New-York tribune., 1918-02-03

To the Editor Of The Tribune:
Sir: The engagement Of Joseph
Urban to design the scenery and CO.'S
tunes for certain Of the new operas
and "revivals" at \the Metropolitan
Opera House this Season marks the
formal entry of the "new stagecraft'
into that most conservative institu-
ton. Already in ''Faust" and in Saint
Elizabeth" the public has had an op-
pertunity to study Mr.. Urbans work,
as applied to opera on large scale,
and to come to some opinion as to the
beauty and propriety of the new
methods. That opinion, from the evil
dences at hand, is markedly favorable.
The group OF tendencies in stage
decoration which we loosely call "the
new stagecraft" is, of course, no
novelty to New York audiences. Gran
Vile Barker brought one freakish wing
of it to this country three years ago.
Most of Arthur Hopkins's productions
tendencies in some degree in the work
OF Robert Edmond Jones and Rollo
Peters, and the smaller theatres, such
as the Washington Square Players and
tho Neighborhood Playhouse, have cul
tivated the new tendencies persist
emily. New Workers have seen dozens
Of Mr.. Urban's own settings for mu-
sical comedy and poetic drama. and
certain elements in this "new move
ment" have found their way into a
majority Of the plays currently pro-
duced on Broadway.
Nor is the "new manner" wholly
new to New York opera audiences.
Many who heard here the perform
ances OF the ambulatory Boston Opera
Company will remember vividly Mr..
Urban's splendid set for "The Love
of the Three Kings" The Russian
Ballet on its American tour brought
pieces eff the newer Russian stage
artists, Bakst included. And finally
the Metropolitan itself has in the past
been not quite innocent of the "new
manner" The scenes for "Boris
GodounoR" constituted distinct
break In Metropolitan tradition. The
scenes for "Orfeo" were OF great
beauty. And the settings for "Iph-
igenia in Tauris" last season rep
mate New York opera audiences to the
new methods. Through the efforts Of
one or more men influential in the
councils of the house an invitation
was extended to six American artists
to submit designs for these scenes, and
those Of Mr.. Monroe Hewlett we're
chosen. The settings proved to be
pleasing enough In most respects, but
they were SO conservative in their
style that the audience scarcely rea-
lized that IL wsss seeing anything new,
If, indeed, it was. SO not until the
Faust" and "Saint Elizabeth" of the
present season were produced was the
question definitely posed.
The New Elbows the Old
The managers Of tho Metropolitan
have in the past stood out pretty
clearly against these new tendencies
The "Boris" scenery was an accident.
1t was purchased, the story goes,
"eight unseen" from Paris, no one ap-
parently being conscious that it was
built from the designs of Golovinc,
one OF the ablest of Russian stage
artists. And when it was unrolled in
New York one of the behind the scenes
directors of the Metropolitan shook
his head and allowed that they would
need "a good deal of rctouching"
With such bepuzzlemcnt have the
partisans Of the old viewed the ap-
proxch of the new.
Now tho cleavage between the old
and the new is certainly wide and
definite. but it need not be puzzling.
All the artists OF the new tende encies,
of whom Mr.. Urban is but one in
dustrious craftsman, base their work
upon one major premise and several
minor ones. The major premise is
that tho stage setting should be d
work Of art--that =, that it should
utilize the skill taste and iudgmcnt t
OF the painter, the architect, the deco