THE WEEK.

THIS cut is supposed to represent the lineaments of Mr. and Mrs. McKee Rankin, but it does not do them a very large amount of justice. They produced produced their new play, "The Golden Giant,' at the Fifth Avenue Theatre last Monday night, and I am inclined to believe that these clever people have found a play which will reap them some financial good. It is not a particularly original work, neither is it a perfect encyclopædia of thought. It has in it the most awful stage villain it has been my misfortune to see since the days of my youth, when I could revel in such pieces as Neck and Neck" and

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"Witches of New York." You know what I mean; you have certainly seen this combination of villainy before. He always stands facing the audience, with his eyes twisting in their sockets as they leer at the miseries of his victims. This part is played with undiminished zeal by Mr. Nestor Lennon. He has as a partner in crime a miserable, drunken lawyer, but Mr. Charles Stanley's acting lifts it up from the common, and positively sets it down among the extraordinary. There is a gambler in the play who is an awfully good fellow, dontcherno, and a better friend of the miner than the latter believes. He leaves off card-playing in order to marry the miner's sister, and be

comes a real and very agreeable sort of a fellow, because the character is "rendered" mighty well by Mr. Robert Hilliard. Mr. McKee Rankin acts the "Golden Giant," Alexander Fairfax, with that great, hearty, bluff manner which seems as if it must be the essence of honesty. He does now and then lapse into "darkey talk" when he means to be Western, but, barrin' that, his portrait of the nobleminded miner is very interesting. His charming wife, who used to be the popular Kitty Blanchard, has never done anything so well as she does Bet. The two have some very effective scenes together, with a badinage of words that is very bright.

Mr. Clay Green is the author of the play, and he can thank his stars that Mr. and Mrs. Rankin are the satellites which make it shine.

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IT is under Mr. and Mrs. McKee Rankin's auspices that the recital of Mr. Edgar S. Kelley's music to Macbeth will be given at Chickering Hall on the 27th.

Of all the writers who have composed music as an accompaniment to the tragedy of "Macbeth" there are only three who have claimed any popular attention. The first and original, by Locke; the second, by Sir Jules Benedict, which Mr. Irving used at his production, some years ago, in the Lyceum Theatre, London; and the third, by Edgar S. Kelley, which, although yet to be heard in New York, has been so successful in California as to earn for him the title of the American Wagner! However that may be, since Sir Jules Benedict's time the possibilities of music have become such that it only needs a musical genius

to lift the tragedy of "Macbeth" from the conventionalism with which it has hitherto been shrouded, and make it in a popular sense, as it is in a literary, one of the greatest tragedies known. The discovery of wonderful harmonies and undreamed-of instrumental effects, producing results so startling as to seem echoes of the supernatural, is to a certain extent evidence of how far ahead of his age was the great dramatist. For though the force of Shakespeare's beautiful lines need not the auxiliary of music for the student, yet it is only of late years that music-Wagner's, for instance-has so divinely and vividly supplied the indifferent imagination of ordinary individuals.

Of Mr. Kelley's score, the features which seem to have created the greatest interest are the "Gaelic March," preceding the banquet scene, which is entirely Scotch in character, and calls to mind all the old rugged melodies of that country and the defeat of Macbeth, which depicts by sound the pomp and stubborn hardihood of the conquering Saxon. The incantation scene he has treated differently to his predecessors. Every instrument or group of instruments and each voice is given a distinct theme which they individually carry through to the end of the piece. The light, airy movement of the smaller spirits (sopranos) answered in imitation by others (altos), these in turn called by hobgoblins and bogies (tenors and basses); again the female chorus, with their original song, while triangle, tamborine, xylophone, etc., added one by one with its own rhythm, are all so blended until at last all the choruses, with the full orchestra, resolve and mingle with the cauldron of sound, giving fourteen different themes and rhythms and twentyseven distinct voice progressions. Much more might be said, but would perhaps be premature, and had not the writer heard Mr. Kelley's work, the above detail would not be indulged in. In conclusion, it is to be hoped that Mr. Kelley will get the recognition he deserves, and that Mr. McKee Rankin will score similar favor for his discernment.

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MISS DAUVRAY is playing Constance in "The Love Chase," at the Lyceum Theatre, with some originality and much spirit. She also looks uncommonly well in the part, with a handsome red wig and several gorgeous gowns. But she has made a mistake in producing this antiquated play. There is but slight interest in it, and what there is as an acceptable comedy is in the last act, which is bright and witty. As a literary work, Knowles' play has its place, of course, but there is not a manager in New York to-day who would accept it as a new piece for production. It is nearly all recitation,

and is stilted to weariness. Miss Dauvray's company does very well. Mr. Wheatleigh and Miss Vernon perhaps better understand the atmosphere of "The Love Chase" than any of their companions. I do not wish to make comparisons, but if the other characters were in the hands of older and more experienced actors, Miss Dauvray's "revival" might be of some value; but as it is, it only serves to show that she is, personally, a very energetic woman who has wasted her time. Fileur.

JANAUSCHEK AS MEG MERRILIES. Mme. Janauschek appeared as Meg Merrilies for the first time in New York at the Union Square Theatre last Saturday night. This long and tiresome melodrama, founded upon Scott's" Guy Mannering," in which Charlotte Cushman created the "Meg" of yesterday, gives Janauschek the opportunity to present a picturesque and forcible sketch of feeble, decrepited (in body) old woman, who gathers up her fast ebbing faculties, employing them with almost superhuman cunning to right a great wrong. Anything more than this her performance is not. It is not a subtle study, it is not weird, grace in her movements is unthought of, sentiment in her utterance undreamed of, her voice is cracked and discordant, like the screech of an owl. Accepting Mme. Janauschek's conception of the part, and her acting is almost without blemish, every gesture tells -her elocution is wonderfully mature.

None of the rest of the cast seemed to understand their parts, and some very peculiar interpretations of Scott's celebrated characters were seen. Most of the actors were earnest, however. James Carden's Colonel Mannering was dignified; Mr. Chaplin's Dandie Dinmont amusing (though his Scotch dialect sometimes forsook him, it was now you see it and now you don't "); Mr. Eberl won much applause for his Dominie Sampson, but it was an awful caricature; Giles Shine gave us a very finished and realistic piece of acting as the drunken Gilbert Glosson; Beverly Turner played Dick Hatterick in the good old fashioned melodramatic style; and Alex. H. Stuart looked well as Henry Bertram.

Miss Marston Leigh as Julia Mannering, Miss Lavinia Shannon as Lucy Bertram, Miss Kate Fletcher as Mrs. McCandlich, Miss Josephine Bailey as Flora, and Miss Burton as Franco were satisfactory.

The musical part of the performance was well carried out, though we think it could have been omitted with profit. Mme. Janauschek ends her engagement next week, and Annie Pixley follows in Mr. Gunter's new play, The Deacon's Daughter."

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NOTES OF THE WEEK. MR. WILSON BARRETT Concluded his engagement with the performance of "Claudian" on Wednesday and Thursday nights, "Hamlet" on Friday night and Saturday matinee, and "Lady of Lyons" on Saturday evening. "Claudian" repeated its success of last season, when it created a deep impression, and was fully reviewed at the time in THE THEATRE.

"The Dominie's Daughter" was withdrawn from Wallack's Friday night, and is replaced by Boucicault's comedy, "Old Heads and Young Hearts," with the reappearance of Mr. John Gilbert in his famous character of Jesse Rural. The younger generation who have not seen Mr. Gilbert in this play—and there must be thousands in New York who have not-should not let this opportunity go by. Mr. Gilbert is well advanced in years, and we do not live alway.

"Erminie" reached its three hundredth performance at the Casino on Tuesday, and the event was made notable by a refurnishing of the opera throughout, an extravagant display of flowers, the distribution of an expensive souvenir, and the general good feeling of the management. We will have "Erminie now, no doubt, until Christmas, which is very well for those who have not seen it more than a dozen times, but it might be exceedingly monotonous to a man with a yearly pass.

On the 30th of May, which is the birthday of Mr. Steele Mackaye, that writer's new play of "Anarchy" will have its initial presentation at the Academy of Music, Buffalo, the city of Mr. Mackaye's birth. It is expected that Miss Annie Robe will assume the leading part. Elaborate sets of scenery will be employed, and already the preparations for the production of the drama are partly under way. It is estimated that the expense of putting "Anarchy" on in Buffalo will be not less than $10,000.

Mr. Carlos Hasselbrink, the violinist, is to give a concert on Saturday week at the Metropolitan Opera House. The ladies whose especial pet Mr. Hasselbrink hss been ever since he came from Paris will see to it that a large audience assembles and listens to his new and varied programme.

The most interesting event of Albany's theatrical season occurred last Wednesday evening. It was the annual benefit tendered to Mrs. Rosa M. Leland, the proprietor of the Leland Opera House, who has as many friends there as she has in New York, and she has a whole legion of them here. The programme for the evening was the performance of Masks and Faces," with Miss Rose Coghlan in her well-known and charming Peg Woffington, and Mr. Osmond Tearle as Ernest Vane. Mrs. Leland took the part of Mrs. Vane, and

gave to it much artistic feeling, although she was suffering from a severe cold at the time, which almost deprived her of her voice. The house was crowded, the flowers came in crowds, and altogether there was a host of good things in the way of a public's appreciation of Mrs. Leland's residence in Albany.

EDGAR FAWCETT S NEW PLAY IN BOSTON.

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BOSTON, April 12.-"The Earl' was produced last night for the first time on any stage, at the Hollis Street Theatre. It is a five-act play in blank verse; the author is Mr. Edgar Fawcett of New York. Mr. George Riddle assumed the leading part. The audience was large, fashionable, and kindly disposed to Mr. Riddle. The plot is as follows, its scheme suggesting that of "The Belles" very decidedly:

At Cleveden Castle, in the days of King James the second, lives Edmund, the Earl of Cleveden. Years before the play opens he, during an inland visit, meets with a beautiful maiden, under circumstances which fail in the disclosure to either of identity or name. Returning to his castle, he casts aside active duties and becomes a recluse, living in his books, and cherishing a passionate love for this girl. Act 1.-Library in Cleveden Castle. Time, morning. The curtain rises on two old servitors, David and his wife Prudence, who prove themselves to be ardent partisans respectively of the Earl and his younger brother, Lord Hubert Illsleigh. Meanwhile enters the Earl, who learns that his brother has returned to the castle with two strange guests. Then Hubert appears to tell the Earl that they are Lord Falkstane and his daughter, Lady Marian, who is Hubert's betrothed, and that the Earl's sanction is sought for, so that the ceremony may occur at the castle. Prior to this disclosure, however, the Earl reveals to his brother his own idealistic love, after which the latter returns the confidence, and leaving a miniature of the adored one in the Earl's hands hastens off to fetch the Lord and his daughter for presentation. One glance at it and the Earl knows that he and his brother love the same girl. The remainder of this act sets forth that the lordly father is a political renegade who, after learning that the Earl loves his daughter, favors the Earl's suit; that in spite of all pressure she will adhere to Hubert, and in consequence of which the brothers fall to in mortal combat, only to be separated for the while by the distracted girl. The second act rests in the same room that evening and develops further arguments on this subject, which leads to the opening of the third act, timed the next morning upon a bit of sea-shore, some three miles from the castle.

Here stands a gruesome cave, its cap-stone a huge boulder, and family legend has it that when ill befalls an Illsleigh, this will fall and close in the cavern. Before it the brothers meet again in deadly strife, though the Earl seeks it not until foul aspersions force blade to blade. He disarms Hubert, and casts the sword into the cave, while in righteous indignation the latter is branded as an outcast thereafter from the castle. The Earl ascends the cliff and his brother enters the cave to seek refuge from the rain now falling. Immediately thereafter the rock plunges downward with a crash, effectually blocking the entrance. In haste the Earl returns to find his brother a prisoner. Yielding to temptation, the Earl bargains for Marian's love with Hubert, in that if the latter will resign all claim to her, the Earl will, for the opportunity to win her, also confer upon him the earldom and his estates. The proposition is indignantly rejected, and in hot wrath the Earl leaves his brother to his fate. Acts four and five revert again to the library, ante-room, and the play ends with the cave scene. During these Hubert's mysterious disappearance remains unaccounted for, until David discovers his master's body in the cave. Coincidently the Earl has won Marian's hand, though not her love, for he has saved her father from execution for rebellion against the king. David seeks the Earl, who lets out his secret after hearing the old man's. Then a paralytic stroke kills the latter, and the Earl, still safe, weds Marian. But happiness comes not with the union. His wife in part learns the secret through the Earl's self-accusations, and finally the whole of it during a fit of somnambulism, in which he walks to the cave with the horror-struck spouse on his heels. Remorse and hysteria have undermined his health, and now all but a driveling idiot he pays the penalty of his crime by dying on the scene of it and at the feet of his wretched wife. So ends the Earl and the play.

Mr. Fawcett's literary ability is unquestioned, Mr. Riddle's reputation as an elocucutionist most enviable. But in "The Earl" both have fallen short of the mark. This rests largely on the play itself, one so conspicuous for monotonous action and poor construction that nothing less than great dramatic genius could from the very nature of its plot build upon it aught else. It is stilted and heavy, the climaxes tame, and but little originality shown in dealing with melodramatic effects; and yet it contains many beautiful lines and charmingly expressed thoughts. Mr. Fawcett is not equal to the presentation of his theme in words or scenes that in their meaning and development hold the interest of the spectator. Spasmodic intervals of dramatic and theatric power cannot

atone for much that is stale, flat and unprofitable. The whole could be told within the limits of a poem, such as Mr. Riddle might emphasize with admirable effect at the reading-desk. As Edmund, he gave his lines with expression and intelligence, and yet the handicap of selfconsciousness and a too apparent and artificial method in laying bare the inner traits of a man bent upon such a crime, leaves its conception in an uncompleted condition, which is also marred by excessive and unmeaning gesticulation, and as a whole is tiresome and ineffectual. Mr. Charles Stedman as David, and Miss Noah as Prudence, acted well. Miss Belle Archer, though somewhat awkward and lacking in experience, played Marian with directness and sympathetic force. Her sweetness and beauty were enhanced by exquisite dressing. Mr. R. J. Dillon as Lord Hubert, and Mr. Herbert Archer as Lord Falkstane, were failures. Many good words could be spoken for the scenery and stage-effects. They were most appropriate and handsome. The cavescene won applause for its beauty and the perfect imitation of a dashing sea upon a rocky shore. The play had an apathetic reception, but Mr. Riddle had several recalls, and Mr. Fawcett in a box acknowledged his presence to the audience.

Messrs. Griswold, de Gersdorff and Homans were particularly good in their rôles, but Mr. de Billier carried off the palm of the evening, among his college companions, for his fine acting and great ease on the stage. Mr. F. Remington would have done more credit to himself, if he had known his lines better. The chorus, however, was the most perfect part of ⚫ the entertainment, it was drilled to perfection, and acted with dash and spirit. The musical selections were good, and on the whole well rendered. The Crew must be benefited handsomely, as a large and fashionable audience was present.

This was followed by "Delicate Ground" in which Mr. E. F. Coward took the rôle of Citi zen Sang Froid at very short notice, owing to illness on the part of Mr. T. Osmond, who was originally cast for it. Miss A. W. Ward acted the part of Pauline, and Mr. Burke that of Alphonse.

The programme concluded with "Peace At Any Price," a farce in one act, originally written for the Matthews', and produced for the first time in this city, with this cast:

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. CONSTANT READER.-No. Joe Howard is not the proprietor of Howard's Athenæum in Boston.

SINCERE ADMIRER.-We have not yet learned of whom the portrait is which hangs in Kyrle Bellew's room.

VALUABLE SUBSCRIBER.-We have no use for a correspondent in Naphtha. It seems to us, judging by the tone of your letter, that a little benzine used judiciously on yourself would improve matters.

RECULAR READER.-Yes, you are right. Joseph Pulitzer has another partner besides Sol Pringle. It is the man who always prefers signing himself thus:

OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTOR -We do not introduce advertisements in this column. If you wish to know at what theatre Mr. Harrigan is playing, consult our advertising pages