The Washington times., 1919-11-03
TRIO Of BRILLIANT
MUSICAL COMEDIES
POLLS


Patience is a virtue" once quoth
some bard. And then came another
and opined that Virtue is it's own
reward" Reasoning from that, one
might judge that patience Is its own
reward. And, strange to say, house
full of people at Polls Theater last
night were initiated into the truth Of
the deduction when, after having
waited patiently until forty minutes
after show time, they were finally
treated to the finest musical produc-
ton that has visited Washington In
10! these many weary moons. For
The Magic Melody" yclept a roman
tic play with music, but in reality a
delightful mixture of everything from
opera to musical farce, even exceeds
its press agents predictions, unbe-
lieyable as that may be.
Dazzling in it's splendor, loyable in
it's music, interesting in it's plot, sur
passing in its cast, and presented
with rare vim and energy, THE
Magic Melody" last night gave every
indication that when II moves into
the Shubert Theater in New York
next Monday night, IL will not move
out again until it has established a
record in. the box office. And this
fair capital of ours need not lament
Shows and Follies and such like II IL
is only occasionally favored by so
satisfying a substitute-indeed, so
preferable an understudy as this
work of Messrs. Wilmer and Rom
berg.
Its opening is unusual. There 10
not a crash of cymbals and blare of
brasses. But there are chimes and
the curtain rises on a beautiful pro-
logue, showing a liftboat in q heavy
sea, carrying the survivors of ship
wreck. But in a moment, the musical
play replaces this strange introduc-
ton. and there bursts into view a
dazzling succession of scenes OF
splendor.
There is a story-about a composer
and his wife and his child. The wife,
tricked by another man, loses her
husband and her child, but vows ven
geance- Twenty years pass, and ven
geance Is almost in her grasp when
she sees the better way-and all ends
happily. OF course, that's a silly
resume of the plot, but to go into de-
tail would cheat you out of better
enjoyment of a story that lifts THE
Magic Melody" well into the heights
Of comic opera yet not so high that
II is not enlivened by very liberal
splasneS OF the more modern develop
ment of sound and dance.
Julia Dean, Washington's favorite,
scores big in a role which calls for
more than the usual musical comedy
amount of histrionic ability. Tom
McNaughton, as silly a damfool rs
ever stalked across the boards, gets
himself laughed at oft and Justify
with his foolish work as one OF those
Britishers- Carmel Myers, who erst-
while decorated the celluloid strip,
appears in person and puts over one
of the song hits of the show-"The
Little Church Around the Corner"
And Bertee Beaumonte-an eccen-
trio, acrobatic dancer OF rare ability
walked away with the applause hon
ors Of the show last night. Seen here
before, Miss Beaumonte surpasses her
previous efforts, and scores a per-
sonal triumph that forecasts great
fame Tor this remarkable dancer.
Lois Leigh. another dancer OF
cameo-like beauty and elfn grace.
scored a success almost as great as
Miss Beaumonte, while Earle Ben
ham. in dance number with her.
displeased only because II was too
short
And one must mention Charles
Previn. He's not in the cast, but he's
one OF the biggest hits Of the even
ing. He directs the orchestra
which, by the way, is SOME orches-
ira One could go on. mentioning ALI
nose In the cast, and saving nice