The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-05-26
THE MERRY WIVES"
Is A TREE REVIVAL
Sir Herbert Offers Real Eliza.
bethan Version Of the
Farce.
AUDIENCE A SMALL ONE

NirRinIa AS0oka
mistress Quickly. ........ Maud Milton
MISTRESS Ford ...... .C~onetance coiiisr
SIR Herbert Tree appeared At the New
Amsterdam Theatre last nlsht as Fo,.
stag Tor the first time during his presep,
engagement. He acted the role here s.v.
cn'een years ago at the Kn~ickerbocker
Iheatre The revival was not attended
win n OF the outward and visible
signs OF great public interest and there
were many vacant seats. The attitude
OF the gathering was generally ana,hetic
The manner OF the performance of the
piece was Loyalty Eliza bethan. Mos, ~
'he actors must be black and blue this
morning unless they are immune TO the
usual enects OF such violent physical ex-
ertion. II may be that another recen,
performance of the piece has exhausted
the interest Of the public In the play.
which survives to-day only from the
anxiety or this actor or that to appear
as the fat knight.
Belongs In Another Age.
The farce as II was acted last night
m probably as II Away. should he
acted is altogether too much to the
new VI dilolltT age 10 ne nOsSlnlN
adapted to our own. II Is a curious OBJ
session OF Sh~akespearian actors and pro.
ducers that any stretch Of reverence can
bring the sensibilities OF the public to.
DAY into sympathy with the extrava-
gances OF the tale Of the knight and the
wives as IL il told in S~hakespeare's play.
The operate form OF the story as II Is
r~ecounted to the delightful accompani-
inent OF Nerdi's finished score or even to
the earlier efforts of Nicolai may be ac-
cepted. The music purges the episodes
Of their elemental humor. They are
especially by the music OF Verdi
freed from the phys aspects which
seem 10 be inevitable In any performance
of the piece or drama. Frankly. THE
Merry Wives of Windsor" is rather difi-
cult to appreciate in its spoken form
But this is the tercentenary year and
there must always he 4 fresh public fer
every play OF the great dramatist. AZ
its best. the story OF The Merry Wives
CT Windsor" seems only a good frame
for l.brettist and composer. And
Giuseppe Verdi has lone the job so well.
II is an immortal conservation OF Shake
speare's text.
The story IN Opera.
Then 1t is all so much better done from
a merely dramatic point OF view by the
librettist and composer. The fat knight
hid among the linen and carried away
before the eyes Of the Jealous Ford ma
be amusing, But how much more
dramatic TO throw him out OF the null
lioned windows into the Thames.
Those who knoU S~hakespeare's play
in its musical setting will be ever I'M
willing to adjust themselves to its i'm.
probabilities in the original form. All
its Elizabethan crudities are mercifully
ameliorated by the genius OF the man
who wrote "Falstaff." as we'll as by the
lesser and earlier talent that wrote the
musical illustration OF Die Lustige
Weber Won Windsor"
Sir Herbert Tree as Faiata6.
,h ~ 80. 80 etp.e "
tail since he played the part here first
He Is fat enough by means of the ar
tihcial corpulency. which he builds about
him. to amuse those who laugh at mere
excess OF bulk. But he has added more
than the size as an inspiration TO
laughter. His voice. usually expressive
of such a narrow gaInut OF feeling, was
richly cultural last night, and his dis
tress in his essays at ~gallantry very
comically expressed. His achievement
travelled far beyond the merely physical
aspects OF the knight. He was genuinely
comic. which is more than ever to be
since humor has never been ac-
counted one OF the important character
istics Of his acting. The comedy values
of the Interpretation. 1t might be per-
TO say. are im~measurably in
crea sed over what they were when Sir
Herbert was first seen here In the role.
There were all the pictorial beauties
in the representation that the public
has come 10 expect from him. The
programme said that all the decorations
had come from His Majesty's Theatre in
London. They were bea utiful. no, only
in the dresses Of the women but in tho
quieter beauty Of the scenes Of English
village life.
"Thc Wiyes' Really LAUGHED.
@ p,as vas az - 80 WIN