Life — June 1, 1899 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ws For that choking sensation, Vinum Marianum bas no equal. The Season’s Record. LWAYS generovs to the theatres, the New ae York pablic has this year, Wy, thanks to unusual business Gy Prosperity, lavished on {ts play-houses un- stinted patronage. Almost all ventures of @ theatrical nature, and some of them with the threadtest claim to merit, have made money. Little ight welght farces, that tn ordinary times would have thought themselves for- tunate to have run a fortnight, have been kept on for weeks, and our theatre-loving i public has enriched the ticket speculators tn its mad desire fo get seats to seo anything with the slightest claim to popularity. Of course, we all know there are no longer any such things as -LIFE- LIFE'S ELOIR. —Desdemona, ticket speculators, but It has been a pecu- Mar fact that all through the past season, If one wished to see a performance at all 1n vogue, one could rarely get seats at a hox- office, but had to seek some one who had thei toxellat an advanced price. So much for the Ananclal side. This year it has heen a very poor show Indeed that could not make money tn York, and the same thing seems to have held true the country over, Artistically, we have several things for which togive thanks. If for nothing else, the season should be memorable for having given us“ Cy- nano.” Rostand’s play has passed the point of heeding anyone to call ta masterplece, and Mr. Mansfleld’s presentation of It was adequate tn every way. Ne: y "In artistic merit, we must rank “Zaza.” The plece Itself had to be mutllated to sult {to our Purttantcal standard, but the mutilation was tnoffenstvely done, and both the play and Mrs. Carter's powerful imper- ronation are bound to stand out In recollection, Delightful, too, was “Trelawny of The Wells,” both asa play and inthe way It was acted au presented. Less important, but sttl of agree- able memory, are Mr. Sothern and Miss Harned tn “The Strange Adventure of Lady Ursula," Mr. Goodwin and Miss Elllott In“ Nathan Hate," Miss Marlowe tn * Coitnette,” and © Lord and Lady Algy,” with Mr. Faversham’s unex- pected excellence and Miss Millward’s finished act. What threatened to be an epidemic of the more Tobustuous form of stage entertainment found its vent In two verslous of “Les Trois Mousque- talres," and tn the prolonged run of “The Great Ruby" at Daly's. The Shakespeartan tornado, which at one tlme tmpended, blew ftself out in I was torribly doven in the mouth, and should never bave come out of It but for Vinum Marianum.—Jonah, the triple-headed flasco at the Herald Square and tn Miss Maude Adams's creation of au up-to-date Juliet, Just where to locate that undoubted finan. clal success, Mr. Hall Caine’s “The Christian,” would puzzle an expert zodlogist. It must re- matn In a cage by Itself, unclassified. Light opera and burlesque have this season been much less prominent than usual tn the list of attractions. The only things of thts nature to score have been “The Runaway Girl" at Daly's und Victor Herbert's “The Fortune Teller,” with Miss Allce Nielsen tn the title réle. The Castle Square Opera Company ut the Amertcan Theatre has completed another season of stundard operas, adequately produced in English. Entirely leav- Jug aside the intrinstc merit of the performances by this company, te educational value of the enterprise to we community 1s a very constder- able one. The notable feature of the past season has been that a few great successes have held thelr respec- tive stages for long runs, This has meant that new productions of untried pteces have been comparatively few. ‘This may not be encouraging to the aspiring and unheard-of dramatist, tat it has saved that section of the public which Is will- ing to take chances from the fallures which It, with more or less good nature, sits through in less prosperous seasons. All in all, the past dramatic year has been one which, compared ‘with tts immediate predecessors, both public and eritics might well Le glad to accept as a fixed average. o 8 6 OT exceptional, but noteworthy, Is the little that the Theatrical Trust has had to do with the artistic successes of the season. Metca'fe comicbooks.com