New-York tribune., 1920-01-20
'Ruddyg
Pleases Again
Upon Revival
Gilbert and Sullivan Opera.
First Presented to New
York in 1887, Scores Bril-.
liantly at Park Theater
Old Comedy Is IsRefreshing
"lnvertebrate Mongrel'' of
Present-Day Stage Suf-
fers Through Contrast
By H. E. krehb;el

lmprlmis: A confession, which. if II
De heid to invalidate every expression
OF opinion in this article, we shall
not mind.
IN a month from now it will be
lhlrty-three years since we sat in the
fl1tn Avenue Theater in attendance on
t.1 tne hrst American representation of
Ruddygore" and reviewed it critically
tor The Tribune Whether or not we
saw and heard the operetta again until
last night when it was performed in
me IN Park Theater by the American
singers we cannot say. If so, the
memory of the subsequent perform
ances has vanished completely. while
mat OF February 2l, 1887, is still fres h.
lr tnat day, long agone, the period
lcal Gilbert and Sullivan novelty was
eagerly waited for in New York as we'll
as in London, and in commenting on
tn the tact we then remarked that neither
Wagner's "Pars fal" nor Verdis 'Otel-
lo' nor Sardou's "Theodora" had
caused in antic; c;pation one tithe of the
excitement created by 'Ruddygore."
Inc operetta ran from February 81 till
Aprll y. vet was set down a unsuccess-
ful. Why? Just because of this great
expectation and the keen appreciation
i1'' PieueCeSSOIS mad won. The
public was critical in those days and
for a long time thereafter, and other
works OF the most perfectly mated COL
laborators whom the lyric stage has
ever known were voted failures.
~, "Ruddygore" was one of them;
"Princess Ida" "The Yeomen of the
Guard" and "The Gondoliers" were
others. We thought that we could see
other reasons for the failures at the
time; that in princess Ida" it was due
to the music not being up to the stand
ard set by Sir Arthur in "Patience"
and 1.-The Mikado," and, possibly, also
that the appreciation of the public was
not up to Gilbert's respectful perver-
slon,' as he called it, of Tennyson s
poem; that the flow OF it's satire, hid
den IN roses and dealt in sincere love-
was too intellectual for the careless
lovers of theatrical amusement. In
"Ruddygore" and its other companions
in failure we also missed the sharp
lash with which the poet and compo ser,
from Trial by Jury" to THE Mikado,"
had chastised some folly or foible of
the moment. 1t was that quality in
their work, quite as much as its purely
artistic charm, which made Gilbert and
Sullivan the most influential men the
stage of their day possessed The lat
ter did not contribute as much Of the
corrective element as his associate, but
he did much to deepen and sweeten the
smile which coated the satire
The trouble with "Ruddygore in the
estimation of serious critics, was that
instead of being an amiable satire on
everything discoverable in the social
life Of the day it was only bur
lesque of the oldfashioned stage melo-
drama. So it seems to us still, though
it comes with peculiar refreshlhent in
this period, when vulgarity and in
anity are the dominant elements OF
that invertebrate mongrel which mas
Querades as "comic opera" but which
is seldom comedy and never opera The
older Gilbert, he of the operettas whose
names began with a P, is not always in
evidence, though he steps forward
boldly enough in some of the traits of
his comedy folk-the chorus of pro-
fessional bridesmaids; in Rose, with
her contented appreciation of her own
beauty, her eye ever on the main
chance, and her code of behavior
drawn from a book on etiquette. His
delightfully."- topsy-turvey logic is also
there, ready to play it's part in de-
termining the action of his characters
and precipitating an unexpected de-
nouement Here is his best illustra-
ton: A Baronet of Ruddygore, says
Robin to Sir Roderick. can only die