New Britain herald., 1930-10-14
Reviews of Current
 Theater Offerings
MESSRS. SHUBERT
 present
 Tr7~v I.ht-
PRINCE CHU CHANG"
 (Cast of rhnru ctoru\


 Cast of Characters)
 Lore. Count Lichtenfers niece. .sara-Jane Nine, friend of Lore.. .Marice Christie Ruoolph ............... Chester Herman Sigmund ......-........ Howard Quigley Count Ferdinand won Lichtenfels .....
 .................. Fred Leslie Countess von Popenstein. Gustav's aunt
 ....... ............... Marie Stoddard General Lewmordsk .. Frederic Persson Lisa. Lichtenfers super-romantic daush-
 ter ................... Gladys Baxter Servant to Lichtenfels. Clifford H. Smith Gustav von Popensteln. sub-lieut. of
 Hussars ..-............. Gerry Con Prince Gnu Chang. representing the
 Flowery Kingdom at Vienna COCO.
 ................... Clifford Newdahl Flu u. valet to Prince Gnu Chang ... Prince Tschang, Chinese Mandarin.
 ...................... Howard Lang High Priest ...... Frederic Person Mi. ward and niece to Prince TschanE
 mathematician Marjorie Peterson Servant to Prince Tschang. Arthur kellar Hong Foy ........... Chester Herman The Butterfly Girls .................. Four Manchu Brides-Mary Jo Matthews
 Sheila Burke. Finette Walker, Helen
 Edwards Moy Yong, Chief Eunuch of "The House
 of Women" ............ Julian Winter
 (By Herald Revewer)
 Prince Gnu Chang" Franz Le- har's newest operetta. which opened the season at Parsons theater, Hartford, last evening is a substan- tial offering. The substance is in excellent singing. story, stage set tings and costuming. It is an adap- tation by Edgar Smith and Harry Clark from the original play "The Yellow Jacket" by Victor Leon.
 The producers have drained the rainbow with the result that riot of color greets the eye of the specta- ter, accentuating the strong Orient al motif of the plot.
 Miss Gladys Baxter enriches the proceedings with voice of power. range and sweetness and an inter- pretation of her role which stamps her as an excellent actress as well as singer. The leading male char acter is taken by Clifford Newdahl, whose vocal gifts are an important contribution to the success of the play. Miss Baxter and MT. New dahl sing several duets which com pare most favorably with any sing ing that has been heard at Parsons for several seasons. Lehar's new compositions have those magnificent qualities which have made his work renowned wherever melody Is known.
 Gerry Golf has voice worth hearing but his acting Is not of the best. A lover, whether he is in Austria or China, the scenes of the story, should not be so matter of fact.
 Howard Lang is impressive as Prince Tschang and Marjorie Peter son fits into the cast nicely as Mi, the princes ward. Barry Lupino provides what little comedy there Is Marie Stoddard handles her part an abbreviated part-well.
 The second act is gorgeous in its coloring. Costumes and scenery race with each other in producing that elusive thing known as "atmos- phere." Two exotic dances by Ni- mura are striking examples of Oriental art.
 Prince Gnu Chang" still has the earmarks of a new play. Its progress at times is uncertain and halting. The first act drags noticeably. It would do no harm If the director brought the ladies of the ensemble together some morning and asked them to appear more enthusiastic. Some of them are positively wooden. These are minor defects which are not alien to new show and which can be remedied.
 Prince Gnu Chang" will remain at Parsons for the first half ol the week with a matinee on We'd nesday