Devil’s Auction

“A crowded house bore witness last night alike to the judgment and the good fortune of Mr. de Pol in the acquisition of La Morlacchi as a star dancer. In the first act of the Devil’s Auction, in the pas seul and in the pas de deux with Signor Lupo, and especially in the second act, in the celebrated ‘bee dance,’ which was enthusiastically scored, Signorina Morlacchi fully justified the prestige of her European reputation. The lithe and symmetrical figure, the flashing dark eyes, the graceful and dashing movements of this fascinating ‘queen of the dance’ elicited the heartiest applause. A pupil of the distinguished Huss, at Milan, La Morlacchi was hailed at her debut at the Carlo Felice, in Genoa, as a prodigy of the Terpsichorean art, and her subsequent triumphs at Turin, at Perugia, at her Majesty’s theatre, in London, during several successive seasons’ at Modena, at Lisbon, at Marseilles, at Berlin, at Turin, at Palermo, at all the cities, in fine, where she has appeared, promise now to be repeated in America. The audience at Banvard’s did not forget to applaud, as usual, the other favorite performers in the ‘Grand Spectacular Fèerie’—Augusta Sohlke, Elisa Blasina, Eugenia and Giovanni Lupo, Mlle. Lapointe, Ermes Ida Diani, Aurelia Ricci, and last though not least, Miss Fanny Stocqueler. Fresh novelties in the way of scenery and dances are announced by the enterprising manager, who seems determined not to rest on the laurels which he has already won.”

“As for the cancan, our hand trembles, our pen hesitates and our conscience is troubled. The Béotians [stupid people] wanted to see a reality in the frolicsome dance to which we gave a fanciful description yesterday, a dance that should have been held fast in an institution for virtuous young ladies. We solemnly declare to these heavy souls, as well as to the entire universe, that this stormy tulip was a simple fantasy; and we add that they deserve to be counted in the number of intelligent citizens who trouble themselves to go to hear a little mute boy who sings a ballad so admirably.”

“. . . . At Banvard’s theater, Mlle Morlacchi, the first great dancer that one could see in the United States since Fanny Essler, pursues her course of triumphs. The success of L’Encan du Diable could be compared with that of The Black Crook.”