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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (April 4, 1896)
C&v - sd JV AT. lx" ; -r jML S& " r . - - s I - .? 1 -1 p Li-c CiC- - ' A- W w.v-t i .. r- ? fc- r? -.- s-7 " T-t v"V-": THI COUMKR. THE 1 ANSIStfO lUBAfHi Oiae week commencing Ao:ncla;y9 iVprtl aJCr - -"V" "" ilWS Vy f"i,tiflS-T5'JJ - xne j -r of repertoire Companies 25 r- ?vK -T--c lftfe , Six nights ard Saturday matinee of solid comedy interspersed with the latest singing and dancing 'specialties fsft rr jSt Something to make at peace with mankind Something to amuse Something to please Something to drive your care away Something to make you hppy but NOTHING TO OFFEND THE MOST FASTIDIOUS Z n ADMISSION 1 0 CENTS TO ALL PARTS OF THEHOUSE Watch out for the novel band parade Monday at noon. Two concerts daily 11:30 a. m. 7:15 p. m. I THE STAGE ' 2 Often a theatrical attraction is measured by the emotions it induces. "A Parisian Romance" is a morbid, dis agreeable play, and the effect on the audience is anything but pleasing. Hence many of the persons who appear ed in their good clothes and beamed benignantly at the Funke Saturday night, have declared with evident sin cerity tb'at they did not like Mansfield as "Baron Chevrial." "A Parisian Romance" has none of the odor of sweet lavender. It breathes not the incense of purity. The play is built on approved French lines, and it glides smoothly along in Parisian slime. Par taking sotrewnat of the elements intro duced to us by Dumas and Oscar Wilde, it presents a gaudy, glittering gauze that but faintly covers a wide expanse of tilth. The creatures that move in it are brilliant blossoms, frail and frivolous. But discussions of morals are decid edly malapropos in this age when mixed audiences bestow clamorous approval on prurient plays, with a free and easy method of handling delicate subjects, and an apparaling of feminity that is at once frank and confiding, if nothing more. So, as the man said when he chopped off the head of Mary, Queen of Scots, we will "let it go at that." The character of the Baron Chevrial is strongly drawn. It i& not less strong than the dual role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and it may be said to be in some respects, a greater creation than Beau Brummell. Indeed there is a similarity between the beau and the last, miser able days of the decrepit old roue, the baron. Mr. Mansfield k under obligations to the baron for a large measure of the fame which has come to him in the last ten years His "Chev rial," as much any other character ization has won for him distinction as the foremost American actor, a dis tinction achieved in spite of many un favorable circumstances. Mr. Mans field's great cess is real power. It is not a popularity seduced from sentimental audiences. The banquet scene is one of the most complete ana effective bits of theatrical presentation on the contemporary stage. Realism is carried to the point of reality. The fact that some ill-conditioned per sons in theaudiencetittered and snicker ed as the baron gave the famous toast to material things, holding aloft the shaking glass, waB no reflection on the art of the actor. It may have been an indication of stupidity on the part of the auditors. Mr. Mansfield's support was extraor dinary, This actor is one of the few stars who does not surround himself with straw dummies and stalking horses. When the baron disappeared from view the audience still retained its interest in the play. Mr. Mansfield did not appear in the last act, and yet interest was sustained. In the last act "Marcelle," the poor outcast, poverty stricken wife, makes her appearance in a long drab cloak and hood. Probably no poor female castaway on the stage ever ventured to stray so far from precedent as to aspear without the long cloak. Gener ally she seeks the middle of the stage and gets under the falling snow while the orchestra plays slow music One would imagine that the first thing a woman does upon being turned out of doors or rendered penniless is to pur chase a nice new long cloak and hood. Only nobody ever saw one of these cloaks anywhere accept on th stage. Irreverent persons in the audience Saturday night were amused at the sound of Marcelle'a breaking heart She was hidden from view. There waa a sound as of a sixteen story building toppling over. "Henry" and his mother and the doctor investigate and they find that "Marcelle" had sudden ly broken her heart. Stewart Allen, Sol Smith Russell's stage manager, has written some lines on Mr. Russet's performance of "Mr. Valentine's Christmas" as follows: The old man sat by the bright log fire, Dreaming a long dead past. The sparks flew merrily higher and higher As he dreamed of his first lore, and last. His faithful old servitor, bo.ved down with age. Stood by his old fashioned chair. As be turns o'er the leaves of his life page by page To the wondering menial there. Chloe and Francis. Inez and Joan, Dead loves to his memory dear. But Agnes, the dearest, stood out there alone, Like a star in the firmament clear! Far away though she was on this Christ mas eve, He feels the sweet touch of her hand. Each heartstring of memory attuned to receive, Like the tone of a melody grand! The sudden heart failure, the faltering voicp. The knowledge of sins all forgiven. The Christmas chimes ring, the angels rejoice O'er the bachelor's Christmas in Heaven! The Marie Tavari Grand Opera com pany will play at the Funke next Thurs day night. It is only by a lucky chance that so large a company, seventy-five people, stop in Lincoln at this time. It is the only company in the country that plays English grand opera. It is un necessary to state what splendid voices thev have because the people have heard them before. The Congregational church announces a concert of little people dressed in the style of their great, great ancestors on Friday night. "The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown" as given by Eddie Foy and com pany, failed to meet the expectations of those who are familiar with the rec ord of this farce abroad and in this country. Fe-nale impersonation is very much overdone. "Charley's Aunt" and "1492" and a dozen other more or less recent productions have exhausted the possibilities of this role. Eddie Foy has nothing new to present. He has all the coarseness and vulgarity of most of the actors who impersonate women, and he lacks the wit of some of them. There is no attempt to make "Miss Brown'' look or act like a woman, and the farce is bo broad that there is no humor in it. Whatever may be Foy b forte it is cer tainly not a character like that of "Miss Brown." Miss Lark, who was"Euphe mia Schwartz," was one of a very few members of the company who demon strated any real capacity. Harry Brown as the Major helped to push the farce along. The very best of everything in the drug, stationery and notion line, lowes prices, at Roy's. DR. F. D. SHERWIN. DENTIST. Porcelain Fillings, Crown and Bridge Work a Specialty. ROOMS 17. 18, 19, BURR BLOCK. SECOXD FLOOR. Lincoln ------ - Nebraska. j i 4 n i !-jlH, -