Evening star., 1936-10-25


comedy that Robert z. Sherwood adapt
Deval has been so ecstatically praised'
by visitors to London during the last
two years that o few Of US skeptics
have wondered how q play on so
hoary q theme and based on the
Anglo-Saxon gift for nobility worship
could live up to its advance billing.
Now we know. The new Broadway
hit does not depend on snob appeal,
Bolshevik batting or familiarity Of
narrative. On the contrary. it has
turned its back on all such easygoing
efforts after audience appeal. 1t is
because the two central characters Of
the play have been made SO charm
ing, so gallant, 50 gayly melancholy
and so wistfully merry that their ad-
ventures become so thoroughly de-
lightful and SO completely heart
warming. You accept them and are
led to believe the other characters in
the comedy accept them not as pro-
fessional aristocrats appealing to
national snob but as enormously and
inescapahly likable human beings.
It is proof of their charm that you
hate to see them depart for the last
time. Assuredly it Is rare In the
theater when, as the curtain falls,
you are filled with . genuine regret
that you are not to encounter its hero
and heroine again. I think that at
the close of 'Tovarich," when the
grand duchess and her husband, the
prince. 60 on to q Russian party with
the adoring son and daughter of their
employers, you will feel pretty sorry
that you are not going along with
them. Obviously it is true that
great part of their charm is due to
the delightful playing of the fascinat-
ing Italian newcomer, Miss Marta
Abba, and that illustrious Hollywood
refugee, John Halliday. in the roles.
Here are two performances that are
the quintessence Of deft, urbane high
comedy with sentimental interludes.
You have an instructive sense of we'll
being when you watch the work of
two such performers as Miss Abba |
and Mr.. Halliday. They never seem
to do anything wrong and every move
they make Is Just what you have in
stinctively hoped for. Such charac-
terizations, in properly engaging
roles. make for something that is not
far from perfection. But you must
remember that the roles have to be
suficiently delightful and here Mr.. |
Sherwood-or Mr. Deval, or both-is |
brilliant. The combination Of inno- !
cence and sophistication, Of gayety !
and melancholy, Of wisdom and vail
ant folly is enchantingly devised and |
when these qualities are filed with a |
gallant determination to face the |
facts Of o new existence, not the Gus |
tomary White Russian performance |
for living in a land of dreams, the ef- |
feet is virtual irresistible.
THIS insistence of the authors on
giving the Czarist exiles all the |
charm and humor and gallantry of |
character conceivable might readily |
have made for violent anti-Soviet |
propaganda play. But somehow it
does nothing of the kind. 1t is not |
merely that the Communist commits
sar, who has been the cruel enemy |
of the hero and heroine, turns out |
upon his appearance in the second act
to be q civilized and likable gentle
man. Even thought the commissar is
attractively drawn-not only by the
authors, but also by Cecil Humphreys,
who plays the part-he could hardly
be described as an ideal bolshevik
hero. What keeps "Tovarich"-I sup
pose you know that its title means
"comrade" in Russian-from being
wistful lament over the tragedy of
the Cars overthrow Is that it never
presumes to tell you that its hero and
heroine are typical of the vanquished
Muscovite nobility. 1t is obvious that
they represent a special case; that
they are exceptions rather than the
rule. 1t does not take long for you |
to realize that if there had been many /
of their kind the Romanov empire
would not have crumbled so readily.
The Russians are such an in
stinctively dramatic people that their
character is replete with dramatic
contrast. As "Tovarich" reveals them
they are given equally to wild melan-
cholia and wild gayety. to childlike