Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-04-08
BEFORE
THE CURTAIN
GOES UP
What Is the "Prpose' of
'"Liliom"? Stage Settings
~ Disclosed Here This Year.
ManteU Plans Doubtful

| L
L ing theatres on North Broad street
right now must be vexing to the kind
OF people who believe Gilbert's line:
IF this young man expresses him
self In terms too deep for me,
why. what very singularly deep
young man this deep young man
must be-
The Circle" at the Lyric. is SO
pleasantly and naively frank and cheer
| full in its unconventional advOcations,
and ".iliom," at the Ade,phi, is for the
! most part so straightforward and so
very closely resembling remarkably
good but unmistakable "crook play"
that the scene in the courtroom of the
beyond is about the only bone of con-
tention left.
There is rather more than the usual
breath space for consideration of
these two admirable performances, in
Tfew of the fact that next week offers
only one opening. "Angel Face" the
victor Herbert Operctta. at the Walnut,
together with two more of Mr.. Man
tells favorite Shakespearean revivals,
King Lear" and Richard Ill.," at
the Broad.
THE attitude of some people who go
L TO see the Franz Molnar comedy
seems to be. "Well, now this Lliom,'
so I've heard. is a most extraordinary
play. and I'll look sharp and see IL
can catch what the author is driving
at.
III they could be cCNvinced that there
was no deep-se purpose and no hidden
' ,.'a"'ns a ."TH "tiEnt DC uisappoihteI anu
tb, ~ ntu ,iop imS."o' suc" e'.ns
nro,,.I,, ',.i,;.h Ln.s epec,s. put. IL .ne
fou,n"no" um"n "non non Inv n at.e"ue" e'srt per
.i i,in,n., ei' ot.nantin az nHim US ,cs'', c t
thoatunns h" .aI.,hk !. .,.ks, a.. ,,siris vi
Sn ,os, @ as ~ ,'shh,,'Hn sh s""u ,1nu
hin,,o,f"o,J is ',., ,, .m"n ~ W. ;noi'.,. a.,
nm,Lnm .Inu. W. 'a, "ot ue''.'c 'ne
h"lavs ,u di.Io i,nnn ~" o NV ,m Mn'm, we .",,
is one very distinct current Of thought
running through it's many episodes,
however. applying not SO much to the
play as to character. 4 tragedy Of
inarticulation might be the name given
to the pathetic love story of the barker
and the housemaid.
\Joscph Schildkraut especially brought
out this point. He showed clearly
the pnthos Of n man. coarse. cruel
ana fnll OF the baser passions, but
possessing somewhere beneath just
enough OF the finer fiber TO make him
utterly miserable at times when the cave
man instincts came out. Schildkraut
showed that wavcring. hcsitant. nnex-
pressed emotion of the man first in the
scene In the park and later IN the hut.
when mention was made of his beating
her.
But whether the entire structure of
.'Liliom' is built around this striving
for expression on the part of characters.
whether indeed this same tragedy of
inarticulation belongs to any besides the
main figure. is an entirely different mat
ter and must rest with the individual
ana his ability to accept the continental
idea of the purely fantastical without
having 1t explained.
TT IS only one man in tenor twenty
i who ~ o;vop tho choioo ,,orId
nrcfcr had stnpe porformnnce enacted
nrninst boautifuI settings 70 n: fnc
nnrnoscful NAV withomt any scttings
whatsoever. However once in every
so often tbe nuestiop of staging 10 ono
of value and interest,
pbiloJelnbio has bod nIovs ofrcri,y
every varictv of % actmaI % nhrsicai h~s T''st stn.s
nroiuc,ion Lots rmp bricflv owcr
thcm Tho fall seoson contoincd such
copventionollv .toooJ affairs nc "Eili
NJ Divorromnnt :, ..IJonn, C:o Juol.v W.
ami ..W,ko In Jor,tban'; bv tbo scnrc
but baL n fcw outstanding nroductions
notably "The Merry Widow' viii
ono bcnntjfrl Trhan sct ..rho Eo,,ics ;,
win some bcoutifullv ;mnpinativn in
tcrludcs and "Jn the Nirht Which ;,
whore mechanical or tricE STAGING w,s
used with n fuir omount of rcolitv
."rhe Ensost WAY" fbouch daft
ritoly NJ the olGcr scboo, of stngo sct-
tin,s was the hast of thn Rava zoo NAV.
'.bnwn horc tbis veor Jts morit vas
the us,nl meticulous attention 70 small
,le,oils Of This nroIucer and whether
i, WAS Miss Stars getting of tho mill,
hottie from tho fire csrnpc for bcr
cr,ckors onl mill; or rho noturalI;
Lisarranpcd nportmcnt with its canned
music in the tinal act, the reality was
there
A. inst tho onnosjtc cnd or tho non.
,,uinm wns "rhc Emneror .Iones'. with
~, rrnnkIy futuristic sconorv its non;nr.
~ ,,h" "iiiootor md ire scanning nttor
,h,,emcc ~ nersncctirr but Flor of
,'.o;rL oo,ors
..,Wh. In,t Wot," LoI .or,o b,ou,i-
g., no anorn" ,"''d dosismo'I h" w,tSon Wnr.
,n, ratt osnoc;oilv the fna, ono with Tho
i'n,nonsn ,m,,, vinhnu NJ tho rcnr win tho
n,nvino train ofrect in thc distance.
'''",I ..n,oou I,o '" nmd Sopd :, v'LiI" occorIir,
J., ,hnso 'uo" h %'' rrnfass IpowioJco trro tn to
~ w. '''S,n S,mi.h ",b p,nnoio, "bown was ox.