Evening star., 1926-03-28

1t is related that Prosper Meri-
NEE. upon whose story OF feminine
treachery the familiar libretto OF
Carmen was founded. tolerated
only after cynical protest the role of
Micaela introduced in manner
which plainly implied perfunctory
regard for certain standardized rules
of dramatic construction which re-
quired vivid sentimental reminder
OF village Sweethearting in the dear
old home This reminder is con-
veyed in Carmencita, but conveyed
softly and Subtly, a memory from
afar. yet pervading the entire scene.
The auditor finds himself we'll con-
tent to lose Micaela along with the
stage hands.
1t would be interesting to compare
the different singers on various
nights. While it must be a great re-
duction in the artists sell sense OF
selfappreciation to be disciplined
INTO the idea that the player is but
a cog i'll the machinery. to be re-
placed and relieved from time to
time, so as to preserve his usefulness
in the mechanism, it cannot be de-
MED that the most satisfying artistic
results have been made possible by
the Standardization which only ma
tion which trains to repressions, as
Russia has done, could effect Re-
calling the cast on Monday night,
whose foreign names, instead of pro-
viding an identification, serve rather
to heighten the concealment of Off
stage personality, may be taken as
typical for the entire engagement.
Each character was a new interpre-
tation. Here was a Carmen, ami
mated. intense, bereft of all the
mincing smirk of boulevard CO.
quetry. Her graces were physical
Her temperament was a threat with
out cajole. Alluring as her garb
might be, it showed nothing of the
costume influence of an old-time
Partisan fashion model. A biography
of Calve, in crediting her with the
rank she so long held as the worlds
greatest Carmen, ventured the opin-
ion that her performance of the role
would never be surpassed or even
equaled. We are in the era of sew
eral shattering traditions.
This Don Jose is no laneuishing
poseur in uniform bewitched by
beauty and faint in moral resistance,
but raw country boy, at first filled
with the customary sentimental
ideals of parental training and sud
denly swept off his feet by an over
whelming passion, thing so terrific
that his widest imagination had
never dreamed of its possibilities.
He does not weaken and collapse
merely i'll response to the conve,s-
tional wiles of the charming and ac-
complished firt, but hurls himself
with desperate indifference to conse-
quence into the love of a woman
htimble like himself in position and
intellectuality, capable of a passion
as intense as his own, but not (pos-
Sibly because of his inexperience in
lifeD SO enduring. And here was the
toreador, 1.-the, handsome, but no
picture card dandy. He did not Swag-
ger or strut as one seeking conquest.
but carried himself like "Liliom,"
contemptuouS of the world about
him, hero of the mob, incapable
OF yielding himself to any emotion,
to love or to fear. The characters
were human types, represented with
out recourse to the artifce which
has sought to throw about them in
one way or another the glamour of
wholly improbable refinement of
expression. The refinement of the
work lay in its successful presenta-
tlon of certain plain, unvarnished
truths concerning primitive thought
and undisciplined impulse.
X 4 x
By way Of demonstrating versa
tilitv. "Lvsistrata.' a comedy by