NEW YORK STAGE REVIEWED

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 234, 1 July 1939, Page 16

NEW YORK STAGE REVIEWED

Anti-Nazi Plays Not

Successful

WORLD’S FAIR AFFECTS ’ THEATRES

Now that the Broadway theatrical season draws limply to a close, it may be of interest for New Zealand readers to get one New Yorker’s reaction to what has strutted its hour upon the stage since the beginning of last September, writes Dennis Plimmer from New York on May 19. , Perhaps the most important .occurrence has been the formation of the Playwrights’ Producing Company, which has been conceived and set in motion by Elmer Rice, who wrote the famous “Street Scene,” Sidney Howard, whose “They Knew What They Wanted” gave Richard Bennet one of his moments behind the footlights, Robert Sherwood, whose “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” is still running to deafening applause, and S. N. Berhman, staunch upholder of what our radical friends eall the “parlor liberal” tradition in the theatre. Mr. Berhman’s latest seems to lie doing rather well; “No Time for Comedy” it is called, and the star is the lovely Katharine Cornell. The Playwrights’ Producing Company early in the season sponsored Mr. Anderson’s first musical play, “Knickerbocker Holiday.” With Walter Huston in the leading role, it played about three-quarters of the season before forsaking New York for the hinterland, where it will close this evening, Saturday, May 19. “American Landscape,” a weird conglomeration of ghosts and democratic flag-waving, achieved a less enviable run and, in spite of loyal boosting by the parent organization, soon closed. “No Time for Comedy,” as we have said, is beginning what looks like a highly profitable sojourn in New York, and will undoubtedly last through the long hot summer in stubborn defiance of the rising temperature and the New York World Fair, An. interesting though unfruitful tendency’ in the theatre this year has taken the form of a batch of anti-Nazi plays, none of which has succeeded, for the reason, as the “Times” critic points out, that the distinction between the wolves and the lambs is so great that there seems no possible doubt, about the play’s eventual outcome. The latest effort in this direction, a play called “The Brown Danube,” opened at the Lyceum several nights ago.

Vogue for Musical Comedy.

Musical comedies and revues have taken the Broadway spotlight during the 1938-39 season to a much greater extent than in any previous year since the depression began. Noel Coward’s “.Set to Music” revealed a Beatrice Lillie more deftly brilliant than ever before in her own satiric brand of performing, but also brought us a Noel Coward content with technique and careless of subject matter. This is also a Noel Coward who does not scruple to pull an old song from the shelf and toss it upon the boards with a disregard of people who heard “Mad About the Boy” several years before “Set to Music” was ever conceived. The revue,, thanks mainly to Miss Lillie and her supporting (and always excellent) cast, ran well, but succumbed to the competition of the World’s Fair and an erratic barometer. “Pius and Needles.” “Leave It To Me” brings back to an appreciative New York three old standbys, Sophie Tucker, Billy Gaxton, and Victor Moore, all of whom have lingered the last few years on the sound stages of the west. “Leave it to Me” is doing well, as is “Stars in Your Eyes,” whitjj features Ethel Merman and Jimmie Durante. The amateur labour revue, “Pins and Needles,” continues to make an astonishing record at the tiny Labour Stage Theatre, where Park Avenue’s pearls and diamonds contrast strangely with the ’ hand-me-downs adorning the backs of those from the garment-district. “Hellz-a-poppin,” starring Olsen and Johnson, , is undoubtedly the biggest thing in town from a number of viewpoints. Beginning inauspiciously (to a chorus of brickbats from our drama critics), the show found its own audience rapidly broke down the coldest laugh-resistance on Manhattan Island, moved from the big Forty-Sixth Street Theatre, to the even bigger and swankier Winter Garden, and seems to have settled down there for the summer. A rowdy catch-as-catch-can entertainment, ' it has caught native New Yorkers and visitors alike, and has taken them by storm through the simple expedient of shouting them senseless and tiffin, tickling them till insanity sets in. The formula is fool-proof. Among the Stars. And now, what of our stars and their doings? Ethel Barrymore has just concluded a season-long tour in “Whiteoaks.” Helen Hayes closed prematurely, midway through the season, in her production of “Victoria Regina.” She has done nothing since, but Is announced for a play next autumn. Walter Huston has enlivened “Knickerbocker Holiday,” and tempestuous Katherine Hepburn appears as a troubled socialite in Philip Barry’s new success, “The Philadelphia Story.” Ina Claire,' with the exception of one brief tryout, which never reached town, has done nothing at all. Fredric March and his lady, Florence Eldridge, are on view at the Gargantuan Centre Theatre in the latest Kaufmhn and Hart opus, “The American Way,” a spectacle which is running well, though it has been compared quite unfavourably with Mr. Coward’s “Cavalcade,” ■which, with an American accent, it closely resembles. , Franchot Tone’s" return to Broadway was pleasantly accomplished in the Group Theatre’s production of “The Gentle People,” by Irwin Shaw. Tallullah Bankhead has found her first American success in “The Little Foxes,” by Lillian Hellman, who gave Us "The Children’s Hour” several seasons ago. One of the pleasanter additions to Broadway’s dramatic fare is Laurette Taylor's triumphant comeback as Mrs. Midgit in the William A Brady revival of that much over-prais-ed play “Outward Bound.” In a generally dismal evening Miss Taylor’s humble portrait shines like a good deed in a naughty world. How Miss Taylor in a third-rate part has rung the bell so loudly no one seems to know, but she has done it and set Broadway talking! From England comes rotund Robert Morley in a spotty but successful dramatization of the life of Oscar Wilde. Mr. Morley’s first visit to our shores has been a singularly happy one, and his expert characterization of the soultempest of that great unhappy man is deeply moving. The play closed last week. Hit of the Season, Undoubtedly the dramatic hit of the season is Robert Sherwood’s “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” recently awarded the

Pulitzer Prize. Mr. Sherwood’s versatility has been admired before, but his latest product has lifted him to the position of playwright laureate in these United States. Raymond Massey plays the title role and plays it with admirable simplicity. The production, in view of world conditions, is beautifully timed, bringing Americans back to a contemplation of those enduring qualities which made them great. As long as the spirit behind “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” remains alive there will bo no dictators here! Paul Vincent Carroll’s “The White Steed” has received the Drama Critics’ Circle award as the best foreign/play of the season, as did the same author’s “Shadow and Substance” last year. Mr. Carroll’s style is not tailor-made for Broadway, but that doesn’t seem to matter very much when his inspired Irish step from the wings to sing a song of white simplicity. World's Fair Blow to Theatre. The Opening of the New York world's fair, however, has given the theatre a serious blow. The mortality among the show shops since’that'fateful opening, April 30, has been a terrifying . and tragic sight, but no doubt the legitimate will weather this storm as it.has weathered so many others in recent years. As for the fair itself, reports are confused. .Some of it is incredibly "beautiful, and some of it rings false as a lead dime. The national exhibits are all. interesting and, hateful word, instructive, The amusement section so called is as false and crass as such things usually are. Sally Rand and her fans have been improved upon by one Rosita Royce, whoso custumes consist of two bespangled sleeves and a number of affectionate doves. The Globe Theatre Shakespeare productions are well-meaning but. limited , technically. The Cuban Village has been disowned by the Cuban Government for moral reasons, and Billy Rose’s Aquacade is probably all right if you like that sort of thing. There are also midgets, backed by Morris Gest ! On the other hand, there are fireworks exhibitions and coloured fountains, there are polychromatic lighting displays, and there is a model farm with ; real cows, one of which the other day (added some call's to New York's already teeming population. There is the fair's itupressario, the multibatted Grover Whalen, and there is one of the original copies of the Magna Charta, behind a piece of magnifying glass. Food rates in the eating shops are high, but there is a general movement afoot to do something about this. There is the Terrace Club, whose portals you may not enter unless you have bought at least 5000 dollars worth of world's fair bonds, and there are numerous hot-dog and orange-juice emporiu to suit those whose pursek are slight. In other words, the show is on. It’s big. bawdy, noisy, beautiful, cheap, wearisome, magnificent, epic.