Evening star., 1944-01-30
NEW YOR'

I scooped Philip Merivale on open
Ing night in The Duke in Dark
ness" He escaped in the third act;
escaped from the Playhouse Thea
ter at the end of the second act,
after having known all along that
it would take the third to get Meri-
vale out of his imprisonment. It
should be stated, in all fairness,
however that on the first night
and the few nights the show will
run-Merivale has to stick around.
The Duke in Darkness" is by Pat
rick Hamilton, whose Angel Street"
is now in its third year ron Broad,
way. Unfortunately, there is little
life and excitement, not to mention
interest, in THE Duke in Darkness"
The time goes back to the civil
wars in France about 1880, and all.
the action takes place in the Cha
teau Lamorre, in which the Duke Of
Laterraine (Philip Merivale) is i'm
prisoned by the Duke of Lamorre
(played excellently by Louis HECTOR.
Lamorre, the autocrat, has captured
Laterraine, friend of the common
people, in battle; has kept him i'm
prisoned about Is years.
All during this period Laterraine
has plotted, unsuccessfully, to es-
cape. Meanwhile, public sentiment
has changed to his favor. There
arrives in the prison chateau Bou-
lain played very well by Raymond
BURR, the son of an old follower Of
Laterraine, to assist the latter in
his escape.
The Foreseen Outcome.
There is little suspense in the plot
You know from the beginning, as I
have said previously, that Laterraine
will escape. He feigns blindness and
other physical feebleness, is sub
jected to many brutal tests to dis
prove this.
Merivale is stolid in his role. Ed
gar Stehli, as his aide, overacts all
over the stage.
There are no women in the cast.
Where the characterizations in
1.-THE Duke in Darkness" are inef-
fectual, they are full of life in
Chekhov's comedy, 1.-THE Cherry
olClldlO, WlllCll GVd bC Sd1AACill1C
and Margaret Webster have revived
at the National T'heater.
Joseph Schildkraut, who last year
appeared with Miss LIE Gallienne in
the fine mystery, "Uncle Harry" is
with her again, this time as the
brother, Leonid Andreyvitch, who
likes, not unreasonably, a full, rich
life without being able to do any
thing financially to support it.
Miss LIE Gallienne first did '"The
Cherry Orchard" back in 1888. She
has also done two other Chekhov
plays-"The Sea Gulf and "The
Three Sisters" The present pre-
sentation is much better than her
original production, which I was
fortunate enough to see. Miss LIE
Galienne and Miss Webster are the
directors and the translation is by
Trina Skariatina.
Critics Eyes Opened.
The story, as you well know, is
that of sweet and cultured family
which finally loses the family estate.
All the cba~scterizations center
around this situation.
The performances of both Miss lie
Gallienne and Mr.. Schildkraut are
assured and charming.
AS matter of fact, all the cast is
well selected and the performances
are good, I had never considered
Miss LIE Gallienne a beautiful wom-
an, though admiring her artistry for
many years. Now, I must say, she is
both beautiful and most effective in
teh role of Lyubov. The settings, by
Motley, contribute much to the
success.
'Wallfower," the new comedy at|
the Cort Theater, has its own trag-
edy. For about an act and a quar-
ter the play is so dull and amateur
ish that one is tempted to leave or
fall into slumber.
Then it suddenly picks up tempo
and humor and the audience is
bowling in laughter. The play doc
tors should get to work Immediately
on the operations necessary to put
the first part into proper shape. If
that Is done and little editing is
done here and there it will become
one OF the laugh hits of the town.
Sister and the Boys.
The story is about the pretty sister
who captures all the boys and the
not-so-pretty sister who must look
for Cinderella's slipper. In the back