Evening journal., 1919-03-11

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nance. Yesterday" music by Regi,
nald de koven book and lyrics by
Glen Marlborough. staged by Edwar,
p. Temple. and conducted by Man
Bendix.
TIE CAST.
Vernon stiles. Ruth Miller Harold
/ Crane. Emile Lea. George Bicken. Sid.
! onie Espero, Joseph Herbert. Harry B
Lester. j. X. Murray. Lester Scharfr and
others.
Yesterday is one OF the finest pro-
ductions seen in the Playhouse i'm years
and 10 was a fortunate and happy audi
ence that enjoyed every minute Of this
beautiful creation last night. The
story is well constructed and coherent,
/ sustaining the interest until the last
minute. so that the flnal curtain saw
/ The unusual sitting spellbound in iis
seats instead Of the customary VII
mineton scramble 10 gel into wraps.
/ Tie piece draws ITS magic and beauty
from the wonderful music composed
for IL by Reginald de Kovcn. The cham
/ ing love story, the eXquisiiely c0lorcd
and designed costumes Worn by grace
ful girls and militant men. the quaint
comedy, an seem 60 be evolved from The
melody ami an integral part Of it. Per
Ihaps this Is because the composer made
. % his purpose, as be himself has said,
90 interpret the play with his music.
and not 10 create the music for its own
sake with The play an incidental fea-
turc. ID was noticeable how careful ne
was TO enhanse the plot. is that In the
most dramatic moment. where the false
grand dukes Identity is made known.
Mr.. de Kovcn sacrifices the opportunity
Of music elaboration and center- the at
tention Of the audience upon the plot.
the music merely a low orchestral ac-
complishment.
The house was divided in its recep-
ti0n Of the composers idea Of shorten
ing ballads 90 refrains. While IL increas-
ed the attractiVeness Of songs, they
came 90 an end too soon. In some in
stances, "a ballad would have had
much heartier reception only Il was
ended and something else happening be
fore the audience realized how much
they liked &C. Afler the play, they were
heard rcgretting that they had not
given certain songs more encores than
they did, although encores were plen-
tiful.
Miss Ruth Miller. OF the metropolitan,
the singing star of the romance, has a
voice fute-like in tone, and with a
birds crystalline clearness, heard tn
advantage in several arias and duets.
Miss Sidonie Esper0 shared honors
with the star. and bore out the state
ment made in a catchy song in the
piece. BLONDES can never be unp0p-
ular." she was encored for her BLUE
Wasp" repeatedly. and by the way. The
women will never forget her wondrous
pink silk dress
Vernon stiles. the leading singer
among the men. was we'll adapted Go
his double role OF grand duke and PEN
nIless sculptor lie has powerful
tenor voice. Of rich quality. and good
looks enough TO spread over half a
dozen roles. However, Mr.. stiles prob
ably was kept busy enough changing
costumes TO 1T two characters.
THE Phantom Rose an exquisite
lyric sung by Mr.. stiles Is Mr.. dek0yen
at his best.
Miss Emile Lea has a pleasing voice.
and her whimsical duet with Cader-
ousse, "Bebe," was much enjoyed. 70.
was as a dancer. however, that she
wallzed into the affections OF the house
and won enc0res each dance.
There IS much comedy sprinkled
through the play. Of high quality OF
humor. This is developed by Plcher0n
Of police, with his trained assistant.
Plcheron says that burglars laugh in
+. pickpockeis in A fat, and he goes
through The play making all sus-
poets laugh and taking their pitch. The
BLONDE" song already mentioned, and
the Garden song are rhythmic airs
in which ne figures.
The clever little ballet seXtette must
not be forgotten. cherubic young mort
ais whom everybody said were "tOO
cunning for words Their cheerful
agility Frightened the whole stage.
The story OF the play begins with a
prOl0g IN which an old man revisit
Ing a ruined inn desires 90 see it as In
his heyday. The main part Of the
play is his vision, with grand duke in
cOgnitO, a sculptor as pretended duke.
q pennlless sweetheart and a grand
duchess as the central characters. The
play ends with a beautiful epilog. in
which the old mans dream fades away
in The moonlight. A last vision, his
sweetheart, scarce earthly in the sill
very light, sings a duet Of ethereal ten I
derness with him.
Yesterday" will be shown at the
Playhouse tonight and tomorrow night, /
with a Wednesday matinee It is sell I
dom that Wilmington or any other .
place has an opportunity 20 see a pro-
duction OF such rare quality, and the .
Playhouse Is 10 be congratulated upon .
having obtained Il.