The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-12-14
THE lDYLL or THE MILL
Story Of the Comic Opera to Be Pre-
sented Friday

scented Friday
The beautiful comic opera The
Idyll of the Mill" is to be presented
at the opera house here Friday eve
ming, December IT. under the auspic-
es OF the Stark lodge, |. o. o. +. The
following is from the account in the
North Adams Transcript after its pre-
sentation there
THE Idyll of the Mill. romantic
comic opera of colonial times, was ca
pably presented before good sized
audience at the Empire theatre last
night by wen-kown local and Adams
talent, under the auspices of the Can
ton Association of Canton, Colifax, /.
o. o. F. II was given under the per
sonal supervision of James Beard
wood who has had much experience
in conducting operas In other cities.
James Merely Chambers was must
cal director and the work of the Choir
us showed the result of careful train
ing for it was one of the best anna
teur choruses ever heard here
While the work OF the principals was
unusually good, the chorus aided ma
terialIy in making the opera must
cal success
The opera is complete with tuneful
music, pretty dances and effective
scenes which gave ample opportunity
for the members of the cast to dis
play their talent to advantage
The story of the opera tells OF the
miller of the village and his friends,
the minute men, who at news from
Lexington. start for Bunker hill Up
on their return from the battle they
find worse enemy at home, an aged
Tory usuer who has by fraud secur-
ed the possession of the mill, The
usurer is finally unmasked by for
mer victim, an Indian woman known
as "Wampun the Witch" who has
long been on his trail 1t also con
Germs the love affairs of the miIler's
daughter and the usurer's ward the
village coquette and the mill boy.
Mrs Francis O'Hearn, the leading
soprano soIoist gave a delightful in
depreciation OF the miller's daughter
and portrayed difficult role with
much grace and charm. She has been
heard in the leading roles of the OPP
eras given by the Adams Musical
society during the past few years, but
her clear soprano voice was never
heard to better advantage than in the
role of Rose Flower" while her act
ing was decidedly pleasing.
The role OF Jack Knowlton, a ward
of the ursuer, was splendidly portray
ed by James Morton, whose tenor
voice was heard to excellent advant-
age in solos and duets with Mrs.
O'Hearn, while trio in which he, Mrs.
O'Hearn and Miss Holloway took
part was one of the most pleasing
features OF the performance.
Miss Beaulah Whitney made very
charming village coquette, singing
and acting the part of Aurora Tribu-
latiou Buckweat," the village frt, to
perfection. She possesses a soprano
voice of splendid quality and range,
and her stage presence was very
graceful. The comedy situations
were very we'll handled by Miss Whit
ney and John Dollar as "Algeron abb
jah Podd" the mill boy. AS in prey
ious performances in which he has
been seen, Mr.. Dollar was one of the
hits" of the evening, his singing and
acting being above the average anna
teur performer The Fishing Song
sung by Mr.. Dollar is which the we'll
known local mems ability as fisher
men was questioned was one of the
pronounced hits OF the opera.