Evening star., 1927-10-23
New World and Old
In the Theater
Ed lOCKETT
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

phrases of Yiddish are employed. In
the plays which Jakob Gordin would
adapt for Adler and his associates
the dialogue was entirely in Yiddish
Yet the story was not incomprehen-
sible. The plot would be taken from
the home life of the immediate
neighborhood. 1t might be the story
of wealthy banker on the Bowery
who divided his riches and found
his daughters ungrateful and treach-
erous. The speech of the old man,
"Alas, / now find myself in the situ-
alton of William Shakespeare's
King Lear!" gave credit to the
source of the story and permitted
an understanding of the action as it
proceeded, even to foreigner in
this artistic land.
Jessei passed a preliminary period
of several seasons in the flippancies
| expected of smart young comic in
a musical revue. He reflects his ex-
perience in this respect with dash
ing felicity in the earlier part of the
play. His work is fine example
of modulation, as he tells of the rag
time virtuoso who reverts with so
much dignity to type and becomes
the cantor.
The next step in his career will
be the discovery of another play
worthy of his ability. Such plays
as the one in which he now appears
are few, and even when excellent
not so rernunerative as the burnt
cork and the nanny song.
Will he find it necessary to change
again and forsake the role of the
cantor to resume that of the jazz
singer!
One of the most remarkable of his
scenes was that in which his black
face makeup lost all its humorous
significance as he learned the heart
breaking news from his fathers bed
side. It was "Pagliacci' in burnt
cork, instead of bismuth.
Blossoming with billboards, the
theaters seek to console the disap-
pointments of the recent past by
effulgent promise of the future. The
workshops of New York have been
busy, and in all the array of bright
expectation few fond hopes must
surely be realized. One of the most
fascinating promises for the future
is a single afternoon performance of
John Gays "Beggar's Opera" 1t is
to be deplored that so many allur-
ing entertainments belong to the
humming bird order, passing so
swiftly that they have time only to
light and fly.
The question arises:
"What are opera?"
The phrase is not altogether inn
proper, for by the rule laid down by
every village schoolmaster the word
opera" is the plural of "opus."
Music frequently assumes the privi-
lege of making up its own grammar,
as in the case of "piano" meaning
soft; which the musical instru-
ment very seldom is. The addition
of the word forte" scarcely betters
the matter. An instrument to be
called "a soft loud" must watt reason
into realms of ecstacy to which the
dull considerations of the lexicon
should penetrate with no authority.
The pianoforte has its best excuse
in the ancient witticism about the
lady "who was forte on her piano,
but piano on her forty"
y X X
Customarily when opera is men,
toned only the name of the COM
poser is used. w. S. Gilbert is one
of the few librettists who succeeded
in sharing to some extent the promi-
nence of the musician. Old John
Gay claimed full credit for his opera
as a collection of literary work.
He embellished his rhyming with
various popular tunes whose titles
are seldom seen in any other connec-
tion. 1t is rugged sort of creation
and with plenty of Anglo-Saxon
monosyllables distributed through
the dialogue and none of the senti-
mentalism which would lend itself
seriously to the aria and cadenza of
the continental opera. Its rhyming
as a rule has little more fnesse
than that of the quatrain which by
so many was considered too undig-
nified for inscription on Gays tomb
in Westminster Abbey:
Life is jest and all things show it..
thought so once and now l know
it."
| The music for the "Begsar's
Opera" was arranged by John Chris
topher Pepusch. the intention being
to suggest travesty on the elaborate
forms of musical drama. Pepusch
was a scholar who specialized in
church services and ancient music.
| His wife when heard in England was
described only as "the Italian Wom-
an" Much that he wrote was
anonymous. In addition to his other
distinctions, DR.. Pepusch earns that
of being the first and original, II not
the only, modest and self-e facing
music composer ever revealed to an
admiring world. -