The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 2, 1927, Page 12

a Grace George in :“Lesend of Leonora” : A Tame Pussy Fills Theatre With Incense of Refinement Reviewed By HARBOR ALLEN. Middle class entertainment reaches a high water mark of genteel frothi- ness in Sir James Barrie’s “Legend of Leonora,” revived with Grace George at the Ritz Theatre. If you want to see this early Barrie play, be sure you wear your best clothes and your best diamonds. Your finger- nails ought to be polished as highly as your shoes. Practice your laugh in advance, it musn’t be too loud. And take your Harvard accent with you, you'll need it. Grace George, whose husband, William Brady, spent a fortune to make her a star, is very refined. You must be refined too. The smell of refinement fills the Ritz like incense. Leonora is a poor—lI’ll come back to that—lady with every conceivable charm. She is coy and bold, a co- quette and a mother, a feminist and a flirt.. She has murdered a man— very genteely, of course, by pushing him out of a train. He insisted on keeping the window open when her child had a cold. Toothless Satire. So Leonora is tried, The trial proves to be a toothless satire, a deli- cate, bloodless bit of spoofing. “Chi- ago” is also a play about a woman on trial for murder. But “Chicago” is a tiger clawing at the rotten meat of justice with hefty rips. ALINE MAC MAHON One of the principals in the new Jed Harris production ~ “Spread E. mend ca a Monday al at the " Besides Friaz Latber who will ‘play the principal role in Paul Green’s new play, “The Field God,” the cast in- cludes Lillie Brayton, Ruth Mason, Adelaide Fitzallen, Clara Thropp, Ben Smith, Arthur Allen, Claudius “The Le-| Mintz, James Morton and Thomas gend of Leonora” is a pussy cat play- !Carnahan. Edwin R. Wolfe will pre- ing with a ball of yarn. A tame | sent it on Broadway some time this pussy at that. the lawyers, the witnesses are all charmed ‘by Leonora. Her friends | try to lie for her, but she won’t let them. And she goes scot free. For a poor lady, Leonora has in the last act a surprisingly ritzy home with elegant furniture and a big garden and a life-size hobby horse for her children and vases and flowers and oil paintings.. You won- der whose idea of poverty that is. Never mind, it’s in keeping with the play: amusing, witty at times, play- ful, never rude, never penetrating, never disturbing. Everything in it is so nice, everything turns out so nice. You can watch it without wrinkling your clothes or mussing your hair. If you are good middle class, you can leave the theatre maudlin with love for the dear old world and everybody in it. The jury, the judge, month. “Three Weeks,” Elinor Glyn’s fam- ous good seller, will be set to music —so the rumor goes on Broadway. Karl Hajas, who adopted Tschai- kowsky’s. music- for the score of “Natja,” produced two years ago at the Knickerbocker Theatre, is com- posing the score. “The Cireus Princess,” operetta, by Emmerich Kalman, will have its pre- miere at the Apollo Theatre, Atlan- tie City on Monday. Following a short run .in Philadelphia, the pro- duction will open on Broadway. Some thirty players will take part in “Fiesta,” the Michael Gold play of the Mexican revolution opening next Wednesday at the 52nd Street Thea- tre. The New Plays MONDAY ,. “SPREAD EAGLE,” a drama, by George S. Brooks and Walter B. Lister, will be presented by Joe Harris Monday evening at the Martin Beck Theatre. The cast includes Fritz Williams, Osgood Perkins, Felix Krembs, Aline MacMahon, Donald Meek, Malcolm Duncan, Charles D. Brown, Allen Vincent and Brenda Bond. TUESDAY BILL OF LYRIC DRAMA, the fifth production of the season will open at the Neighborhood Playhouse Tuesday night. WEDNESDAY “FIESTA,” a play of the Mexican revolution by Michael Gold, will be the next production of the New Playwright’s Theatre, open- ing Wednesday night at the 52nd Street Theatre. The players include: Thomas Chalmers, Hortense Alden, Brandon Peters, Manart Kippen, Albert Perry, Mabel Montgomery and Peggy THURSDAY “RAPID TRANSIT,” by Lajos Egri, adapted from the Hungarian by Charles Recht, will open under the auspices of the Provincetown Players in association with Horace Liveright, at the Downtown Playhouse on Thursday evening. Joseph Macauley, Mary Fowler, Clarence Dedwent, Stephen Draper, William Challee and Richard Allenby. Skinner head the cast. “HEARTS ARE TRUMPS!”, a comedy from the French of Felix Gandera will be presented by Henry Baron at the Moroseo The- atre on Thursday evening. The large cast is headed by Frank Morgan, Vivian Martin, Alice Fisher, Edward Douglas and C, H. Croker-King. “BIG LAKE,” a play of backwoods Oklahoma life by Lynn Riggs, the young poet, will be presented at the American Laboratory The- atre Thursday night. Stella Adler, Helen Coburn, Frank Burk and Grover Burgess are included in the cast. Under the A uspices of The Theatre ‘Guild ONE WEEK COMMENCING Monday Evening, at 8:30 THE FIRST NEW YORK APPEARANCE OF THE ROCHESTER AMERICAN OPERA COMPANY AMERICAN ARTISTS SINGING OPERA, IN ENGLISH Mon. and Thurs, Eves., FROM THE SERAGLIO,” Puccini's “MADAME PRICES: NED McCOBB’S DAUGHTER THEATRE, Matinees THURSDAY & SATURDAY. Week of April 11—THE SILVER CORD JOHN GOLDEN and Sat. Matinee: Tues, and Sat. Eves and Thurs. Matinee. BUTTERFLY.” Mozart's “THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO.” All Evenings, $1.65 to $3.85—All Matinees, $1.10 to $2.75 52nd Street, West of Broadway. Eves at 8:30. GUILD THEATRE Matinees THURSDAY and SATURDAY at 2:3¢ Week of April 11—THE SECOND MAN Mozart’s “THE ABDUCTION Wed. and Friday Evenings: 58th St., East of B'way. | a 8 ‘h MONTH Wien., Aprtl-4.66. as “Cradle Song” Tues., April .5....°.% “La Locandiera” Wed. Mat., April 6...“Cradle Song” Wed, Eve., April 6..... “Inheritors” OWING TO DEMAND becial Matinee CIVIC REPERTORY COR. 6TH AVE. & 14TH ST. io xg 0c, $1.10 & $1.65 & Sat. Matinees TELWEHONE WATKINS 7767 EVA LeGALLIENNE WEEK OF APRIL 4 Thurs. Eve., April 7...“Cradle Song” Friday Eve., April 8...“inheritors” Sat. Mat., April 9...... “Inheritors” Sat. Eve. April 9...“Three Sisters” “Cradle Song’, THURS., APRIL 7 A. H. WOODS PRESENTS CRIME A Sensational and Revealing *Melodrama of New York’s Underworld by Samuel Shipman and John B. Hymer, with JAMES BENNIE & CHESTER MORRIS & CAST OF 100 TIMES SQ. THEATRE, “sr Matinees Thursday and Saturday. B.P. Now in Its“5th Month THE LADDER By J, FRANK DAVIS WALDORF Thea, 50th Street, East of Broadway. Eve. 8:30. Mats. Wed. & Sat. ' Sam HARRIS THEA. West 42nd St. Twice Daily, 2:30 & 8:30 WHAT PRICE GLORY Mats. (exc. Sat.) 50c-$1. Eves. 50c-$2. Bronx Opera House }'°{? ard, Ave Pop. Prices. Mat. Wed. & Sa “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” The Hilarious Comedy The Theatre Guild’s production of Pirandello’s “Right You Are If You Think You Are” will become a regu- lar evening attraction beginning Monday evening April 11th, at the Garrick Theatre. “Mr. Pim Passes By” will open at the Garrick on April 18th and will alternate weekly with “Right You Are.” “The Mys- tery Ship,” now at the Garrick will move to the Comedy Theatre. ® “Tangles,” the musical version of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” will open out of town in a week or two and should reach Broadway early in May. .P. T. Rossiter, the producer, is still search- ing for an improved title. The musi- Evenings 8:30, Matinecs 2:30. new PLAYWRIGHTS thea. | 5224 Thea, 06 West|Mats. Thurs.&Sat Col.7393|Evs.8: ~ Mats.2:45 ‘Teudepeaker shomeere Lamia CARHOLt Vanities ri Thea., 7th Ave. & Seth st Karl Carroll gris: aS & Sat. 2:30 'S West 42nd WALLACK’S West 42nd. Street, Mats. Tues., Wed., Thurs. and Sat. What Anne Brought | Home A New Comed HAMPDEN’S fina st at Broadway Evs, 8:15. Matinees Wed. and WALTER HAMPD DEN in CAPONSACCHI BROADWAY PRICES $1.10 TO $3.85. cal piece is by Francis DeWitt, who is responsible for book and lyrics, and’ Robert Hood Bowers, who wrote the music. “Pogrom,” a new play by George A. Natanson gene Arthur S. Ross, will open at the Bronx Opera House, Monday night. The play concerns the lives and difficulties of the Jews in Russia and the plot is laid in the city of Kiev. The cast includes: How- ard Lang, Mathilde Baring, John Mil- ton, Edwin Kasper, Cecile Cummings, Harlan E. Knight, Elizabeth Spen- cer, Thomas Waters and Bernard Pate. Clara Clemens will begin a series of special morning and afternoon performances in “Joan of Arc” at the Edyth Totten Theatre on April 14, i