Lydia Thompson Burlesque: Blue Beard

“Miss Lydia Thompson and her troupe appeared last evening at the Academy of Music, in ‘Blue Beard.’ A numerous audience greeted their return to New-York, and the laughter and applause with which the performance was accompanied, showed that the public is still unwearied of their efforts to supply a harmless and laughable entertainment. More than this, there is at present no occasion to say. The admirers of burlesque representations and of Miss Thompson, Mr. Beckett, Mr. Edwin, and the very strong troupe surrounding this mighty trio, may enjoy their labors nightly throughout this week. The bill, we should add, is changed every evening.” 

“Concerning Miss Lydia Thompson and her burlesque company, it would require a man of very vivid imagination to say any new thing. The amount that has been written and printed on the subject would probably make a moderate sized library. It is therefore scarcely necessary to say more than that the fair lady is bringing her present and fifth dramatic season in this city to a close with a series of seven performances, the first of which was given last evening; that on this occasion she produced that play of a thousand-and-one-nights, entitled ‘Blue Beard;’ that this is to be followed on successive evenings by…that, as heretofore, she has the efficient support of those humorous comedians, Mr. Harry Beckett and Mr. Willie Edouin, Miss Thompson gives her present performances at the Academy of Music. There is probably no theatre in the country where a joke appears to less advantage. Especially is this true of those jokes which consist of a play upon words, and which must be distinctly understood to be appreciated. How many of these puns exploded harmlessly in the vast wastes of the stage nobody but the prompter could possibly tell. Certainly very few of them reached more than half-way across the parquet. It may therefore be readily understood that the audience in the boxes and in the rear of the balcony were not in a state of excessive hilarity. It is not easy to laugh at a distant murmur of voices. In the language of the day, the Academy fits Miss Thompson’s company too much.

‘Blue Beard’ was illustrated by that charming and brilliant scenery which does such honor to the Academy, and of which we are all so proud. No words that we could use could possibly do justice to its splendors.”

“Miss Lydia Thompson, with her sportive, capering, and burlesque troupe, occupied the boards here last evening with their ‘Blue Beard.’ The cast is mainly the same as that of the last three years; the frisk and flash of ballet romp the same; the airy music, the torture of puns, the caprice of costume, and the agony of burlesque and contortion all the same. There are Selim, and Blue Beard, and Said, and Fatima, with all their nonsense and nimbleness; and that is all.”

“The appearance of the Lydia Thompson Troupe at the Academy of Music last night was made before a good house. The piece and the acting are familiar to the readers of the Herald, the former being the well-known burlesque of ‘Blue Beard,’ and the latter resting mostly upon Miss Thompson and Mr. Harry Beckett.”