Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-29
FLORA BELLA" OPENS
SEASON PLEASANTLY
New Operetta at the Broad Runs
Well After a Lame
Start

SKI dances by carl Randall. Lyrics by
in&, ana Milton schysrtsYsla, scenery BY Joseph
hndowic hli ithe bptlerl ..,..Mr. Gilbert Clayton
Countess E9 0 oPDSnsy M. M5 .rId Sdaon
Count sersiey Weronzsf
nSis erI9SGis'ms a. Mania penidot Nine. Lima Absrbsneii
Prince icholss 'bfcmdo Mr ihs Charles Y PSres reel
RssssS RRsSs%o Vera LadoGsai MIG. JSiis!Es Lisps
Time; present. Place. Russia. Act l. Ths
TTtroa Il T6S siFR o. shs Golden Ssif 70, sstfS:
In the country.
Last n ght the theatrical season Of 1867
opened with the excellent portents of
cool night and brisk show. II Isn't neces-
sary to determine which got the more ap-
preciatlon from the audience at the Broad.
The fact remains that Flora Bella" an
operetta put together and over by eight coll
laborators and manager. began It's career
under decidedly favorable conditions.
1t was very long show and II started out
by being very tedious show. But when
Charles Purcell began flirting with Muriel
Hudson about the middle of the first act.
the thing took on life and Il never gave UP
the ghost till the finish. The humor is
largely noteworthy by it's complete absence
from the stage when Lawrence Grossmith Is
OF taking rest But the music, the singing,
the acting. and the staging have zip to
eral hunks out Of the dull first act. Flora
Bella should have n good chance OF life on
Broadway. Just now, with the opera season
afar Off, It is the one best bet for diners
who like to take the demtasse in play
house box about o'clock
Some time before Cosmo Hamilton went
to the front and came back to tell the ladies
OF the Drama League that he only wanted
enough money to keep him in spats. he
wrote moral little piece called The Blind
ness of Virtue" When John Cort received
the manuscript Of Flora Bella" writ in the
original hyphenated tongue of Messrs.
Doermann and Cuvllier he recognized in
fallibly that Mr.. Hamilton was the man to
make 1t over for American consumption,
Here was prince whose love for his
wife had cooled because she had adopted
the most modest and housewfely of man
ners to hide her early career in the caba-
rets. Virtue needed an oculist fast enough.
But when the story was over and the prince
had won his wife and the princess had
won her husband. both by a visit to the
old cabaret where the wife displayed her
charms AZ n dancer and pretended all the
time she was her own twin sister. Mr..
Hamilton might have called 1t, "The Clear
sightedness of Passion
But be that George Munroe would
have II. the story moves swiftly as well
cons stently after 1t gets started.
More important still, Carl Randall has pep
pered the second act so literally with
ensemble and individual dances, that 1t
carried the audience away in a burst of
real enthusiasm. 1t is only fair to say how
ever. that the enthusiasm began with Jo-
seph Urban's stunning setting, a church
crypt turned into the dance hall of the
Golden Calf Mr.. UrDan's vividness, fertility
and success are now old stories to the
American stage
The company in 'Flora Bella" Is de-
cidedly good. Lima Abarbanell finds op-
portunity for much humor as we'll as good
singing. There is Lawrence Grossmith to
help the jokes along A little old man
named Adolph Link, who gave New York
a striking bit of work in "The Weavers'
last year. runs away with two very tiny
bits" SNIuriel Hudson bilieburkes much
more pleasantly than Mrs. Ziegfeld. and
the play, Mr.. Grossmith and the audience
rejoice in that monument OF femininity,
Juliette Llppe.
AS for the music, Charles Cuvllier's share
is as musical and graceful as much of
the score he wrote for the Lilac Domino"
The ragtme interpretations of Milton
Schwarzwald get over" as ragtme Is
bound to do.