t
SUNDAY,
MARCH 1, 1925
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE T HIRTEE
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The Theatre Ascendant
George Pierce Baker, By Robert he still subconsciously regards act-
Henderson. ing itself as fit only for gaudy-colored ]
* * *
mummers .
(Editor's Note: This is the third of Yet all this is hardly fair. CertainM
a series of six articles on contempor- of his former pupils, Sam flnme or
ary personalities in the modern world Colin Clement, regard] his coursesl
theatre. Among other subjects there
will be an interview by Paul Stephen- as elementary and hothouse, but the
sona assistant director of the Ypsil- far greater majority appreciate that 0
anti Players, with Edward Gordon beneath his cold, unbending exterior
Craig.) there is an abundant sympathy, a
keen tolerance and moulding shill.
I have never met anyone con- -his recent act eptace of the chair
nected with the theatre from the of dramatc literature at Yale, roused
managerial side-directors and the
like-whose face was not harder than i -yS
nails. It is a bug that necessarily anything else s .ved to asre't his
seems to bite the profession, that eminence. At Harvard b- had always
makes them cold, a trifle bitter and been regarded as a strange, rather C
cynical-peculiarly pokeresque . . ." dangerous eccentrique, interesting
And George Pierce Baker, the famous.
Professor Baker of the 47 workship but rather futile and peculiar. This
shows strange signs of a mild infec- is away t e way of unive-sities:
tion; like Cosmo Hamilton it seems ,Columbia has haridly heard of Mlic (ha c
all of a certain that his secret am- Pupin, Illinois know:; Stuart Sher-
bition is a feverish desire to be ac- man minely as an inst utor, Aichii-
tually connected with Broadway. It gan stares biankly at the mention of
is Mr. Baker's quiet boast, for in- Moses Gcmberg, while to the world
S
stance that he trains his students for at large these men epit oize the re-
tihe professional 'stage-no art and; spective institutions; surely Profes-
little theatre experience except as a sor Baker along with (orge San -
side-issue--and this attitude has iltayana was the most iinlg ersou
somehow crept into his physical per- ality at Harvar d.
soriality. His present position at Yale, o
Before you meet him you picture course, is not only a diloati tri-
in your imagination, inexplicably of 1uph but at last a field which will
course, a round, rather jolly man, truly test his tal-nt. Wth a n flion
very hustling and efficient. In real- dollar theatre at his disposal and the
ity, he is very tall and collected, very enthusiastic co-operation o a -ril-~
Bostonese-marvellously New Eng- liant dramatic faculty including Wil~ 3
land-with heavy spectacles and this l"4 Lyon Phelps,Dle shoull be able
impeturbable face: the only irony is to harvest the full fruit of Iis the~
that Broadway openly, impertinently Ories, now at their high-t de of popu-
laughs at his work and calls it l larity. It is an auspicious bubble in S
peurile. c the development of college dramatics
Naturally, this is in no sense a par- that cannot, must not burst. If this
tally wiry 'gentleman from Beacon
tide of the the truth, for as a mat- Hill can finally carry his purposes to
ter of actual fact Mr. Baker's pupils a climax, its effect will be revolution-
include practically every significant ary on the other universities of the
American dramatist under forty and cry:n
a bittock. Eugene O'Neil, Edward untry: after all, what Yale does
Massey, Colin Campbell Clements, * *
Philip Barry, to name a certain few, Next week: Jessie Bonstelle, by
have all owed their initial experi- Phyllis Loughton.
ence to his sympathetic encourage-
ment.
His courses in Harvard, as everyone
now knows, were carried on under
maddening, petty opposition, partly
from the persistent indifference felt
in nearly all universities to the arts
but mainly from the crusted profes-
sorial group which still regards the'
theatre Bas slightly immoral and all
dramatic literature by contemporary"
authors of no genuine value. t
Strangely enough, though remark-
ably modern and broad-minded in one
sense, Mr. Baker is astonishingly
conservative himself in his enthus- -
iasms: perhaps this is the very touch-
stone of his success. However that'
may be, it is surprising to find thatd
he basically discredits such groups
as the Provincetown Playhoue and ,#x'
even the famous Neighborhood Play-4,
house. Not openly, you understand,
,ut it takes very few conversations to ."
discover that he really admires David
Belasco more than Kenneth Mac-
Cowan. e
As another example, there is his pr
present curriculum at Yale perfectly
understandable, but how strange:ced-
it courses are offered in lighting, playSr
writing, direction, con emporary
Idrama, in everything but etual act-
ing. You see the point-here is 'a
man that stands for the highest de-
velopment of the theatre in education,
giving courses in everything except
the basic fundamental element of the .
theatre. What a. paradox!
The reason, of course, is obvious.
Mr. Baker, very Bostonese and mar-
vellously New England, is still not
quite certain that acting is really an 1
art, at least a strictly proper art;
play-acting at Yale!" his grand-
mother would have said lifting her
horror-stricken eyes virtuously to the
ceiling. Naturally, he hardly phrases
itas bluntly as that, but the old con- Walker Whiteside, the distinguishe
viction must be latent in his concept with Miss Sydney Shields in a melodra
--somehow, I strongly venture that by Bertrand Theron Tuesday evening,
The Festival In Detail
-----__ARIA. "Flower Song" from "Car-
men"......................Bizet
Mr. Lauri-Volpi
Intermission
ARIA, "Impreviso" from "Andrea
Chenier'................Giordano
{ - -Mr. Lauri-Volpi
SUITE, "Through the Looking
In Spiritum" ...... Glass".............. Deems-Taylor
. . lr. Tittman Dedication-The Garden of Live
anctus." Flowers; Jabberwocky; Looking
* * Glass Insects; The White Knight.
IA iRudolph's Narrative" from
i
!i
I
The Divine Mary
The thirty-second May Festival, to
he held four days commencing May;
20 in Hill auditorium under the aus-
pices of the University School of
Music, will present the following pro-
grams:
First Concert-Wednesday evening,
May 20
OVERTURE, "Lenore" No. 3h......
.Beethloven
SYMPHONY No. 1, B flat, Op. 39 ..
Schuman
Andante un poco maestoso-allegro
allegro molto vivace ; Larghetto;
Scherzo---molto vivace; Allegroj
animato e grrzioso.
SYMPI-IONIC POEM, "Don Juan" ..
... . . Straus
Intermission
CONCli TO for pianoforte and Or-
chestra, B fiat minor, Op. 23. ...
................ . Tschaikovsky
Andante non troppo e molto maes-
toso-Allegro con spirito; Andan-
tinosemplice-Allegro vivace as-
sai; Finale: Allegro con fuoco
............... Mr. Ga rilowitsch
Second Concert-Thursday evening---
M ay21.
WVlERTURE, "Night on a Bare
Mountain"M...........Moussorgsky
TIlE'BELLS"'........Rachnaninoft-
Poem by Edgar Allen Poe
Soli, University Choral Union and
Orchestra
. The Silier Bells ..............
.Mr. Morgan and Chorus
. The Golden Bells ............
..Mi Hgo r a atandChorus
The Brazen Bells.........Chorus
The Mournful Bells..........
...........Mr. Tittman and Chorus
Intermission
SELECTIONS from "B minor Mass"
Bach
1. Chorus, "Kyrie Eleison"
2. Aria "Quoniam Tu"-Mr. Titt-
man.
3. Duet "Domine Deus"........
.... Miss Hagar and Mr. Morgan
4. Chorus, "Qui Tollis."
5. Aria "Benedictus"..........
...................Mr. Morgan
6. Choruses, "Crucifixus" and "Et
i'
.;
Rlsurrexit,
7. Aria, "Et.
8. ChIrus "S
Thi t rd Concert -Friday afternoon, .
"La Boheme".............Puccini
M)y .. .Mr. Lauri-Volpi
() N iez D , O IaeB Ascent of Brunhilde's Rock and
(c) Stars ofthe SOmmer Niht ..arn y Finale from "Siegfried" .. Wagner
Woodury* * *
Boy's Chorus Fifth Concert-Saturday afternoon, }
ARIA, "Ah, mon fils" from "Le May 23
Prophet e"..............Meyerbeer Suite, No. 3, D major .........Bach
Miss Degnan Symphony;, No. 4, F minor, Op 35..
! (a) Indian Mountain Song .. Cadman1 ... ........... Tschaikovsky
b) Spinning Chorus from "Flying Andante Sostenuto-Moderato con
Dutcinnan"... .............Wagner anima; Andantino in modo dil
High School Girls' Glee Club I canzona; Scherzo; Pizzicato ost-
\ngeius fronm "Scenes Pittoriques" inato; Finale; Allegro con fuoco.j
...................Massenet-Maddy Intermission
Harp Ensemble Concerto for Violin, No. 3, B minor,
(a) Land Sighting............Grieg Op. 61 ...............Saint-Saens
(b) Massa, Dear............. Dvorak Allegro non troppo; Andantino
Boys' Glee Club quasi allegretto; Finale: molto'
(a) Supplication.......... La Forge moderato e maestoso.
(b) Dawn in the Desert .......Ross * * *
(c) The Rain Song ...........Ilabn.
(d) Bolero........ . . . . . . . . . . Arditi Sixth Concert-Saturday evening,
rdit~i IMay 23
Miss Degnan "La Gioconda"...........Ponchielli
CANTAT A, "Legend of Bregenz" . . IsaGood ocili
.... .. Bend'all An Opera in four acts
'hildren's Chorus iLa Gioconda.......Frances Peralta
Laura ...............August Lenska
Fourth Concert-Friday evening, Il Cieca............Kathryn Meisle
May 22 Enzo................Mario Chamlee
OVERTURE, "Carnival" .... Dvorak Barnaba.........Vincente Ballester
SYN1IIIONY, No. 3, F major . Brahms Alvise.................Henri Scott
Allegro con brio; Andante; Poco Townspeople, Sailors, Etc.
Allegretto; Allegro University Choral Union
Naturally( it is hardly our business,
but may we suggest to what godsI
there be that for the coming Choral'
Union series-contracts are made so
long in advance, you see-may we
suggest that Mary Garden, the cli-
max, as reason is our judge, of the
superb and artificial art of grand
opera, be re-engaged for next year.
She is really so very wonderful, so
perfect . ..-
Philip I-1alej for example, Teview-
ing the performance of "Pelleas et1
Melisanda" by the Chicago Opera{
Company in Boston, spoke of the "re-
markably poetic performance of a
most poetically beautiful opera, an
opera that, to use the phrase of Swin-
burne in praise of Coleridge, is "lone-
ly and incomparable" in the litera-
ture of the lyric stage.
"For in 'Pelleas et Melisande' text,I
situation, moodsl emotions and action
are as one. Thus, this opera has no
parallel, nor is there any operatic
music surpassing Debussy's for sheer
emotional and dramatic beauty. The
play appealed to the composer's pe-
culiar genius. Ths tragedy in No
Man's Land, with its old castle by
an unknown sea, with a princess
heroine whose birth and early years
are left in mystery, with a venerable
monarch brooding over the problems
of life and death, this young Pelleas,
about to leave the scene but de-
tained by fate, the grim Golaud, who
found out to his cost that age and
youth should never wed, even the
physician and the retainers who ap-
pear only to be by a death bed-all
and everything are of a fantastic
dream world, fantastic, perhaps sym-
bolical, yet in quality very human.
To underline, emphasize, annotate
this play with music-who was there
but Debussy?
"Miss Garden has been Melisande,
not merely taking the role, for over
twenty years. Others have been seen
here as the maiden who lost her
crown and was found weeping in the
forest by the curious and perplexed
Golaud. There was Mme. Georgette
Le Blanc with her stained glass at-
titudes. There was Mme. Edvina
pleasing to eye and ear, but not the
Melisande of dramatist or composer.
No, there is only one Melisande, a
strange; arresting, indescribably pa-
thetic figure in life, in love, in death.
Only Miss Garden has brought one
close to Melisande; only Miss Garden
has her face, her voice. She knows
of her what neither Maeterlinck nor
Debussy has revealed, if it was ever
known to them. And for this por-
trayal, her dramatic sins in certaii
other operatic roles should be for-
given her,"
Everythi.g forBand-and Orchestra
We invite you to inspect our display of high quality
band and orchestra instruments. CONN INSTRUMENTS
with all their exclusive features are recognized as easiest of
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w Is a little white shop that serves the
best barbecue you ever tasted.
Have you found it out? After the
show tonight, drop in and enjoy a
fresh, hot sandwich.
i The fBarbecue .Inn
440 South State Phone 2948-W
ri A
We call particular attention to our "Detroiter," a new
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priced.
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I
F
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There is
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develop
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namely,
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and fine
workmanship.
ed character actor, who will appear
ama. of Japanese diplomacy, "Sakura,"
March 3, at the Whitney theatre.
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PEARL PINS AND GUARDS; FOBS, Etc.
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