Runnin' Wild. This latest sample from Negroland has all the characteristics of an explosion. It is shattering to the ear, elusive to the eye and utterly devastating to the theories of musical comedy. The scenery, the costumes, the situations are all persevering primitives. The plot is a frankly threadbare clothesline on which to pin the songs and dances. The voices are powerful but rather inclined to bolt and run away among the gallery rafters. But even rags for costumes, a popular song for a plot, and a phonograph for music would be overlooked in view of the dancing and the vast enthusiasm of the players. Never before has so much energy been concentrated on a single stage. A congress of oriental dervishes would seem static in comparison. In addition, the stars, Miller and Lyles, are boisterously competent comedians. The production is on a par with that sire of colored shows, Shuffle Along.
Steadfast. A short life and an unhappy one was the portion of this curious discussion of Jewish religion. Though Frank McGlynn (Abraham Lincoln man) tried hard to make the central character convincing, the play took its leave after six days' discouraging display.
Cyrano de Bergerac. Walter Hampden's production of Rostand's extravagant romance was auspicious in two particulars. Its general excellence boded well for the repertory theatre which Mr. Hampden proposes to establish in Manhattan. His own portrayal of the title character offers substantial solace to a new generation of playgoers. Seniors who saw Mansfield in the part these 20 years back compared Hampden's performance not unfavorably.
Cyrano, the play, offers romance trimmed and garnished with all the vast imagination of Edmond Rostand's genius. It makes no pretense of credibility; it is frankly a love story with plenty of swordplay and roses. Cyrano, himself, is an individual whose enormous heart is only exceeded in magnitude by his nose. Such a nose has Cyrano that he simply cannot attract affection from his heart's desire, Roxane. So he fights and laughs and sings his way through the entertaining history to a conclusion which, though well known for a quarter of a century, must remain undivulged in deference to critical ethics.
Hampden's performance is as a spring wound up, the motive power for a successful run. Less important but equally satisfactory are the elaborate, tasteful settings and the exceeding free, and altogether new, translation into blank verse by Brian Hooker.
John Corbin: "An audience exceptionally intelligent and cultivated in the art of the drama followed his performance with rapt attention and breathless interest."