New-York tribune., 1917-10-23
TIE CAST
BY Ralph Block

Only B2gdan OF ufe"H" S""N
so sp.andid, 40 giittering, 30 'penious-
ly alluring and mysterious and 30 IN
triguing Of the eyes and cars as the
Bagdad Of "Chu Chin Chow Doubt
lees the real Bsgdad Of thousand
years ego was msan, dirty place,
ragged and rnsll!ng unto Allah, but
the fre spectacle which was presented
last night st the Manhattan opeH
House went straight to the heart OF
another past than that OF reality. IL IL
the psrfumed Orient OF romsnce you
will fad in "Chu Chin Chow" the East
Of echoing silver bells, Of mosques and
tho murzzln's call TO prnyerI tho ORR
ont that Marco Polo discovered;. q land
OF spices and Crecian wine, OF bazaars
laden with rare silks and cloth OF gold,
Of beautiful women With hidden faces,
Of riches undreamed by any vision Of
avsriee, and Of daring schemes OF men
20 win them. II Is en- Arabian nights
entertainment, without the dissonnncos
Of color and sound Of "Scheherazade.'
untouched by the sometimes acrid Rus
sian mood of tragedy and withhl show
Of magnifcenee wise,y Ettuned ~ sucn
@ time as this, VIXEN the theatre be.
comes O. refuge from che pressure or
reality without,
London has been seeing "Chu Chin
Chow" for two seasons, and tfo facs
recalls the desire os Sir Herbert Tree,
on his American tour year ago, TO
bring the spoctacle TO tho United
States. But It recalls Tree In other
ways, FOR with rs rich succession OF
episodes, It's pomp and pageantry, It's
beguiling atmosphere OF romance, its
color and design, its music and dane
ine, IL Is just such IL thing as Tree, who
showed himself master Snowman in
Henry VIII" would have liked to give
the imprint Of his hand.
There is just enough story In "Chu
Chin Chow" 20 give it conference, and
while Il Is only mildly dramatic and
there Is no moment at which II shoots
through the pulses faster beat II
holds to a moderation of action which
il in keeping with the character of the
piece, intended at ell moments to be
divertng rather than gripping, fss-
cirating by It's sights and sounds rather
than by any appeal 20 the emotions Of
Incident The tale Is the tale OF Ali
Baba and the Forty Thieves, OF his
evaricious brother Kasim, and Of the
faithful slave Mcrgana, who trapped
the robbers come to slay their master
by drowning them in olive oil. But
K Is the tale Of All Baba with varia-
tions. The accent "a upon Morgana
rather than on Ali Baba, who Is only
q sorry drunken sot; and most Of all
upon the leader Of the band Of thieves,
80 astUte thief that he comes In many
DISCUSSES, chief among which Is his
entry as Chu Chin Chow, a merchant
OF Shanghai. He is indeed remark
able and powerful robber, as he is
played by Tyrone Power. and comes to
his death at the hand Of the slave girl,
herself once Ia his possession, only
after long and splendid career Of
evil, Florence Reed Is the fascinating
slave girl, and Henry Dixey, as All
Babs, makes surprising amount OF
comedy out of lines and situations that
may have appealed 20 London, but
somewhere need the touch OF Gilbert
and Sullivan to give them currency
here,
Add 10 this, however, sp.endor OF
staging which makes room In it's scheme
Of things for eli kinds Of enticing OIi-
entail ladies', marked by variation in
native color that needs no enhancement
Of the makeup box; camels, oxen and
oil the background Of an imagined Bag
dad, and music Sy Frederick Norton
that at one or two points reaches dis
tinction, and It - not difficult to un-
derstand why "Chu Chin Chow" is in
teresting. Several Of the fourteen
scenes are by themselves fascinating
panorsmss-the scene at the slave mar
ket with all Of capitalistic Bagdsd
come 10 buy and cheated only Of IT'S
dancing girls By the disguised Chu
Chin Chow, and a mean street in Bag
dad, with all of its imagined life IN
full swing. The smaller acenes are in
genious vignettes, presented on stage
reduced at least a fourth, and gaining
In clarity and penetration thereby. The
color in setting and in the hundreds OF
different costumes is Just such color
as would come out Of England, delicate
often, ingenious In combination, never
reaching the temperature Of the mur-
derous blues and assassinnting reds Of
such moderns es Bakst and those who
have come after him.
The singing is mediocre with one or
two exceptions. that OF George Rasely,
who sings fine barytone in his part
as one OF the young lovers in the play.
and Felice de Gregorio, a cobbler. who
sings peculiarly moving song while
he sits at his work on Bagdad lane.
Despite the fact that Ekaterina Ca
lanta is in the cast and that the
dances have been arranged by Alexis
Roslof, the ballets are undlstinguished I'd
so far as delicacy of movement is con-
cerned and surprisingly below tho op-