Bryants' Minstrels

"These dusky favorites, after a short absence from the metropolis, reopened last evening at their popular hall in Tammany for the summer season, with new attractions and a reduction in the prices of admission. The troupe were welcomed back to the city by a crowded house, not even standing room being attainable, and so well did the members of the company, individually and collectively, endeavor to please their immense audience, that the house was kept in a continuous roar of side-splitting laughter from the commencement to the termination of the performance. Dave Reed, the popular Ethiopian delineator, who has been travelling with the troupe, last night made his first appearance in this city as a member of the company, and was three separate times recalled after his first song and dance. The great black ‘koh-ah-nor’ diamond of American minstrelsy—Dan Bryant—delighted the audience with a number of his clever eccentric sketches; Unsworth regaled them with his banjo solos, and Messrs. Hogan and Hughes contributed in no small measure to the pleasure of the evening’s entertainment by their inimitable ‘Virginia double shuffle.’ In addition to the musical portion of the night’s festivities the programme for the present week contains such mirth-provoking sketches as ‘Jack Cade,’ ‘Ixion’ and the ‘Black Doctor,’ not to mention the startling burlesque of ‘Red Hot,’ the subject of which takes the off track from Offenbach’s ‘Orphee,’ and, as per bill, ‘follows French verse and versions at a disrespectful distance.’”

“Bryants’ Minstrels, fresh from a profitable sojourn elsewhere, resumed possession of their Fourteenth-street house on Monday evening last. Their numbers, include Mr. Dan Bryant, Mr. Unsworth, Mr. Eugene and Mr. Nelse Seymour—that is to say, a quartet of great favorites—and the strength of the company has been increased by the accession of Mr. David Reed, a comedian of renown in the world of minstrelsy. The entertainment, in which the troop cooperate, calls for no detailed notice. We cannot look for positive novelty in Ethiopian representations, and from the size of the audience that filled the place on Monday, and from its delight, the public, whose views most men respect more than those of anyone else, does not exact it. One feature at the Fourteenth-street opera house, however, is quite new. Its advantages, in fact, can be tested ere one enters the theater at all. The prices of admission have been reduced, and reserved seats have been done away with. Which of our City theaters is possessed of a manager just and shrewd enough to follow the example these less pretentious minstrels have set?”

“Bryants’ Minstrels had a regular revival on re-opening their hall in Fourteenth street on the 19th after a short sojourn in Baltimore and Washington. The house was well filled in every part, and the scene reminded us very much of old times when the Bryants were in their glory at Mechanic’s Hall, Broadway. The entertainment was varied and pleasing, and the troupe was well received. Dave Reed, who has just been added to the troupe, met with a very hearty welcome. As soon as a couple more singers can be secured, for which negotiations are now pending, the troupe will be complete in all its departments. The reduction in prices meets with favor, judging from the attendance during the week, which has been far better than for months past. We should have preferred to see reserved orchestra seats dispensed with, and the entire auditorium thrown open to first comers at 50 and 25 cents.”