The Washington times., 1923-02-04
OPERA GIVES LEST
TO CURRENT WEEKS
THEATER OFFERINGS
By EARLE DORSEY.

~ CANNING the menu Of theatrical fare con-
cocted for the week at hand, one discerns
- veritable banquet Of dramatic offerings. Hav-
ing brought TO us little more than dramatic husks
for the best part Of the winter, the theater sud-
denly turns the other way and offers, in the same
week. grand opera, Eugene O'Neill, and Sacha
Guitry.
1yHE outstanding dramatic event Of the week,
with all due respect to Eugene O'Neill and
Anne Nichols, is the premiere perform
ance Of . new Belasco production Of play by
Sacha Guitry, the third consecutive Guitry
vehicle that Belasco has obtained for Lionel At
will in about that many years.
First, there came "Dehurau," and then "The
Grand Duke" and now comes 'The Comedian"
The premiere at the National tomorrow night l.
one that viii doubtless call forth certain In
vidious comparisons.
There seems to be fairly general impression
abroad ct this late day that Granville Bankers
idea Of free verse, as employed in his adaptation
Of the Guitry manuscript Of "Deburau," was
chiefly responsible for the failure Of this play to
commend itself to the more crftical-minded
theater-goer. There are also signs following
that Belasco reached the same conclusion, Tor in
"The Comedian" the play that brings Lionel At
VIII to the National tomorrow night, BeIasco has
advance heralding given the play.
"H HE news that Pauline Lord Il 70 appear &C
the Garrick during the weak IN Eugene
ONeilIs study Of the lower humanities
.Anna Christie recalls the impression that
@Anna Christie" was due for "A engagement ct
the Garrick something over year ago, but passed
by when something went wrong with bookings,
IS they 50 frequently do ct this particular play-
house.
"Ann6 Christie" housver, % here at last. and
from its very nature and substance Il should
prove . more popular offering than either ape
yond the Horizon" or ''The Emperor JONES' both
0'NeiH plays which scored but indifferentiy with
the pcpulace on the occasion Of their visits hare
during past seasons
"A MOTHER matter Of particular interest 10
n the passing from the President IL @Abie's
- Irish Rose" the Anne Nichols' comedy that
has bean working the President financial staff
overtime for the past ten weeks AAbies Il due
to make its farewell next Saturday night, and IL
appears to Be the merest coincidence that the
final performance win mark its Tooth consecutive
presentation by the President Players
Allowing nine performances to the week, It
would appear that "Abie's Irish Rose" win have
attained only its seth consecutive performance by
next Saturday night, the close Of les eleventh
week. Into the calculation, however, must be
added three extra matinee performances, on
Thanksgiving Day, Christmas, and New Year Day.
which apparently brings the total to 100. Fro1a
this number, though, is subtracted two night per-
formances which were not given because Of con-
tracts held by local interests who had chartered the
theater long in advance.
Which brings the number to exactlv 100 mar
formances ca next Saturday night.
~ ascending to more frivolous topics. the
esteemed Variety, in It's last issue, un-
covers veritable gem Of humor that has
It's basis In Baltimore dramatic criticism.
It seems that when ''Tangerine" recently PLAYED
Baltimore the assistant dramatic critic Of one of
the Baltimore papers reviewed the production In
very dour and bilious terms. Apparently under
the impression that "Tangerine" was entirely new
and also apparently in ignorance Of the plays
long run in New York, the critic vouchsafed the
information that "Tangerine" hadn't chance to
succeed
According to Variety, the notice rang SO familiar
to certain members Of the ''Tangerine" staff that
they dug up the notice that appeared IN the same
paper when "Tangerine" appeared in Baltimore
during its tryout period, months before. It seems
that certain parts Of the two notices were ident-
cal in every respect, and that the second review
referred to individuals who had long since been
dropped from the "Tangerine" staff.
Producing managers during the past month
have been deluged with manuscripts Of new plays
by authors and playbrokers The American Play
Company, the Century Play Company and other
paybrokers have been unloading an average of
more than 200 new plays a day into the pro-
ducers' offices. Besides the supply delivered by
the brokers', authors and their emssaries have
been distributing an average Of another 100 plays
a day.
1t is claimed by the producers, that due to the
IL sola= IL L.