Life — May 28, 1903 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

ad oy oy oy eG v IN Thy TIME OF Tue THEATRICAL TRUST. hi Mr. Frank Daniels is leomedy The Nuna- pearing at the Academy of Music, is also musi It is not very much in itself, but "it is a gem of purest r It has some pretty airs; its book, by Me. R.A. Barnet, y clever, and it is free from vulgarity. Mr. Daniels shows a distinct increase of refine- ment in his methods, and his company, without being remarkab competent one. The stage of the Academy is a large one, and the comparatively small cast and chorus secmed swallowed up in its eapacious depths. If there remains in New York City a single person who is not k of musical comedy, he will find ‘ Miss Simplicity” not bad of its kind 2 ° ‘ »pen-air performance of * As You Like .”’ given for charity on the South Field Colum not only as the first of the sort given in this immediate vicinity but as an effort which is a sort of specialty with Mr. Ben , the English manager, and his com- ‘tors who have been touring the United States in * FE man.” Both and scene were ideal for the purpose. The turf-covered stage, surrounded by old and sturdy trees, might have been a glade from the real Forest of Arden. The strain on the imagination came when the actors in doublet and hose made their ance and started to act the story. It mustbe admitted that the illusion was far from complete. There is a certain frame of mind into which theatre-goers naturally fall when the cur- tain goes up on an enclosed stage, and the intellect, from force of habit, naturally allows itself to assume that what is going on back of the footlights is to a certain extent true. But here the mental willingness to accept the conventional for the real was considerably more difficult. There may have been hand- organs in the Forest of Arden, but sounds from one ina nearby street seemed not exactly a fit accompaniment to Jacques's delivery of * The Seven Ages of Man,” nor was Orlando's wooing of Rosalind made more effective by the clang- ing of trolley-gongs. The audience was a large one, and the actors, in their efforts to make themselves heard, were obliged to lose much of the elocutionary effect of the lines. When they were not turned full-face to the front their voices were lost com- a University, is worthy of no pletely. Edith Wynne Matthison, who played Rosalind, was an ex- ception to this statement, for she possesses a voice whose carrying powers are such that it loses none of its sweetness and flexibility even under the strain of making itself heard in the open air. Her performance throughout was a most remarkable one and entitles her to rank with the best Rosalinds of our generation. Mr. Robert Loraine, on the other hand, was forced by the cireumstances into indistinetness and an any’ but agreeable artificiality of tone. Mr. Greet’s Jacques was a distinct disappointment. He made of the character rather a buffoon than the dignified and melancholy philosopher Shakespeare drew, Me might, v vantage, have exchanged places with Mr. Field as Touchstone. Mr. Drewitt gave an excellent impersonation of the banished Juke, but the remain- ing cast was not noteworthy, and the singing was very thin indeed. As You Like It” out of doors makes a series of pretty p isi e novelty, but the drama itself more effective acted within the walls of a theatre and by light. Metcalfe. tures resting as. denmat ='S CONFIDENTIAL GUIDE TO THE THEATRES. Academy of Music —Frank Dantels in“ Miss Simplicity." See abore. Belasco. —Last week of “The Dating of the Gods." Those who bave not seen thls admirably staged piay should not miss thts opportunity Broadicay.—* The Prince of Pilsen." Musical comedy. Well staged and really musical. Casino. The Runaway ‘See opposite page. Daly's.—* My Lady Peggy Goes to Town.”* Tenuoas melodrama. Garrick.—Mr. Henry E, Dixey in farce, * Facing the Music." Herald Square.—Dan Daly in Jobn Henry." Mojestic.—"* The Wizard of Oz." Musical extravaganza. HMandsomely staged and amusing, Manhattan —"The Eari of Pawtucket." Clever comedy well acted. Victoria.—Last week of * The Auctioneer.” Artistic character acting. Wallack's * The Sultan of Sulu.* Musical comedy. Pretty and mirthfal, comicbooks.com