Variety (April 1920)

T8 CEGITIMATE feftn bft^done In six weeks, and If Jack Lalt Is going to undertake the rewriting of the book (?) he will PBndoubtedly put a lot of Chicago floc&la that will be pie for the Loop honnda Into the dialog and If the chorus Is wecJed out and about ten of the girls of the 16 replaced the Bhow may have a chance. It looks jperceft for the La Salle, Right now the greatest fault out- aide of the lack of comedy and any- thing that resembles a story Is the lack of pep and punch to the num- bers. None seems to get over with the audience. They appear to be pretty enough and several are rather well done, but they lack the finishing wallop to send them across. There was one number, the manicure girl, that had a chance, but this was killed by rushing a dancer on the stage as soon as the girls were off after an audience bit, and it killed any chance for an en- core. In addition to Miss Tucker the principals include Eddie Foley, who worked hard and Is on the stage constantly. He fails to impress, however, through lack of personal- ity. Peggy Coudrey works opposite him. She Is not hard to look at, has an abundance of red hair and manages very well in several of the numbers. Miss Coudrey^ handles lines well. In fa9t she is a better actress than she Is a singer and dsmcer. George Uayo is a holdover from tbe old company and Is far and awajr tba best, member of the sup- porting cast when it comes to scor-. log. He grabbed off all the laughs la the hotel room scene while work- ing with Eddie Foley, James Guil- foyle and Eddy Frankel. Margaret Haney seems to have the lead, al- though it is about a 60-50 split be- tween she and Hiss Coudrey in leading the number. In the mani- cure number they both scored. Hiss Tucker starts out in the fourth scene as a first aid to strug- gling young authdrs and then wends her way through' the show, first aa a detective in the Chinese Restavt- tam scene and then as just Sophie Tucker, and it is aa the latter that she scores. In the Chink costume that she wears, evidently for com- edy purposes, and they didn't mate* rialize, she looks badly, but in all her other costumes she looked a million dollars. If the chorus can be fixed up so that there will be a couple of good .lookers scattered among the girls and the girls be taught to dance; a couple of changes made in the cast, some comedy Injected, the numbers strengthened, and something that looks like a story worked out, the show will catch on in Chi. In other words, all that anyone who under- takes to fix up the show at present will have for help are a couple of sets of scenery, some costumes and Sophie Tucker. Fred. TWELFTH NIGHT Onlno, Buke of Itlrrla.Mt, Frederick Lewla Sebaatlan. brother to Viola Mr. Henry Stanford Antonto, a «ea captain, friend .to Se- bastian Mr. Frank Peters A Sea Captain Mr. V. U aranvlUo Curto I Qentlemen attending Valentine }. on the Duke <Mr. Leon Cunningham iMr. Boyd Clarke Sir Toby Belch, uncle to Olivia, Ur. Rowland Buckstone Sir Andrew AKUCcheek _ Mr. S. Sayre Crawley Malvollo, eteward to Olivia....Mr. Sothcrn Fabian Mr. Colvll Dunn Feste, a clown Hr, Vernon Kclso AjFrlest •• Mr. Hlzon Baird Olivia MlBS Alma Krager Viola Mtaa M&rlowe ilarla, OUvIa's woman. Mies Lenore CMppendalo Fagea to the Duke. (Miss Virginia Wells . I Miss Barbara Bever Miss Florence Smytho Miss Wynne-Jones Miss Margaret Laccy Attendant* on Olivia l Miss Josephlno Wright I Miss litUlan Gray iMISB lllalne Sims Shakespeare's comedy, "Twelfth Night," is considered by many of his admirers to be the most entertain- ing of his plays. Yet, well on toward the finish, with the plot in full swing, one of its characters, Fabian, is called upon to remark: "If this were played upon a stage now I'd condemn it as an improb- able fiction." Showing that old Bill himself hadn't much faith in his ability to make an audience accept it as a depiction of reality. In "Twelfth Night" you are called upon to believe that an entire com- munity can be so hoodwinked^as to Imagine that a woman can mas- querade for three months as a man —not an abnormal Hemaphroditic individual—but' an ingenuous youth. In the days when it was written there were no such things as ac- tresses, and it was a relatively easy matter to cast two youths of simi- lar physical size and appearance for the twin roles of "Viola and her brother Sebastian, but in the Soth- ern-Marlowe current presentation mask cheek—she pined in thought and with a green and yellow mel- ancholy she sat llko patience on a monument smiling at grief," etc. Sothcrn played Malvollo along classic lines. Ho brings to it all the pomposity and vanity that the author intended. "While not a stel- lar role, it Is one of tho best char- acterizations in his entire Shakes- pearean repertoire. His scene lii Olivia's garden, whcro ho finds the letter which he construes as a lover epistle, is a splendid specimen of legitimate comedy. His acting throughout was without a trace of burlesque or buffoonery, often brought to it by interpreters of this role. The scene was ably worked up by the four mischief-makers, Sir Toby, Fabian, Maria and Sir Aiidrew, re- spectively portrayed by Rowland Buckstone, Colvll Dunn, Leonore Chippendale and Sayre Crawley. All of them played excellently and with- out straining for individual honors. Alma Kruprer failed to visualize the role of Olivia in that she lacked the youthful aupearanco the author designed for the part. The production, like all tho Soth- em-Marlowe Shakespearean ones, is in the old English style—the sceneiy being suggested rather than de- picted, with hangings. Jolo. KWARTIN IN RECITAL Before an audience that paid (willingly enough) between $10,000 to $16,000 to have the initial pleas- ure of hearing Kwartin at his New York and American debut, the Metropolitan turned several hun- dred additional clients from its doors, due to incapacity, Tuesday night. Hailed as "Europe's most cele- brated cantor," both by his man- agement and other established musical sources, Kwartin, after ren- dering part of the first halt of his program, disappointed his hearers. At any rate, those constituting the minority who have paid tribute to preceding cantors from European shores, like Sirota and Rosenblatt, were loath to compare the new ar- rival with the achievements of his predecessors. Like Sirota and Rosenblatt, he rendered Hebraic liturgical selec- tions with the aid of a choir con-' sisting of men and women and an organist, the latter somewhat con- flicting with the orthodox views of his co-religionlsts, hundreds of whom were there. His voice has neither the fineness, timbre or the necessary qualifica- tion to adjudge him as exceptional. It is often harsh in its upper range, and though displaying a capacity for volume and a not unflattering attempt in the coloratura phrasing, there was a vital lack of tonal warmth. When "William Morris brought Sirota to this country for the first time it was significant of a chal- lenge for the supreme tenorlal hon- ors between Caruso and the former. It was undoubtedly actuated for the sake of publicity and the box-office receipts. But Sirota displayed some- thing unusual In a voice, which, in its style of singing left impressions to the extent that his records here are still called for. "With Kwartin, however, it is a different story, for no writer, even of that puppet school of critiques, ever expects a trained voice In a cantor to vie with the finished operatic one, and under such conditions looks for- ward to a certain lyi-lcal melliflu- ency that Is like balm despite the insuoaciency of training. Rosenblatt and Sirota have it. In Kwartin it is absent. The choir, under the direction of A. Wohl, rendered its share In a highly proficient manner, while the orchestra of 90, conducted by An- selm Goetzel, while meriting the ap- plause it received, might easily have accomplished greater results with niore rehearsals. For all concerned, however, sel- dom did the Metropolitan resound with the crescendoes of applause lavished the performers on occa- sions of similar importance. Some- times one was inclined to think it was overgei^rous. Step. CARRHLO'S LONG BlHir. When Leo Carrillo, the star of "Lombardl, Ltd.," completes the cur- rent season, about June 1, he will have appeared in tho Oliver Mo- rosco play over 2,000 nights. This week the piece is in Brooklyn. Next season Mr. Carrillo starts on his starring engagement under the management of tho Selwyns. in "El Bravo." It Is to open In August." YOU DONT ADVERTISE I X9 "CAUGHT IN THE KAIN" -•«\. W^mlmlBBl I I II ADVERTISE 1 "Caught in the Rain," is being muslcalized by Will Hough, to book and lyrics written by William B. dlBtingulsh between Julia Marlowe's much matured feminine figure and tliat of the slender manliness of Henry Stanford. This is really too much to ask—much too much. It Is a pretty late day, however, to be- gin analyzing old William's premise and there remains only the com- ments on Its interpretation. Miss Marlowe, omitting l\sr phy- sical Incapacity, managed to con- tribute ■ a charming interpretation Of the rolo of "Viola, This was es- pecially potent in the reading of the big speech: "She never told her love but lot concealment, like a nrorm in the bud, teed on her da- Frledlander, Arthur Klein is making the pro- duction for a spring showing. Its new title will be "Pitter-Patter." QENE BUCK'S SHOW PLACE. Gene Buck intends building one of the show places of Long Island, Ground will bo broken immediately. The interior decorations will be by Joseph Urban as a labor of love on Urbans part. Urban credits Buck with aiding him in his successes since Urban came to this country.