Colleen Bawn

“This will be the first time the ‘Colleen Bawn’ has ever been given at Wallack’s.”

“There was an immense audience at this theatre last evening. . . . Mr. Moss has certainly given us the best summer company ever seen in this city.

Mr. Bryant played Myles capitally. . . . Bryant has a splendid career before him as an Irish actor, if he chooses to desert negro minstrelsy and stick to the stage.  We hear, however, that his health will not permit of this; that his present engagement will soon be brought to a close, and that next season will find him again at Mechanic’s Hall, with a tamborine [sic], a black face and a curled wig.”

Nothing about music.  The play “was selected and prepared on this occasion expressly to introduce Dan Bryant in the part of Miles-na-Coppaleen—a part which he performs with admirable skill and effect. . . .

The play was otherwise well given.  Ione Burke was quite happy in her rendering of the heroine.

Notwithstanding the heat, the house was crowded.”

“Dan Bryant . . . last evening assumed the rôle of Miles-na-Coppaleen for the first time.  It is by no means a stereotyped Irish part.  Mr. Boucicault created it for himself, and was careful to introduce into it many niceties of personality which could hardly be intrusted [sic] to the average stage Irishman. . . . [Bryant] appeared to be somewhat hoarse last evening, and is, we are sorry to learn, in such poor health, that the opportunities of seeing him will terminate with the present week.”

“Without displaying the exquisite pathos and tenderness which make Mr. Dion Boucicault’s personation of this part [Myles Na Coppaleen] one of the most perfect pieces of acting on the modern stage, Mr. Bryant’s performance was nevertheless sufficiently effective to secure the enthusiastic approbation of the audience.  The more delicate shades of the character—its simple and affectionate fidelity and its gentle self forgetfulness—were the best illustrated by Mr. Bryant.”