New-York tribune., 1920-03-03
BY Haywood Broun

al you uAVo ever Sdt tuTOuSH 0lIl~
ner next to the guest who was intro
you ever met in your life, my dear"
you may have some conception of the
feelings of the spectator at the end
Of Philip Moellers new comedy called
Sophie" which was produced at the
Greenwich Village Theater last night.
You may remember that he was most,
amusing all through the soup, but that
not long after the roast you turned and
began to talk to the man who knew
your second cousin in Buffalo. There
was no ofsuch man to whom one could
turn last night and after: the first
hour, when the characters created by
MIR. Moeller continued to exchange
smart remarks. the play became a bore.
OF course, If all the wit were as
sharp as razor's edge and as unex-
pected as 9 cocktail, it might serve to
bold the interest in .thrall; but the
author lacks q quip Of the first class he
does not deign to proceed with no
qaip at Sall,S but offers you something
OF the second class. Indeed, we are
rather Of the opinion that there were
moments when the fourth and the fifth
classes was mobilized. It was a con-
script army. Tere was never q moment
when one felt that the play was. tug
gtng Mr.. Moeller along, and that the
characters just had to say what they
would without word Of suggestion
or encouragement from him. He was
in there and working.
The play is in the mood Of Mr..
Moeller's earlier bur]esque historical
romances, but it lacks the dramatic
power of Moliere, and the chief
character, receives no such perform
ance as that by which Mrs. Fiske ami
mated Madame Sand" Miss Emily
Stevens was distinct disappointment
The role seems to US an exacting and
difficult one, but she brought little
variety to it. She was always Oh ono
key, and often the wrong one Her
speech was slovenly in the extreme, and
not only was it difficult to hear her
words, but it was shocking to find
them SO often i'll pronounced. On the
stage the final "r" Of claw" should be
silent. When the playwright intro
duced-none too skillfully, to be sure
a scene In which he attempted to show
that Sophie was not merely a flip
young person, but woman of human
feeling and sympathy, Miss Stevens
threw the scene out Of the window, or,
at4any rate, it did not come over the
footlights.
The one fine performance of the
ryening was that of O. p Heggie, to-
whose versatility there seems to be no
limit He breathef UPON one Of Noel
lers creations and there was. no longer
a highly polished rib but man. Sid
ney Toler was amusing, and. Adolf
Link and Hubert Wilke effective. But
the rest Of the cast was rather indif-
ferent.
The play concerns the fortunes Of
Sophie Arnould, an opera singer at the
court Of Louis XIV, and it describes
the schemes and stratagems by which
she manages to rid herself of her
elderly admirer, the Austrian Ambassa-
dor, and clear a way for her lover,
Dorval. The means adopted by Sophie
are not always convincing and are
usually mechanical In particular the
scene in which Sophie is about to sing
and is constantly interrupted was a
fearful bore after the fifth or sixth in
terruption, since everybody in the au-
dlence knew very we'll from the begin
ming that no notes would be assigned
to her. The pace of the performance
is generally too slow. 1t is only fair
to say that there Is in Sophie" a
most amusing and sprightly play, but
1t IL one-act burlesque and not q
three-act comedy.