Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-06
As Classics Return,
Revue Reverts to Primitive
BY PHILANDER JOHNSON.

~ define the current season IN
~ Washington as the era Of
a large open spaces The
"open spaces" referring to dark
weeks or the substitution OF film
production for the usual weekly al
lotments "f drama.
The sage exemplifies the adase,
"Riches do not always bring happl-
ness" for never was there theater
in the history OF any nation more
opuientlv equipped i'll resources.
Yet never has there been SO much
open time" Players are cared tor
in greater comfort than ever before.
For those who are popular and sue
cessful every luxury is supplied, ex-
cepting that dearest to the actors
heart, "a good part in a good play.
x r
The enormous resources avaIla bic
10 the American theater are devoted
largely to the musical and spectacu-
lar forms OF entertainment which
exploit beauty in physical terms,
both as TO personnel and scenery,
and depend on the lucky chance tor
the development OF any good speak
ing drama.
Yet the speaking drama has pro-
vided the outstanding elements OF
interest during the season which.
in a comparatively few weeks. will
limp along toward the goal to which
local managers have often looked SO
longingly, the time for Summer
stock.
The two plays which have knocked
ioudest at the gates of public atten-
ton and succeeded in having them
thrown open. with playgoers eager
to proffer the freedom of the city,
were "The Road to Rome" and the
unforgettable "Pickwick." Clever
writers for the stage have asserted
themselves with extraordinary pro-
fusion and laurels of repartee and
sparkling cynicism of the sort once
deemed almost sacred to Oscar
Wilde have been snatched from his
brow and divided among half
dozen writers.
Yet most impressive results have
been attained quite independently of
the customary channels in theatrical
authorship. They had little sugges-
ton of the shop methods which
have, through organization and re-
straints of all kinds. developed
system of standardization capable of
being applied even to so subtle and
elusive force as human mentality.
Some of the best plays, whose open
ings it has been this citys fortune
to observe, instead of enjoying the
accomplished promotion of that ir
repressible poet the press agent de
luxe, have had to slip into town
scantily heralded to find themselves
Ill CHARTERED on stages too small and
prefaced by the whisperings pre-
dieting failure. in which the practical
managers priding themselves on
having discovered a reliable and
perpetual method of perfunctory
production do not hesitate to in
dulge.
Even so great a play as Abraham
Lincoln" had to be content to open
Its marvellous career in the smallest
theater in this city. THE Carrick,"
SO defective in every part of its ar
thitecture that the public Stunned it.
X X x x
A mysterious sense that enables
playgoers to recognize in advance
that something worth while draws
near asserted itself in connection
with the Lincoln drama, and the
opening night brought crowded
house After Drinkwater had estab-
lished success number of patri-
otto and geographic plays were de-
vised. with the most liberal equip. 4
1rlent both as to scenery, cast and
publicity They lacked the element
of artistic adventure. In all cases
the performance was like a picture
which reveals not the bold strokes
of the artist, but the brush OF the
copyist.
Scarcely had "The Road to Rome"
become recognized as a successful
enterprise than producers began to
turn to the classics and plan plays
founded upon the fables of the
Greeks and Latins. The possibilities
are limitlesS, although the fun may
easily become more boisterous than
might be expected by those who
have learned to regard themes of
this sort as hopelessly associated
with the dullness of a schoolroom.
*
It may be accepted as a foregone
conclusion that Dickens revivals
will come into rapid favor along
Broadway ii "Pickwick" keeps up
the phenomenal pace it set in this
city and in Philadelphia. 1t is re-
1narkable that reference should be
made 10 dramatized Dickens as a
novelty. The greatest actors Of our
stage have liked to portray the char
acters revealed in the works Of the
greatest human interest" writer
who has employed the English Ian
guage. !. r1eejs no painstaking re-
search 10 brig to mind number
Of them, such as w. J. Florence's
"Cap'n Cutie" f. S. Wizards Tom
Pinch Joseph Jefferson's Caleb
Plummer' and very many others;
for play producers until long after
his death regarded Charles Dickens
as sort Of mine where any one
might dig with confidence in expec-
tation of glittering ore.
X - y y
But no Dickens production can be
brought securely into public favor
by customary and more or less me-
chanical methods. 1t must have be-
hind it the self-sacrihcing enthu-
siasm which grasps the artistic mind
until 1t becomes well nigh a fanat-
3cism