Venue(s):
Niblo's Garden
Proprietor / Lessee:
William Wheatley
Event Type:
Play With Music
Status:
Published
Last Updated:
21 August 2017
“Legs seem to be still the reigning feature on the metropolitan boards, to judge from the immense houses that patronize ‘The White Fawn.’ Although the management have not yet found it necessary to bring in any new feature in the spectacle, yet the attendance is still immense.”
“We scarcely talk about theaters that are exclusively American, for two reasons: they are of little interest to the majority of our readers, and it’s rare that they produce new dramatic works there of any value. They’ve reproached us for keeping silent about The White Fawn. We’re worn out by a feeling of shame easy to understand when it’s about sights capable of offending innocent eyes. Morality, and the high idea we accustom ourselves to of the duties of a journalist, order us to never recommend pieces where women show themselves almost as scantily clad as statues. Decency demands fig-leaves of vast dimensions. A theater critic is in charge of souls, and his priesthood fails if he praises works where the women’s skirts don’t even fall as far as their ankles, and where the bodices don’t cover the slender shoulders as far upwards as the hollows beneath the collar-bones. Austerity, ever and anon and unseasonable, is the most beautiful virtue of a critic, and they know it’s also our dearest and most unquestionable attribute.”