“Mr. Dan Bryant undoubtedly possesses the key to public favor and good fortune, for his opera-house in West Twenty-third street is attended nightly by large audiences of appreciative persons, whom he entertains with good music and mirth-provoking comicalities. The bill this week is exceptionally attractive. Its first part comprises ballad singing and the ‘Mulligan Guards;’ the second is made up of laughable sketches and burlesques, which are vivaciously handled by Messrs. Hart, Reed, and Seymour. Mr. Bryant is a host in himself. He has only to wink at the spectators to convulse with laughter. He knows his power, and we need scarcely add that he uses it. The ballad singing merits a word of commendation, especially that of Messrs. Kelly and Walz, who are well worth hearing.” 

Program changes since last week.

“Mr. Samuel Weller, a veracious authority, asserted that post-boys and donkeys were never known to die. Equally true is it that negro minstrels never change. Our memory takes us back to a date in our history when we wore short jackets, and when negro minstrelsy was ‘in its prime;’ though in what respect it was then better than it is now we are unable to determine. A visit on Saturday evening to the cosey little opera-house on Twenty-third street did not aid us, although it vividly recalled our first visit to the minstrels. Then when the little red curtain was ‘rung up,’ it disclosed, as it did on Saturday evening, a row of respectable, well-dressed black gentlemen, with the staid, ponderous one in the centre, and the grotesque, unruly one on each end. Then did the row of respectable black gentlemen burst forth into a melodious chorus, and when the chorus was finished the ponderous gentleman and the two funny men exchanged the same or very similar greetings and conundrums. So it was throughout the evening, and we laughed at the antics of the funny men almost as much as we did in our schooldays. Mr. Dan Bryant does well to retain on his programme the ancient melodies of Foster and the other writers who first made negro minstrelsy famous. There are some good singers in his present troupe, and the first part of the performance is very enjoyable. Mr. W. Henry Rice, in the burlesque of a scene from ‘Norma,’ and also as the chief lady in the travestie of the recent Broadway spectacle, ‘The Deluge,’ certainly presents the funniest if not the most truthful caricature of female stage manners that we have ever seen. The two farces of last week’s bill at Bryant’s Minstrels, ‘A Second Hand Hotel’ and ‘Glycerine Oil’ are very funny, especially the first. Dan Bryant, Bob Hart, Dave Reed and Nelse Seymour are an extremely amusing quartet, and the whole performance is commendable.”