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Page 3
THE PLAYS AND SHOWS.
[Illustration:]
Booth's Theatre has become famous as the place where Mr. MOLLENHAUER
nightly leads his admirable orchestra, and plays with exquisite skill
and infinite tenderness his unrivalled violin solos.
Since this theatre opened, there have been several attempts to add
dramatic entertainments to the attractive concerts given by Mr.
MOLLENHAUER. Two great actors, Mr. JEFFERSON and Mr. BOOTH, have at
different times appeared at this house, and in _Rip Van Winkle_ and
_Hamlet_ have given us the most perfect specimens of dramatic monologue.
Lately, there was an attempt made to present _Macbeth_ during the
intermissions in the performance of the orchestra. Had an actor been
engaged who was capable of playing _Macbeth_, and had a company been
engaged to support him, the tragedy would doubtless have been well
played. There was really little else wanting to make it a meritorious
Shakespearean revival.
To visit this theatre is held to be a solemn duty by a large class of
respectable and serious people. They don't go for amusement--they are
far too sensible for that--but they go to support the legitimate drama,
to testify their respect for SHAKESPEARE and for Mr. BOOTH'S classic
brow. The Worldly-Minded Persons who attended the representations of
_Macbeth_, found themselves assisting at a scene compared with which a
funeral would have been jovial, and a hanging, a wild dissipation.
This is the sort of thing that presents itself to our memory as we
recall the first night of _Macbeth_.
A large and elderly audience enters the portals with subdued and
mournful mien. The ushers, who, in imitation of Mr. BOOTH, do a little
of the classic brow and curl business themselves, chew tobacco with an
air of resigned melancholy, and spit upon the carpet, as though
renouncing the pleasures of the world and the decencies of civilization.
At the first intermission of the orchestra, the curtain rises upon the
three Weird Sisters. Mr. HIND is a Weird Sister, and he improves the
opportunity to howl with a weirdness that draws an involuntary laugh
from an irreverent young lady.
_Respectable Father_. "Laughing in BOOTH'S, my dear! I am astonished at
you. Sh."
_Respectable Mother_. "Ellen, if you can't behave in ch--in the theatre,
you ought not to come." _Irreverent young lady becomes an object of
scornful pity to every one in the neighborhood. She never smiles again_.
The play proceeds. An inarticulate person is brought in on a litter, who
looks like a Tammany man whom some irate young Democrat has "put a head
on." He indulges in an inarticulate speech, which is warmly applauded by
the gallery. Then the Weird Sisters meet MACBETH and BANQUO on the
heath, and Mr. HIND howls at them until the Worldly-Minded auditor
blesses the memory of the Salem witch-burners. Then the King brevets
MACBETH. Then Lady MACBETH reads a letter from her husband with the
demonstrative energy of a Chicago Wild Woman reading the decree that
divorces her from a kind and honorable husband. Then the King arrives,
and MACBETH and his wife agree to kill him. Then the curtain falls, and
Mr. MOLLENHAUER repays the Worldly-Minded Person for having stayed
through the first act. Conversation is indulged in by the audience in
subdued whispers.
_All the Respectable Men in the house_. "Ah! there is nothing like
SHAKESPEARE, and there is no theatre like BOOTH'S. This is indeed an
intellectual feast."
_All the Middle-aged Ladies, wiping away the tear of sensibility_. "This
is something worth seeing! How can people be so frivolous as to go to
see comedies?"
_All the Young Ladies_. "Isn't BOOTH perfectly splendid? Isn't he
magnificent? You should have seen his CLAUDE MELNOTTE; it was so
perfectly lovely."
_All the Ushers, each to the other_. "Have another chew?"
_Worldly-Minded Person to Congenial Reprobate_. "Let's hear MOLLENHAUER
once more, and then go."
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