THE DRAMA IN AMERICA.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

NEW YORK, MARCH 14. – Pinafore still continues to reign. She is the craft which ploughs the theatrical waters and commands a right good crew of public patrons. Two new Pinafores have been set afloat during the past week — one at the Lyceum Theatre, which does not amount to much, and another at the Broadway, which is decidedly unique. The singers are made up of members of the church choirs of Philadelphia, whose names are entirely unknown in the Theatrical Profession, and they have given the first really musical performance of the opera yet listened to here. As we Americans say, the bottom was dropping out of Pinafore, but these choir singers seem to have put it back again. Fresh interest has been taken in the merry work of Gilbert and Sullivan, and the sweet voices of these singers have made it even more popular than it was before. It is remarkable what vitality there is in this staunch, now old, vessel. The public runs to hear each new company that appears in it, and the most remarkable thing of all is that these church singers should have been the first to give Sullivan's sweet music in all its beauty and integrity.

In the meantime there are stories of out-of-town companies, who have the odorous and aged egg as their reward, instead of the exhilarating bouquet and enthusiastic cheer. I have already written you concerning a rotten-egged company at New Brunswick, N.J., and now there comes the story of another similar disaster to a company in one of the small Connecticut towns.

Page modified 8 April 2010