically
because IL il deficient In drama. This
thrill was ever lacking. No amount Of &C.
ton and noise was ever known to com
pensatc for It. Yet there have rarely been
more Nociferous productions than this de-
voted TO II study of peasant character.
Miss Donnelly was not always free from
this fault. which was evidently the resul,
Of the actors efforts to make exaggerated
movement conceal the lack OF dramatic
Interest. vs. usual the effect was the re-
verse, and the sound and fury emphasized
the lack OF dramatic significance. There
are grounds for believing that "Mara
Rosa" must once have been simpler than
Il WAS last night. That form may have
been kinder to the scenes that dealt with
he analysis of tine wornars character
yet II could never have made "Maria
Rosa play.
Miss Donn,ily acted with imagination
in most Of her scenes and she made the
character supcrfcially credible. She
looked rs Il woman of her time aud place
nj lu
Genuine intensity IN her delivery of GER
tain speeches. Vet there was too much
moderation in most of her scenes Lou
TClleg"n. who was acting here for tn.
hrs, tim" in English, was in every scene
hut on. n splendid example of the results
of self-restraint. In all that he did last
night the ncW actor was admirable. His
English ~ easily comprehensive. although
n speaks with n marked accent.
H. possesses unusual facial expires
sivcness and can Indicate with "A chang
sof feature more than many actors express
by much more violent means. lie Il
graceful In action despite his eXtrem
height and his features are OF the CLASSIC
model His voice Is without beauty o
resonance and In the passionate declara
ton Of love to the heroine he fell int
an eXaggcratiun that deprived the seem
OF its best effect. His appearance, how
ever. was notable successful. II may b.
II his talents are more varied than h
could snow last night that our stage ha
acquired a romantic actor of the type
which has been absent for so long.
There were two highly colored back
grounds FOR the play and a lamentabl
lack of uniformity in the speech Of tn
caialonians who filled the stage. On
must have learned his method of speed
on the BOwery, while another has un
mistakably been within the sound of Bow