(3 of 5)
The Road Together.* A rather depressing chapter was added last week to the dramatic adventures of Marjorie Rambeau. She was forced to fight her way through the tangling verbal underbrush of a three-act jungle planted by George Middleton and nourished to a state of public display by A. H. Woods.
Whether or not it was wholly the fault of the play is difficult to determine. Certainly Miss Rambeau belied her extensive experience in the Theatre by displaying an unaccountable first-night nervousness She tangled her pronouns and completely disregarded the normal pronunciation of "thermometer." Others in a capable cast were manifestly disturbed by her curious demeanor.
The plot discusses the actions and reactions of a district attorney's wife who has denied herself amatory intrigue in deference to her husband's career and reputation. He is promptly disclosed on the brink of official malpractice. Some three acts of philosophy, maundering and epigram are required to open this rift in their domestic lute and close it happily.
John Corbin: "Matrimony has never seemed quite so tedious."
Fanshastics. This singular title fills one with a foreboding of dislocated locution due to alcohol. Such an impression should be banished. " Fantastics" is applied to husbands by Grace George, welcomed as a perfect description by Annie O'Tandy (Laura Hope Crews), mispronounced by her thereafter. The title was later changed to Merry Wives of Gotham.
Miss George and Miss Crews play twins, separated in Irish childhood, and reunited by their husbands' differences some 40 years after (1873). In the interim, prosperity has presented Miss George with a home in Washington Square, Manhattan. Miss Crews, less selective in the matter of husbands, is a laborer's wife in the shanty colony along the upper reaches of Fifth Avenue. Their husbands come to blows over a piece of property. The richer son falls in love with the poorer daughter as she sings from the stage of Tony Pastor's.
Our stage hardly boasts two more accomplished comediennes than Grace George and Laura Hope Crews. The scenes between them are studies in the impalpable artistry of personality. The cast of their compatriots is evenly competent, distinguished in the playing of Mary Ellis and Arthur Sinclair. Aside from some disturbing descents into melodrama and the rather obvious machinery of plot, the play is a decided addition to the display spread for the metropolitan multitude.
John Corbin: "A pair of feminine portraits for which it would be hard or impossible to find an equal in the entire range of modern comedy."
James Craig: "Between them, these very able and amiable artist's bring no small amount of enjoyment out of a play that otherwise can scarcely be considered of any great consequence."