Evening star., 1935-01-14

II 11II 1lCW 4NOCA SoWdAa P2e1y 40 aAA-
= questionably box office" 1t is
also very well written. The third act
is also very disagreeable. However,
we have met respectable and aged
widow ladies, whose theater up to
now has consisted mostly of revivals
of Shaw and Barrie, who go into
Mysteries over it and VOW that if they
could see the play six times they
would ask for nothing more Of this
life. We have also seen young and
eager college things swear that once
was too much, that certain phases Of
1t turned them inside out, that
Mourning Becomes Electra" COM
pared to this was a fairy tale.
Mr.. Coward's play is set on an
island and, according to some, assumes
the pattern of Rain" With this we
disagree. 1t has distinct pattern of
its own. Another thing we can say
for 1.-THE author continues his march
forward so far as originality goeS-he
being one of those rare playWrightS
whose second is never like his first,
etc. So, Point Valaine" has not so
much as a comma or dash remin-
tscent of any one of his mighty six.
Objection is raised, however. to the
crude way in Which Alfred Lunt treats
LYNN Fontanne AS Stefan, the
waiter, he not only levels this red
headed proprietress of distant hotel
by volcanic verbal attack when she
has an affair with young aviator
who happens there by chance, but he
gives her a drubbing and literally
coughs up his anger in her face
thereby reducing both her and the
audience to pulp.
x X X X
A FTER the performance we saw
"A both Osgood Perkins, who plays a
visiting writer, and who has by all
odds the most attractive lines, and
Mr.. Lunt. Mr.. Perkins was gay and
alive with the promise of his role.
Mr.. Lunt seemed depressed. He said
however, after he had looked at us
and mentioned the fact that he could
tell that we didn't like the show
(Which isn't 100 per cent true)
'Don't fool yourself-this is the best
thing Noel Coward has ever writ
ten"
We doubt that. The play hasn't
the buoyancy of some of the other
Coward works. nor the tremendously
stirring sweep of their sentiment and
emotion. 1t is tense. 1t is melo-
dramatic. AS we have said before
1t is "box Office" But its mission
and purpose are slight-and some of
us, perhaps, feel that we can dc
without the picture of a waiter throw
ing himself to the sharks because a
red-headed woman took a fancy to
somebody else. AS well acted as it is
and we didn't mind Miss Fontanne's
wig-it seemed to us long excursion
into the far, far away, which did
nobody any particular good. II
moved-it breathed-it gave life tc
those distant shores with which we
are little familiar. But if life begins
and ends that way, out there, then
let us turn around once more, and
have life begin at home. 1t is cer-
tainly less depressing.
A VISIT to the D'Oyly Carte Co.
a 1--WE saw "The Gondoliers') Is
worth trip to the North Pole. Never
have we seen a more enthusiastic
group or a more attentive audience.
Every seat occupied Fathers there
with wives and children, grandfathers
nodding their heads back and forth,
whole rows of excited Gilbert and Sui
livan fans clapping their hands to-
gether and singing the words and
music along with the players.
You get new meaning out of Gil
bert"s lines when you see these cheer
full Londoners. BY the mere crook of
their necks some word attains a new
significance and if you think you have
seen the best of all Duke of Plaza
Toro's, or Koko's, or Mikados, wait
till you see Martyr Green. The