Theatre: New Play in Manhattan: Dec. 14, 1936

Prelude to Exile (by William McNally; Theatre Guild, producer). The things which happen to people in real life often appear to be events in a trashy novel.

For example, the everyday behavior of a great artist is likely to resemble ham acting. Wilfrid Lawson, a spectacular and accomplished performer,* is no ham actor.

Cast in this play as Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Mr. Lawson not only looks like the great musician but acts very much as Wagner must have acted during his extraordinary life. Yet the effect of his impersonation of the great German...

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