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THE COURIER.
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THEATRICAL NOTES
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Rombel Morrison in the drama of
Carmen, played at the Funke on Mon
day night to only moderate business.
The drama of Carmen differs from the
opera as prose from poetry.
Without song and music Carmen is
a coarse, mercenary minx wno uistn-
butes her favors to the highest bidder,
In the opera Carmen is still a devil, but
a beautiful, capricious, fascinating
gypsy too.
Carmen in the opera i femininity.
perverse, wicked, even devilish, but
charming still. In the drama she is a
coarse female whom tho audience re-
joicestohavo stabbed in its presence,
The lilt of the Carmen music obscures
the character of Carmen, makes it less
repulsive. Isabel Morrison plays it as
it is written, anl although from begin
ning to end the interest is well sus
tained, and even at times becomes sus
pense, Carmen has the fatal defect of
lickleness. A lick of constancy in the
heroine dissipates the iuterest the audi
ence should feel in her. And in this
case there is no one to transfer the in
terest to; Don Jose is tiresome. Ho is
full of reproaches, deserted poses and
appeals which make him about as in
teresting as a month of Sundays. Mar
tyrs make racy reading, but it is a ter
rible bore to live with them.
Rosabel Moirison is spirited. She
conveys her conception of the character
with clearness.
Edward Eisner is graceful and plays
his ungrateful part sympathetically.
Tho scenery was rich in color ad Span
ish in effect, which is moio than can be
said of the operas which have presented
Carmen in days gone by.
The Lincoln Light Infantry played to
very good business at tho Lansing on
Monday night 1 he dotirg audience re
ceived the local hits and the sjwrtive
gambols of their brothers, beaux and
acquaintances with delight that was not
unmerited. It was the best annual per
formance the infantry Las yet given,
which is saying much.
Bancroft, the prcstidigitateur, played
to a much smaller house than he deserv
ed at the Lansing on Tuesday evening.
Mr. Bancroft is that anomaly, a young
wizard. Graceful, svelte, suave, clad in
black small clothes, the curtain rises,
disclosing a noble marble staircase, in
laid floors and flowerenwreathed pil
lars. At whose base stand two lackeys
as motionless as the marble. The hall
furniture is ivory; tables with elephant's
tusks, other tables and stands with the
carved heads of jungle beasts project
ing. The effect is charming and in a
moment when a young man, the heir to
all this beauty, clad in black with a
wizard's cloak fluttering about him de
scends the 6ta:rcase from what were
once flies, the effect is dramatic It is
not for the unprofessional to say that
Bancroft's tricks and passes are as clever
as Hermann's, but I can see no differ-
encc. Although the basis of his tricks
is old: firing handkerchiefs, oranges and
pigeons into EoDmsky, Bancroft has in-
troduced a few flourishing details which
are new. The last years of his life Her-
mann appeared to do most of his tricks
with elaborate machinery, which less-
ened the mystery. This young man
appears not to have much machinery.
The original and only Satsuma, whom
the playbill says is the leading exponent men,"? A game cock, out crowing and
of his art, and royal juggler by appoint- out-fighting everything in sight. Gal
ment to his Imperial majes'y, the Iant, thinking of nothing, but doing all
Mikado of Japan, is a wonder, and the the time. Hamlet is morbid and tire
mikado is generous to let him travel in some in comparison. I think these
America. His feet are like four hands
and his bands are inspired. With the
solemnity and ease of hi i race he bal
ances and catches balls and sticks or
kicks boxe3 and Japanned cots into the
air as another man kicks a football. I
only envy me miKaao nis juggler, u i
were it, this little yellow mummy in the
gold flower garden dress should toss
ball for me every afternoon.
The Lansing was full on Wednesday
night to near "A Black bheep.'
This farce is like "A TexaB Steer,"
only better. "Hot Stuff." tho happy
pennjleschampion of "Under Dog" in
Tombstone, Arizona, laughs, drinks and
fights with tho abandon of the prodigal
son. When the New York lawyer dis
covers in him the heir to two millions,
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THOMAS
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Hot Stuff invites all the crowd to drink. "El Capitan" was the best thing, music
The basis of enjoyment in Arizona that ally of the evening.
is, storybook and dramatic Arizona, is
not money, except that it takes money
to get liquor. A man with leather
breeches, a red shirt, strength and bra
very is a king in Tombstone. And "Hot
Stuff" knows it. New York, Europe
and an heiress are nothiDg to him if he
must lose Tombstone's unconventional
ity and the adoration of a mining cmp
to obtain them. Whatever there is of
fascination in the hero of "She Stoops to
Conquer," "The Three Guardsmen,' or
Shakespeare's Prince Hal before he is
crowned "Hot Stuff' has. The de
scription of 6uch heroes has no particu-
lar charm. To drink, to swear, to make
love, to fight, all at the drop of the hat,
is not admirable in itself. Yet these
four characters a;e most beloved of men
ana women. Who can ever forget the
younger Salvini, id "The Three Guards-
heroes conquer by their manishnef s. It
is the eternal masculine that slays its
tens ot thousands while better, more
constant, aspiring souls sit in their study
and write down lofty thoughts together
with their opinion of girls who adore
swashbuckling squires, sailors and sol
diers better than men of thought and
high emprise, who write eweet things
but whose action is meditation.
Otis Harlan, "Hot Stuff," enjoys bis
work and the friends he makes by it.
Life to him is uot "one grand sweet
song," but "one grand long racket ' He
beams his humour on tho audience as
May Irwin does, or as the sun shines.
He has temperament in large quanti
ties. Its lucky he is an actor with all
that temperament; he would bust ir he
had not the opportunity for expression.
Win. DeVere, Goodfellow Gunning,
the Arizona editor who went for sub-
scriptions with a gun and got 'em, is of
the same typo with the addition of the
shrewdness that his calling develops.
Mr. DiVere is a very good actor, and his
laughing song ia famous. He could, if
he would, play "Pudd'n Head Wilson" as
well as the great original.
Tne company was very good in chorus
and in acting. Young Mr. Lut ketone's
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W. KEENE.
Mr. Hoyt himself has a prejudice
against Lincoln because we don't like
"A Contented Woman," and especially
Caroline Miekel Hoyt. The latter is
too beautiful to send so far west. I
hear New York likes her, in which case
Mr. Hoyt can forget Lincoln's poor
taste.
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The Eunice Goodrich company plajed
to standing room only at the Funke last
week, and the Holden Comedy company
has plajed to large houses all tho week,
It is a frequent cause of complaint
that both theatres are not heated
enough this winter. I really think it
would pay to heat up the furnaces,
Amusement seekers are frequently kept
at home by the thoughts of a freezing
auditorium.
Few plays of modern authorship are
of stronger interest than "Louis XI," to
be presented by Thomas W. Keene,
Charles B. Hanford and campany at the
Lansing Monday evening. This is a
dramatization of Sir Walter Scott's
novel, "Quentin Durward,' with new
scenes andt situations written expressly
for Mr. Keen-, and found in no other
acting version.
The story of Louis XI is the hit to y of
France of the early part of the fifteenth
century, touching upon tho incidents
marking tho closing days of one of the
most remarkab'o men that ever dis
graced a throve. Louis' rule was a con
tinuous fight against the feudal power
on he nobles of France. It was also a
struggle for supremacy between tho
Orleanists, represented by Louis, and
the Burgundians under Charles tho
Bold. Louis, like Richard III of Eng
land, was no timid ruler. In natures
alike they defended their crowns w th
all the red-hande 1 power of their me
dieval training Crafty, erne', treacher
erous, loving ny one, not even the Dau
phin, Louis' life was a struggle against
cringing supers ition and an abject fear
of death. Piisons swarmed with the
victims of his hatred and his iolicy; tho
ax of the headsman was ever busy: he
trusted none, for none trus ed him; tho
mea.est tools or his will chosen from tho
dregs of life were the trusted officers of
his council; he was a slate to his physi
cian to whom he ascribed the iowers of
life and death; he was a constant prey
to dread of assassination; and the ond
spark of affection flashing at times for
his son only, was always marred by a
distrust that the son might cot spire to
remove him from the throne, as he him
self had been moro than suspected of
acting towards his own father.
'J he plot of the play is unique and
intensely dramatic. The young Duke
de Nemours, whose father had been be
headed by Louis, arrives at the French
court held for the time in the casfe of
lMessis les Tours. He comes as envoy
from Burgundy, his identity as Nemours
being alone known to Coitier, De Com
ynos and h s daughter Marie. '1 here is
an old love between Nemours and Marie,
and from the confiding g rl, Louis elicits
tho fact of the presence of his deter
mined enemy. Asemoy Nemours' per
son is supposed to be sacred, but Louis
who was never known to regard an obli
ga ion, plans with one of hi s minions to
assassinate him. Circumstances con
nec ed with the envoy, however, release
Louis from all further hypocrisy of pur
pose, and Nemours is arrested and
doomed to death.
Prices, 1.00, T."i, 50 and 2T. Sea's
now on sale at theatre Xox office.
C. B. Jefferson, KIjw fc Erlanger's
gorgeous spectacular production of
"Palmer Cox's Brownies,' which has
had long and successful seasons in New
York. Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago,
will be the notable attraction at tLo
Lansing theatre on Wednesday and
Thursday nights of the coming week,
with a special Thursday matinee. Seats
for the great attraction go on sale Mon
day morning at 10 o'clock. J n scenery,
costum p, properties, mechanical and
electrical effects "Tho Brownies" is tho
most successful spectacle now befcre tho
public, 'lhe play open's with a prologue,
in which Dingonfal, an evil tnchanter, is
pledged the assistance of Vulcan in his
plan to frustrate the marriage ot Princo
Florim 1, heir, by adoption, to the Brow
nie King, and Titania, Queen of tho
Fays. '1 he next scene reveals the palace
courtyard of Queen 1 itania, where tho
wedding is about to be celebrated in a
shower of roses. Dragonfel succeeds in
abducting the Queen and her ladies in
wai'ing. 'J ho scene changes, showing a
mountainous sea coast, where Dragonfel
is seen bearing away the helpless Queen,
with tho Brownies in pursuit 'lho
6cene again shifts, disclosing tho Brow
nies adrift on a raft in mid-ocean. A
terrible storm overtakes them, and they
are wrecked. 1 he dude Brownie falls
overboard in the excitem nt, and is
picked up by a colossal sea-bird, while
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