Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-20
Darkness of Holy Week
Lightened by the Glow
OF Mirth in a New Place
George White Finds New Theater for His
"Scandals "-Easter Plays Ahead
Bernard Shaw's Latest PLAY.
By w. H. Landvoiet.

cause theater- going Washington
to thrill in its Utmost marrow. It
almost looks as if Happy Times
Are Come Again" in the National
Capital, and all the gloom and
worry we have heretofore been
wasting on depression" hadn't
ought to have been at all. And
it is Just as well for the pessimiSt
to reserve his suggestion plucked
from the ancient classics to be
ware of Greeks bearing gifts"
Many have felt that there is al
ways something in the woodpile" -
being a homely and, perhaps, Of
fenSive hint that we ought to be
suspicious of Mr.. Whites great
generosity this late in the season.
But the fact has been plainly an
nounced that George Whites lat
est Scandals" is due here now at
the Washington Auditorium. Any
dampener upon the enthusiasm
aroused by that self-evident fact
must be left to the wicked critics
if we have such down in this
neck of the woOdS-to relate in
their acrid and insidious COM
mentS.
RUT, as might easily have been
guessed, the Scandals" are
not to have the entire field for
their browsing. From the old
Nationals ever new belfry comes
the ringing proclamation that we
are to have on Easter Sunday
night, also at popular prices"
an old favorite, THE Choc-
olate Soldier" known in its
more serious moments on the
stage as Arms and the Man." to
cheer up our saddened souls with
its unattainable MY Hero Come
to drown out, as it doubtless will,
in ears that never tire OF
it, anything in the melodic line
the Scandals" may have to offer.
1t comes under the Erlanger ban
ner, and Washington owes much
to that banner for some Of its
finest entertainment in the thea
ter. To the Shubert-BelaSco, for
Easter week, will come Roland
Bottomley's new comedy, OLIVIA
Bows to Mrs. Grundy," with that
excellent actress Janet Beecher
heading a fine cast, and Endorsed
with the approval of the Profess
sional Players. 1t will be the one
and only legitimately dramatic
play of the budding blossom week
offered by our whole galaxy OF
temples devoted to the legitimate
But it will serve to firmly eStab-
lish the fact that the theater is
not dying on our hands in Wash
ington.
A LEXANDER WOOLLCOTT, the
distinguished metropolitan
critic, in a review of the world
premiere" of George Bernard
Shaw's TOO True to Be Good"
had this to say Just as a GER
tain melancholy was impaired to
City Lights by ones feeling that
it was the last picture which Mr..
Chaplin would ever make, so
something in the profound weari-
ness of Too True to Be Good
something in both the accent and
the magnificent speech which
brings down its final curtain, gives
to this play, the latest Shaw play,
and if my prophetic soul is cor
rect, the last, the indefinuable
flavor of valedictory. 1t was
the rustic of a turning page-a
page in the history of our times"
If this critics foreboding be true
prophecy, it will bring to many
besides Mr.. Shaw's numberleSS ad-
mirerS a feeling Of keen regret,
for whether one likes or diSlikeS
his many strange creations, 1t Is
very evident that they have served
as a clear and sometimes
unique mirror to reflect truths
that the world Is either backward
in compromising or that literal
ly exposes SNUG conceits and no.
lions which the world Is reluctant
to part with. Even when he seems
most to err, Shaw's biting satire
frequently serves as a steadying
influence to bolster what Is both
true and good. The world can Ill
afford to lose q George Bernard