New-York tribune., 1918-02-21

AhE'ln' at Carnegie Hall Presented bv
INC symphony Society of New York
"'loert Murray translation. Special
music composed by Walter Damrosch,
THE CAST
' VI "eu'A ''''.'''.....,.. Margaret Hoffman
Children of Jason and Mc,ca. ,,,,ass, mosG Ekoir
Airnd"nt on The Children "'",r ni,ro Mniones I,'
Women Of ,;;i, cor,osh t,orcnco WolIcfsen
Alice Martin n ,,,,n.u,' u 'n M hehucN
Eloannr tlutchtson AZ, H1nii
Rachel Merton Iarrls Nsrth,na 'n,i', ,, i''H
iecn Lcyinson ,,a,i,tE,.a ,Tc,E La Mao
k,tner kar ~ Waterman Mary jordan "'"'l"
rreon ,uor or corln,I,. Miss Anglia
',aso chief Of tho Argona,ts '''V"9il ~ ,'aIls n
MsSsa,,rsN lse"S h'hS of Athens Benjamin NnuAr
'''''''.'...'. Marc Leobcl
The "Mcden" of Euripides wb;c, ,,..,.
played by Margaret Anglin at Cnrne1;e ~ ".;s
Hau yesterday afternoon. was not 90
smooth a performances MS her Electra"
ou. ,c mad moments of rare mower in
Wh'ch MISS Anglin showed at her bcst
ana OIL course she is one of the proat
women of our stage. There were scenes
which made Carnegie Hall seem -
thimble theatre. Miss Anglin follows
a sound tradition in playing her Greek
hero'nes on broad lines, but there were
occasional cSccsscs Of gesture and OF
voice. IT. Is not necessary that she
Should KISS the children sufficiently
loudly to be heard in the last row. 4
ilmlC might be set at "M-M" let us
say. ~
But there is no use in pick;n~ flaws
IN fine performance. Miss Auol;n
gave a performance which no livinr
american actress could duplicate. At
,Gast none has in this field. Her
Me"ea was. magnificent figure and
her posturing for the most part ny-
ce!ient. She made much of the mar
Teilous moment when Medea tricks her
husband by pretending contrition. and
she was most eloquent listener dur-
ing the scene in which she hears of
the rlVals death. There was q tinple
loo' when Aledea went through the
great doors TO kill her children. The
setting designed by Livingston Platt
was appropriate and imaginative.
Nedea" IS not likely to charm a
modern audience over much in its earlv
scenes, but later there is action enough
20 WOO any spectator away from the
consciousness that he is :, student of the
drama. The antiquarian attitude does
not belong to the theatre 1t is we'll
10 remember that the Greeks probably
had no realization of the fact that thcv
were ancients. And why should they
"Medea' is certainly kin to much OF
our modern romantic drama, and Medca
herself is perhaps the first vampire.
The convention of the chorus. which
often serves TO keep the spectator in
mind OF the fact that he is seeing n
Greek tragedy, is less distracting in
"Medea" than in the "Electra" Of
Sophocles, since the chorus of Eurip-
ldes is much more characterized and
enters into the action in considera.
bic degree: The spectator of to-day
may complain that thc choral songs
contribute nothing to the action. and
he is well within his rights in being
annoyed at the "deus cX machina."
Even in the day Of Euripides many dis
liked thc convention, and it is less
acceptable to-day.
In tho supporting company Of Miss
Anglin, Fred Eric did wel as Jason and
Florence Wollersen was excellent rs
the leader Of the chorus. The special
music composed by Walter Damrosch
was q valuable factor in an exceedingly
interesting performance. IT. B.