THE 'MICHIGAN DAILY
sip
..
in
Theatrical
Circles
F y F
- h
Jolly Winifred Wild,
Theater Majestic Theater
day, Saturday Thursday, Friday, Saturday
1 4-5-6 March 4-5-6
1 soon witness the return of the old time favorites, Ed.
Wild, vaudeville musical comedy stars, who offer a comedy
One Fool Thing After Another."
uple are well known in Ann Arbor as they have prayed"
with their own musical tabloid, and they have written the
.e Majestic that they are looking forward with much
ngagement here Thursday, Friday and Saturday, ,March
POST TOAPPEARN
PERSIAN LOVE-PLAY
Richard Walton Tully's Latest Drama
Will Be Produced at Whitney
on March 3
ORIENTAL $VENES POhRhTR.AYED
One of the commanding attractions
of the season will come to the Whit-
ney theater, for one night, Wednesday,
March 3, when Guy Bates Post ap-
pears in Richard Walton Tully's spec-
tacular Persian romance, "Omar, the
Tentmaker." This sumptuous love-
play was one of the chief dramatic
successes of last season on Broad-
way, and the entire original company
and massive scenic equipment will be
brought here intact.
Mr. Tully has woven the story of his
Persian romance around the life, times
and Rubaiyat of Omar Kha'yyam, the
genial and beloved poet and mystic of
the eleventh century. The stimulat-
ingly imaginative qualities, the mas-
terly characterizations, the freshness
and facility of plot That marked Mr.
Tully's previous plays, "The Bird of
Paradise" and "The Rose of the
Rancho," have in every particular
been excelled in "Omar, the Tent-
maker." In this play he has combined
the swift poignancy of realistic drama
with the poetic insight and imagina-
tive sparkle of romantic fantasy:. Mr.
Tully,-not only wrote "Omar, the Tent-
maker," but he personally produced it,
and in association with Wilfred Buck-
land designed the vivid and colorful
settings, and together they are also
managing its triumphant career.
Beautiful Costumes Add Realism
Pictorially it is doubtful if "Omar,
the Tentmaker" has ever been sur-
passed upon the American stage. A
company of nearly 100, clad
in the brilliant raiment of the Orient,
pass to and fro in the moonlit, rose-
scented garden; come and go among
the huddled, teeming bazaars of Nais-
hapur; attend judgment in the impos-
ing Hall of Royalty; seek their fates
in the narrow streets, the roisterous
taverns, the lofty mosques, and the
busy potter's stall. All the pictorial
delights and charms of old Persian
have been transferred to the stage
with unforgetable fidelity.
The play, itself, recounts the won-
derful love-life and picturesque wan-
derings of one of the most romantic
figures in the world's history, Omar
Khayyam, the great Persian poet,
mystic and epicurean of the eleventh1
century, who shares in immortal kin-
ship, and the spirit of Dante, the Ital-
ian, and Francois Villon, the first poet
of France. How Omar wooed the beau-
tiful Shireen in the glowing flower-
garden at sunset; how he remained
faithful to her through stressful
years; how he sought and fouid and
lost and found again his happiness;
how he sang of the grape and love and
joy in eternal quatrains; how he de-
fied bigotry, suffered unspeakable tor-
tures; delved into the basic riddles of
human existence, have all been skill-
fully commingled in the most en-
trancing romance of modern times.
Post Plays Part Well
Guy Bates Post brings to his por-
trayal of the lovable Omar the ripest
and most engaging attainments of his
conspicuous career. At a time when
the English-speaking stage is lament-
ably lacking in actors of sufficient in-
telligence, robustness of experience
and loftiness of vision to attempt the
~.
Guy Bates Post, in "Omar the Tentmaker," Whitney Theater, Wednesday night, March 3.
enactment of heroic figures, Mr. Post
has won the universal applause of
both the expert critic and casual play-
goer by his marvellous characteriza-
tion of the merry Persian. The char-
acter of Omar is a most complex one,
and without slighting the delicious hu-
fnanity of the man, his fondness for
laughter and wine, his ready wit, his
caustic tongue and his scornful pen,
Mr. Post also emphasizes with engag-
ing truthfulness the deeper and more
philosophical phases of the man's
nature. The large company in support
of Mr. Post unites its splendid talents
to produce a most remarkable and
praiseworthy ensemble.
;I
I
AT THE MAJESTIC
The new bill which opens at the
Majestic Monday afternoon will have
for its headliner Gene Greene.
To watch Gene Greene, who is
known as the emperor of ragtime, one
would imagine he had a definite set of
business for every song he sings. A
recent visit to the theater, however,
reveals the fact that he varies his
methods from night o night, It would
not be correct to say that he never
sings the same song the same way
twice, because the broad outlines of
his work are always the same. But
the little deft touches of comedy ana
characterization which he puts into
his work are always changing.
Greene's Methods
"Why, I don't think I have any
methods at all," explained Mr. Greene,
when asked how he did it. "When I
first get a song and like it, I take it
and memorize it first. When I've
learned it, I go on and sing it in front
of an audience.
"I never sit down and figure. out
what I shall do and what I shall say,
and how I shall say it. No sir, if I
did that .j would tie myself down to
doing some particular thing. You see,
I mightn't feel like doing it when I get
in front of the folks.
Features Old Songs
In the musical comedy playlet "On
a Country Road," presented by Wil-
liam Morrow and Miss Donna Harries
a number of musical numbers are -in-
terpolated. The musical numbers in-
troduced are some old ones and songs
and dances that were popular and
famous in our grandfathers' time. To
this generation they are new, but to
our fathers they will bring back many
fond recollections. One in particular
is a song and dance entitled "The Mar-
riage Bells" by M. Riordan and popu-
lar in the late "'80s". Another being
Billy Bouncer's Circus is quite a
novelty and is more like an amateur;
night act in that he manages to fur-
nish the audience with some comedy
,,
Guy Bates Post and Louise Grassler
in
"Omar, the T~entm~aker"~
Blackface "Billy Clark"
Majestic Theater
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
March 4-5-6
Whitney
Wednesday, M;
3