Evening star., 1953-03-18

f1NCS VI NSA4AS 4AO4 ~ ;" ASAS
who will enter the cast tomorrow
night. is a confused and cropping
affair. The spectator is left
dubious as to just what Mr..
Rosenthal is driving at and in
different to whether he ever gets
there. Things may change when
Sir Cedric adds acting to his
directing chore but this is a
surmise that exceeds the bounds
of reason and generosity.
Horses in MidStream. Gill
bert Miller-Donald OenSlager
production, is in the condition in
which no one involved seems to
have made up his mind. It looks
more prior than any prior-to-
Broadway Offering seen here this
season. This is saying rather a
lot in view of the confusion to |
which audiences have been eX-
posed from time to time since
last September.
It is the fundamental aspects .
of love which provide the energy |
on which Horse in MidStream"
moves.
Mr.. Rosenthal's principal pro- |
tagonists are a pair of Septuge-
narianS on the island of Elba
who. after 81 years. are still
largely unaware there is more |
than one fact of life. This, in |
spite of the circumstance that |
she writes best-seller novels and !
he is an artist who presently is !
occupied with wood carving.
These two changed horses in !
midstream and the evidence, !
when the play begins, indicates
that it is a recipe for happiness
that more romantics should !
know about. /
This lasts, however. only until
their Elban Eden is invaded by
the elderly wood-carver's grand
daughter. She has heard her
scandalized New England fam
ilys stories of what an old repro !
bate grandfather is, and also the
tales of the international har-
ridan he eloped with.
In her 22-year-old wretched-
ness, she figures she might be a
chip off the old block and that !
perhaps she ought to follow his
way of life. /
This attitude on her part gives
the old block pause for the first
time in 81 years. At the end of
the pause. he finds that what
was good enough for him is not
good enough for such a lovely
granddaughter. This leads to
the lesson of the play. namely, /
that some people can change !
horses in midStream and others /
cannot. /
Naturally, this is not news.
The struggle of the eXileS on t
Elba to learn that sex is not |
everything has its fugitive mo-
mentS and humor. There are
some amusing observations to be |
repeated about the spectacle of |
romance still vibrating in the /
venerable. Mr.. RoSenthal gets |
around to many Of these and his
players do them justice.
Members of the cast, merely |
directed by Sir Cedric up to this |
point, manage a provocative
slant of character here and
there in Horses in Midstream.
One of these is Godfrey Lumb
who will vacate the grandfather
role in favor if Sir Cedric after
tonig HI S performance. The
cramps he creates is sort of
George Apley who had one wild
oat to sow and lives in a kind
of happy daze ever after at the
crop it produced. Nevertheless
the old Apley revives in his
dudgeon that his granddaughter
would like to follow his example.
Miss Lynn of Hollywood, is no
more or less sure of the grand
daughter role than her elders ,
concerned with Horses in Mid
stream" She is an appealing
type and makes an intelligent eff |
fort to come to grips with a
character that has been much !
less confusingly written in other |
plays. There is both warmth |
and charm in her adolescent |