Venue(s):
Olympic Theatre
Conductor(s):
Thomas Baker
Event Type:
Play With Music
Status:
Published
Last Updated:
14 January 2015
“First Time in America . . . The music arranged and conducted by Thomas Baker.”
“The Olympic Theatre last night was crowded by a cordial audience, gathered to hear the new burlesque and to assist at the New York debut of Miss Henrietta Irving, a young lady who made her fist appearance on the stage at Mr. Harrison’s Park Theatre, Brooklyn. She took part in Planche’s little comedy, ‘The Follies of a Night,’ and her success augurs well for her future career. To a graceful stage presence she adds a pleasant and musical voice, great mobility of countenance, and an apparent thorough acquaintance with the business of the stage. She was well supported by the rest of the company, Mr. Mortimer and Mr. Frank Drew being peculiarly happy in their respsective parts. The after piece is new to the New York stage, although it has been running for some time in London, where it has drawn full houses. It is written by H.J. Byron, and rejoices in the euphonious and alliterative title of ‘Ill Treated Il Trovatore’—founded of course on the familiar opera of that name. The situations are extremely amusing and the puns, although sometimes overdrawn, are often excellent. Mrs. Wood as ‘Manrico, the True-bid-doer,’ is completely in her element, and finds good scope for the exercise of her peculiar talents. Mr. Davidge as the Count di Luna is as funny as possible, and would bring down the house by his appearance alone, did he not utter a word. Mr. Drew as Azucena, the [illeg.], gives a droll imitation of this masculine female. Mrs. Sedley Brown as Leonora and Miss Harris as Inez filled their parts well, and the piece ran very smoothly, although we would suggest the introduction of a few more of the really popular airs from an opera so well-known as ‘Trovatore.’ The habit of encumbering the aisles with extra seats is, by the way, decidedy reprehensible.”
“A new bill was offered at this house on Monday, consisting of Planché’s sparkling little comedy—‘The Follies of a Night,’ and Mr. Byron’s burlesque of ‘Il Trovatore.’ Both pieces were well cast, handsomely put on the stage, and favorably received.
There was too much of a crowd present for any one before the curtain to feel very comfortable, and, if somebody had called in the Police to clear out the aisles he would have been applauded as the hero of the evening. Perhaps the best course to pursue in such a case—which is by no means a novel one at any of our theaters—would be for the audience not to allow the performances to go on until the house is rendered so far safe (in case of accident) as to have at least all the passage-ways free. It is doubtful, however, whether any remedy will be adopted until it has been made imperative by some fearful sacrifice of life. Mr. Wallack has partially attended to the complaints of the press on this subject, but the orchestra-aisle of his theater is still encumbered with the chairs every night, much to the danger and discomfort of the occupants of the regular seats, and singularly at variance with every dictate of good policy.
As it is anything but agreeable to have to refer to matters of this kind—especially in connection with two such theaters as the Olympic and Wallack’s, the general appointments of which are on the most liberal scale—we trust there will be no occasion for us to do so again.
Mr. Byron’s burlesque, entitled ‘Ill-Treated Trovatore,’ follows the text and plot of its original at a respectful and factious distance, and, like most productions of the kind, depends chiefly for its success upon ridiculous costumes, outrageous puns, chaotic music, impossible situations, bad English, and nondescript scenery. These abound in quantity and quality to suit customers, and the piece goes off very merrily. Mrs. Wood, in steel-clad tights, does Maurice like a [illeg.] and sings it like a swamp-angel. Mr. Frank Drew, with not much on his body but a good deal on his mind, does Azucena very unlike a coward, but very humorously, for all that. Mr. Davdige (the best burlesque actor in the company, except Mrs. Wood) makes the most, sartorially and otherwise, of Count di Lune. Mrs. Sedley Brown, who is hardly grotesque enough in her dress, sings quite grotesquely enough as Inez like one of Barnum’s giants dressed up in magic ruffles. Mr. Baker drives his orchestra nearly crazy trying to keep up with the carnivalesque fun of the thing, and, take it altogether, a more rampant, ridiculous, ear-splitting, hair-splitting, side-splitting performance has not been witnessed this season.
‘The Follies of a Night’ is still a more humorous play, with the advantage of its humor being of a much higher order. As the plot is familiar to all play-goers, we will merely add that the leading characters—The Duke de Chartres, Pierre Poillot, Doctor Druggendrop, and the Duchess de Chartres, are rendered respsectively by Mr. J. K. Mortimer, Mr. Frank Drew, Mr. J. H. Stoddart, and Miss Henrietta Irving, all of whom were vociferously applauded on Monday night throughout the performance. It was Miss Irving’s first appearance at the Olympic, and her reception was such as should stimulate her to give the same careful attention to the general spirit and scope of a character that she now gives to its minor details. She has a fine stage presence, an expressive face, a pleasant voice, and needs only a little more study in the direction indicated to become an accomplished actress.”
“Olympic Theatre.—A new piece and an old piece were produced at this house on Monday, and—such are the fearful and tragic vicissitudes of theatrical life—the old piece carried the night. We are sorry for it. Mrs. John Wood so seldom produces a new piece, that the force of such an example may be fatal to an entire generation of American dramatists. And yet the old piece was good, and the new piece was bad. Let us hasten to explain that the latter came from the other side of the Atlantic. It is a burlesque on ‘Trovatore,’ by Mr. H.J. Byron, slightly localized by the infant of the establishment. The jokes for about ten minutes are pretty good, deriving some of their brilliancy, perhaps, from the new clothes of the actors. After that they are provocative of locked-jaw from excess of yawning. The intellectual titillation of a pun on a single word is sometimes agreeable, but Mr. Byron is not prodigal of his puns. He spreads them over a large surface, as the Vauxhall caterer spreads his ham. In a dozen lines there may be a single recurrence of a punistical sound, and then so far-fetched and covering such a vast abyss of emptiness, that it is hardly more inspiriting than ans [sic] elegant extract from the Directory. The relative merit of a pun is determined by its quick intellectual atrocity; never by its deliberate strain on the memory or patience. People do not laugh at Mr. Byron’s herculean efforts. They sigh, and slumberously doat upon Mrs. John Wood; or wildly leave the theatre, hurling imprecations into the box-office where they paid their money and didn’t get their choice.
Truth compels us to add that the artists at the Olympic are but indifferent performers of burlesque. All that is stereotyped in the matter they have resolutely possessed themselves of. But neither in the way of stage management nor of individual effort have they added to the scanty stock of English conventionalities. We except, of course, Mrs. John Wood, who has a spirit and a will of her own that are superior to trammels; and, we may add, Mr. Davidge, who is a war-horse in the business and never shies. The other members of the company appear to be possessed with the idea that their own accidental absurdity adds to the well considered absurdity of the author, when, in point of fact, it detracts from it. This results naturally in a waste of resources. In the first scene, for instance, the whole mechanism of extravaganza is revealed. There are puns, and songs, and combats, and an unexpected and ridiculous dance on the part of the principals. The effect is ludicrous; but when we find that every scene is composed of the same materials, we cease to be surprised, and, hence, to laugh. Mr. Drew as Azucena impressed us as being peculiarly purblind on this point. He commenced with an imitation of the ‘star’-tragic kind, and ended with an imitation of the ‘star’-tragic kind. Even with this excess of imitation it might have been excellent, if anyone could only have pointed out whom he was imitating. A single and easy recognizable effort of the sort would, in our opinion, have been sufficient. Until our comic actors and actresses understand that seriousness is one of the funniest qualities that can be used in extravaganza, they will be bad,—as bad, with trifling and quite unimportant exceptions—as—well, as Mr. Chas. Parsloe, Jr.—the most superfluous performer of small parts on the stage. The cheap laugh raised by this young man when he took off his coat was a disgrace to the theatre, and a reproach to the management that tolerates such indecency.
We turn gladly from the new to the old. Planche’s little comedy of the ‘Follies of a Night’ was a veritable treat. The construction of the plot is so admirable; the use of the incidents so varied and yet economic; the ring of the dialogue so genuine, that we can hardly recall another trifle of its comfortable proportions so thoroughly and completely enjoyable. It was well played; especially well by Miss Henriette Irving, Mr. J. R. Mortimer and Mr. Stoddart. Of Mr. Drew have already spoken in another play. He was not better in this. Miss Irving was formerly a member of the Park Theatre, in Brooklyn, (of that company which Mr. Gabrielle Harrison appealed in vain to America, or ‘my country’ as he somewhat grandiloquently expressed it, to support,) and is an experienced, well-trained, and thorough artist. She is not only an acquisition to the theatre where she is at present playing, but also to the stage of New-York. Her appearance is agreeable; her taste in dress unexceptionable; and her intelligence—the last thing the world thinks of in a woman—clear and lady-like. Mr. Mortimer was again successful as the Duke, and Mr. Stoddart, considering how little he knew of his part, made a good deal of it. Between them, they kept the house in a roar, and insured a success which will last for several weeks, and is deserved.
The setting of the scenes in this piece presented one novelty. It anticipated the burlesque. If a door or a window opened we saw a backing of ‘Il Trovatore.’ This is liberal, but for our own part we prefer having each work separate.”
“Mrs. Wood gives us this evening a new burlesque, called ‘Ill Treated Ill Trovatore,’ in which the lady herself will sustain the principal character, aided and assisted before and after the fact by Frank Drew, Mrs. Sedley Browne, W. Davidge, and the usual strength of the company. We hope they will not ill treat ‘Ill Trovatore.’ Besides the burlesque, Planche’s ‘Follies of a Night’ is to be brought out, giving Frank Drew a chance to display his abilities in comedy.”
“[A]n entirely new and original Burlesque, by H.J. Byron, Esq., founded on a famous and somewhat confusing Opera.”
“If the old saying be true, that ‘variety is the spice of life,’ the performers at this little bijou of a theatre may well be described as all spice. New plays follow one another in such rapid succession that it is difficult to keep the run of them. The tidings have hardly gone forth that a burlesque is on the boards, when, presto, it disappears and gives place to a melodrama, which, in turn, before it has had half a chance, is withdrawn to make way for a farce whose merry life is forwith nipped in the bud by an extravaganza destined to run only till an operetta can be produced, the said operetta to be elbowed aside without a moment’s notice by a comedy, the comedy to be succeeded with as little ceremony by a comedietta, while alike burlesque, melodrama, extravaganza, farce, operetta, comedy and comedietta, are made to dance attendance on a burletta which has been suspended over the heads of the company by less than a hair for months, with the certainty of being as short-lived as any of its predecessors, and of resigning its breath in favor of some other unfortunate, between whose cradle and grave, as in all the other cases, there will be only one brief, bright, glittering ray of sunshine, serving as a [illeg.] type of the butterfly existences that are to follow! This is a lively state of things certainly, and if the actors and actresses, and scene painters, and wardrobe-makers, and music-grinders, and bill-writers, and so on, can stand it, there is nobody to complain but the critics, who have hardly time to sit through one performance before they are called upon to analyze a second, to sleep through a third, to be woke up by a fourth, to fly elsewhere during a fifth, to suffer hunger, thirst, and remorse in endeavoring vainly to write about them all, and deriving their only consolation from the public which, unable to partake of half the dainties or what not spread before them, became equally perplexed, and in their despair exclaim—after the fashion of Cobden—‘What next—and next!’ The bill of fare at the Olympic last week, consisting of Planche’s ‘Follies of a Night’ and Byron’s ‘Ill-treated Il Trovatore,’ was relished so much that on Saturday, when it was served up for the last time, hundreds of people had to be turned away from the board, and it was thought the caterers of the house would relent, and give us the same entertainment this week. But no—two new dishes were ready, the board was accordingly cleared for them, and on Monday night they were served up, and attracted nearly all the dramatic gourmads in town.”
“On Monday night, Feb. 8th, a house crowded to repletion greeted the first performance of the burlesque on ‘Ill Trovatore’ at Mrs. Wood’s Olympic Theatre. Indeed, such was the demand for seats, that the management yielded, as on several previous occasions, to the request for portable seats in the aisles, and the result was the crowding together of a mass of people, who, in case of any accident by fire, might have been similarly sacrified as were the assemblage of devotees at Santiago some months since. We had hoped that this reprehensible practice would have been ignored at such establishements as Mrs. Wood’s and Wallack’s, but even these capable caterers for the public cannot resist the temptations of adding a few dollars to their treasury at the risk of sacrificing the lives of hundreds of their patrons. Now that we have had our say on this subject, we will proceed briefly to comment upon the programme of the evening. The first piece was Planche’s pretty little comedy of ‘The Follies of a Night,’ in which Miss Henrietta Irving made her first bow to an Olympic audience. Apart from the fact that one or two of the actors in this piece were not well up in their parts, Miss Irving having to prompt them two or three times; the play was satisfactorily performed, Miss Irving especially making a very favorable impression, so much so as to be obliged to appear before the curtain at the close of the piece. We now come to the ‘Ill Treated Ill [sic] Trovatore,’ and never was a title more appropriately given to a piece of the kind. Burlesquing a drama is one thing, caricaturing an opera another. What, in the one case, would be a legitimate treatment of the play burlesqued, becomes little better than ridiculous unmeaning nonsense in the other. One fact should never be lost sight of in burlesquing an opera, and that is, to keep as much as possible to the musical text. ‘Punchify’ the plot and language as much as you please, but give us as much of the music of the opera as you can. In this very ‘ill treated’ burlesque of ‘The Trovatore,’ we have not more than three or four of the popular airs of the opera presented to us, while there are more than a Baker’s dozen of street ballads worked in. Its [sic] all very funny, no doubt, and takes with the crowd, but its [sic] not opera burlesque after all. Of the performance of the piece, as adapted to the New York stage, we have to speak in praiseworthy terms. Davidge and Drew were especially excellent, both being in their favorable element. Their make up and admirable rendition of the character of the Count and the Gipsy was the feature of the presentation. Of course Mrs. Wood was at home, as she always is in burlesque, but yet we have seen her to better advantage. Miss Harris had not the opportunity for a full display of her ability in this department, but what she had to do was most effectively performed. The scenery and stage appointments were of great excellence, the first especially being an artistic production. The music was given in Baker’s best style. In fact all that was lacking was the musical gems of the opera, which, as we said before, should be the feature of this class of burlesque. The only part that received an encore was Drew’s singing of one of the favorite arias of the opera, which was a capital burlesque of the Academy rendition of the same.”