Wood’s Theatre

“THE NEW BURLESQUE AT WOOD’S THEATRE. The familiar story, embracing the adventures of three young ladies who escape from Olympus and visit the kingdom of earth was last night recounted by the Worrell Sisters. The stage manager, Mr. B. A. Baker, having appropriated the intrigue used by too many of his predecessors, lays the scene of his burlesque in New York, and introduces to the public a number of characters who bear a striking resemblance to old friends whom we had lost sight of for a time, but whom we ever will greet with genuine satisfaction. Having encountered the heathen deities in the opening scenes, we meet as the piece progresses, the inevitable Irishman, the less popular German, the itinerant missionary and the local ‘rough,’ whose sayings and doings excite considerable merriment and not a little applause. There are many telling allusions to the times in the dialogue, and some personalities which are in less good taste. The salient points of the play are given proper relief by the trio of young ladies, whose singing and dancing are vastly appreciated, the jota Arragonesa, however being wholly ineffective, the performers lacking the voluptuous abandon for which Spanish dances are noted. The Worrell Sisters are well supported by Mr. Leffingwell and the stock company, the former gentleman appearing to great advantage in Too Much for Good Nature, the opening comedietta. The Three Sisters will be repeated nightly and at the Wednesday and Saturday matinees, several novelties being meantime in preparation.”

“[A]s the author’s name has already been made public—Mr. Ben. Baker, stage manager of Wood’s—it is quite likely that the new piece will take, for where there are doubts as to the success of a new production, the author’s name is not made known until after its success has been assured.  ‘The Three Sisters’ will introduce the three Worrell sisters in six characters each, which will give them a chance to show what they can do in singing, dancing, banjo playing, clogging, and other acts in which they excel.”

“The Three Sisters—called in the bills a local and musical extravaganza, and said to have been written by B. Baker, the popular stage manager of Wood’s Theatre—was produced at that establishment on the 18th, and kept on the boards all this week. It was written expressly for the Worrell Sisters, in order to show off their versatility of talent, for during the action of the play they make five changes. The first scene of the play is ‘Boucicaulted,’ from the ‘Seven Sisters,’ and is exactly the same in incident and situation. The rest of the play from the second scene to the end is precisely the same as the ‘Three Fast Men.’ As a play, it contains nothing to instruct, less to impart of a moral character, and far less to improve a dramatist in the art of constructing a play. It drags wearily, and there is no dramatic interest about it. Most of the characters are decidedly bad, inconsistent, untruthful, unartistic. Some of the incidents and scenes of the play are provokingly ridiculous. Many of them occur in the open street, and are of such a character as to excite laughter by their very absurdity. The language is commonplace, and of the wishy washy style while the majority of the puns are far-fetched and anything but laughable. The dialogue vibrates triangularly between unmeaning common-place high falutin sentimentality, and the most conventional kind of low comedy humor. The local scenery is very good, and that is well worth seeing. The production of such pieces as this, and the appearance of the Worrell Sisters in the principal parts, will neither add to the reputation of the ladies or to the credit of the management. Mr. Leffingwell appeared during the week in his great impression of Romeo Jenkins in ‘Too Much for Good Nature,’ and created considerable fun.”