The Washington herald., 1922-04-04
By EARLE DORSEY.

Inc Iurtner mr. belScO goes III
the production of plays from the
Frech and Spanish, the more obvi-
GUS becomes his departure from the
force and charm SO long been re-
garded as the chief ingredient the
Belasco producing manner.
The Grand Duke" which Is cur
rent at the National, seems to mark
lowtide in the Belasco production
style. 1t Is a curiously artificial and
requently lat product the theater
that lacks the emotional warmth
which alone made possible Belasco's
rightul distortion of Picard's "Kiki."
and unlike "Kiki," which was cas-
lily the most popular French adapt
alton Belasco has made to date, The
Grand Duke" Is lacking almost en-
tirely in the emotional quality that
Is handled with familiar skill in
the Belssco laboratory.
The play centers about the Grand
Duke Feodor Michaelovitch, a noble
but impoverished refugee from Boil
shevism. in temporary exile in Paris.
Essentially, 1t is the story of the ef-
forts of a former inamourata to re-
call the duke to sense Of his
fatherly obligation to a child that
was born of their romantic fling of
20 years before. The duke, for all
his romanticfsm. has learned dis
cretion in the meantime and while
declining to accept the paternity of
the offspring. now an equally ro-
mantle young man, changes his
plans nevertheless and brings to
straighten the way for mother and
son.
The romantic interest thus en-
gendered in the love affair of the
grand dukes son with the daughter
of a wealthy but gauche Partisan
| commoner is an interest that loses
much of its force from the light.
trivial, almost artificial manner of
| its development. Nor does the al
| most farcical affair that is arrang-
ed between the grand dukes ex-
| sweetheart and the commoner him
self add materially to the emotion
| al paucity of the play as a whole.
In fact, the effort to bring about a
| announcement in full view of the
audience in the last act practically
| forces one to fall back on the arti-
fices and the conventions of the
theater In order to accept at all the
probability of the climax.
Whatever charm THE Grand
Duke" possesses. then, must be
ound in its incidental scenes and
contacts, with which IL is pune
tuated throughout. These moments
while all very feeting. stand in
pleasant contrast to the emphatic
absence of climatic power that is
noticeably missing from the play
as a whole.
There is, for instance. a lyric in
terlude in he first act in which the
grand duke suaVely teaches his one
line Of English to the demure and
fetching daughter of the, cofhnnoner
and wanders back to his youth in
song. dredging up memories OF
Moscow, Vienna, Paris. all trickled
out on the pianoforte. Nor can one
easily forget his suave and aristo-
critic agony when sorely tempted by
the tempter OF other days, a woman
the nest of her destiny at her noble
row subuy determined to feather
ex-admirer's expense. There Is
easily a dozen of these episodes that
are strong, graceful and fascinating
but not even a dozen can quite bring
The Grand Duke" to the standard
one reasonably expects of a Belasco
play. That alone is ones chief
complaint and 1t seems to explain
the failure o the comedy 20 achieve
a robust New York success.
Mr.. Atwill, as the grand duke,
gives us a role that Ditrichstein
might play with sdvantake. The
Atwill grand duke is polished.
suave 'democratically warm, yet
without once losing the aristocratic
mott. He suffers from the fortui-
tcus and coincidental naure of the
climax. though for the first two
acts, no such handicap is imposed.
1t is a role not so curiously IN
teresting as the one he had in
"Deburau," but a role Of no mean
proportions, handled in a fashion
that is largely untheatrical
throughout.
Lima Abarbanell as the former
mistress and later mother, is
saucy, insouciant, ingratiating lit
tie schemer and her part through
out 10 gracefully and delightfully."-
deIineated. Miss Vivian 1obin as