The sun., 1919-07-27

~ THAT would have happened
wv to some Of the most popu-
lar operettas OF the past had
hey been carefully tucked away in
ramphor like "The Merry widow"f
it would be amusing to bet dollars to
eoughnuts that such has been the fate
" only the English version Of Lehar's
work. Had Lecoco's ia File de
Nine. Angot," Offenbach's Ia Grande
Duchesse' and later Audran's La
Mascotte" been inferred and their
tombs carefully sealed by due process
" law, would they ever have be-
come known from one end OF this
country to another and would they
have given pleasure to thousands OF
American listeners3 Such is the fate
pf "The Merry Widow" whenever there
Is any project to perform that work
sven in such novel fashion as the
Spanish singers proposed a few weeks
ago.
Doubtless It will be ultimately
profitable to its owners in this country
to keep the work locked UP, but the
public Jared better under an older and
more liberal system. After the first
novelty of a work had worn of in the
sarlier days, 1t was given by "reper-
toire" and other companies in less
expensive fashion than 1t was origin
lilly presented. But nothing of that
kind will ever happen to Lehar's mas
terpiece. 1t is under lock and key.
The operetta may not have ranked
with the foremost works of the Vien-
nese school, but 1t is vastly superior
10 the rank and file of them. 1t has
also a certain historic significance.
rhe muse of Austrian operetta was not
n her flower when this work was sung
In Vienna. English musical comedy
represented by 1.-THE Geisha" and other
less artistic specimens of that strongly
national school had all but driven the
work-mediocre enough to be sure for
several years-of. the Viennese COM
posers from the field. When Lehar
same with his first work and there was
1 renascence of taste for Viennese
music which ended only with the war.
William A. Brady always denied that
be was the first manager to sell tickets
10 his theatres at price less than
the amount marked on the ticket
He called Charles Frohman the
pioneer in this practice. Whoever
II was started the most important
BUSINESS movement in the theatre
dnce the Shuberts entered theatricals
rs the effective rivals OF the syndicate.
In this city, the business of the 'cut
sate" ticket has spread until there is
not a theatre that does not, from time
10 time, come under its operation. Far
reaching as its effects are here. there
3 no local limit to their field Cut
rate tickets are now sold in all the
hrge cities of the country. Long runs
Tor plays are sought and obtained in
The same way they are here, although
n this respect there is an important
Inference since a run in this city is
II greater significance than it Is any
where else. But as q means OF selling
play to the public for what the buyer
thinks 1t is worth to him and not at
The price set by the seller. the cut
rate is as important in Chicago as it
b here.
Moreover, there are mailing lists
numbering as many as 10000 persons
who receive the weekly quotations of
New York's plays as regularly as II
they were customers Of brokers' firm,
Il is in this way that such important
branches of the theatres support as
The out Of town public is taught to be
wise and not pay any more than the
regular New Yorker. Consequently
these sophisticated visitors make their
way to the cutrate mart as soon as the
stains of travel are removed and there