Olympic Theatre

     Rowe is “from the principal London and Australian theatres. . . . New Music By Thos. Baker.”

     This is a new burlesque on the Cinderella story.

     “Mrs. Wood has brought out, at the Olympic Theater, a sparkling burlesque, brimful of fun and good music, and framed in picturesque scenery, so that its representation cheers the mind and delights the eye, and sends dull care howling to the caves of Erebus. ‘Cinderella e la Comare’ the merry piece is called—the addition to Mr. Byron’s original title having been suggested by the opera ‘Crispino e la Comare,’ recently sung at the Academy with so much success.  It is a short burlesque, comprised in six scenes, which rapidly succeed each other without fall of curtain, and so it keeps the spectator amused from first to last. We can liken it to nothing so nearly as to a bottle of good champagne.  Ten characters only are introduced, and all are well played. The story is the old nursery tale of Cinderella and the Little Slipper; but, of course, the serious romance of that narrative is roughly embroidered with fun, and with local allusions that please the multitude.  Mrs. Wood, as Cinderella, is the very incarnation of volatile mirth and bewitching mischief. She sings, she dances, she declaims, she delights the ardent advocates of the Monroe Doctrine with an extremely pungent song about Mexico and Maximillian.”

     “An alteration was made in the bill of this establishment on Monday evening.  Instead of ‘Cock Robin,’ the habitués are now favored with ‘Used Up’ and ‘Cinderella.’  The change is not, we think, for the better, but it will nevertheless be acceptable.  The comedy is played very enjoyably.  Mr. George Fawcett Rowe, who has just been added to the company, is the Sir Charles Coldstream.  The character has been rendered with more gentlemanly repose in the first act, and with greater clownish breadth in the second.  Mr. Rowe is uneasy with his hands, and not always distinct in the matter of utterance, albeit a good stock actor, whom we gladly welcome to the New-York stage.  Mr. Morton was an excellent Ironbrace, and Miss Mary Newton both acted and looked the pretty part of Mary to perfection.  There are few better petite comedies than this, and when evenly played throughout, as it was last night, it is sure to win a success.  The new version of ‘Cinderella’ differs from its predecessors in being rather more stupid than any of them.  The tenacity with which managers cling to the legend of the heroine of the glass slipper is remarkable.  No matter how many times it may have been revived during the year, it is always regarded as a novelty.  Mrs. Wood is especially addicted to it.  She has in the present instance brought much good music to the rescue—a great deal being borrowed from ‘Crispino è la Comare’—and the requisite scenery.  The lady sings better than we have heard her sing for many years, and acts inimitably, as she always does.  Miss Eliza Newton is very good, and Messrs. Rowe, Morton, Stoddart and Lewis contributed effectively to the piece, which, notwithstanding its literary dullness, was received with favor.”

     “Mr. Rowe comes to us with a good Australian reputation.”

     “In the first piece he was not very brilliant. . . . In the burlesque he shone forth resplendently. As Clorinda, he was immense and no mistake [sic]. His make-up and acting was far superior to any burlesque actor we ever saw. It is certainly in burlesque that he must shine, and where he must expect to succeed the most in this city. He walks, skips, flaunts and dances as gracefully as any demoiselle of eighteen summers. With the support of Mrs. Wood, certainly the best burlesque actress on the American stage, he had every opportunity of displaying to their full extent his great powers as a burlesque actor. His duets with Mrs. Wood were capital, and loudly encored each evening.”