Max Walter Connoll
Anatol.................. Joseph Schildkraut
Hilda Denne Moor
Emily. Anne Forrest
Blanca Elena Miramova
abrielle Patrici Collinge
Vater Oswald York
Mimiam opin
Franz Roger Ramsel¬
Lona Ruthelm Stevens
Although Arthur Schnitzler is the
author of "Anatol," which was re¬
vived at the Lyceum last evening
he is not the source of all its love¬
liness. Bela Blau has mounted it
handsomely, not forgetting the Vien-
nese waltzes and the concertina,
which is the most heartening of all
musical instruments. And Joe Miel¬
ziner has lavished upon Schnitzlers
anatomy of love some of the most
alluring settings in years magic vis-
tas, exquisite interiors, and a spark¬
ling evening snowstorm beyond the
arch of a Vienna arcade.
With the actors, Mr. Blau's for¬
tunes have been mixed. As Anatol,
Joseph Schildkraut is mechanical and
constricted in a part that should be
romantically exhilarating. He has
little of the free improvisation that is
the charm of Schnitzlers bundle of
episodes. But Walter Connolly is
quietly merry as Anatoles navish
comrade. Patricia Collinge has one
huntingly beautiful scene as the
wistful married lady who did not
succumb to Anatol. There are lively
scenes with Miriam Hopins, Anne
Forrest, Elena Miramova and Ruth¬
elma Stevens, If, as a playgoer, you
are as shameless a gourmet as
Anatol, you will find enough beauty
and comedy in Mr. Blau's ravishing
production to balance the wooden¬
ness of some of the acting and some
of the duller scenes.
When Anatole was first mounted
here nearly twenty years ago with
John Barrymore it was reputed to be
audacious. Anatol is a sinner. But
not to Schnitzler, and hardly to the
pernicious playgoer of today, for
Anatol is a sybarite of love. He is
punctilious about the department of
conquest. He loves love. The six
scenes in his affairs reveal his sus¬
ceptibilities his anxiety over the
fidelity of Hilda, his wounded vanity
when Bianca no longer remembers
him, his anger when he discovers one
of his trollos covering the booty of
previous amours or another planning
to supplant him with a chorus boy.
For to Schnitzler love is full of savor
and deception, honeyed tenderness
and sweet langor. None of the ho¬
blooded passion of the modern thea¬
tre bursts into his amorous ho¬
house. There is hardly a kiss visible
to the naked eye. Silken in the writ¬
ing, it is overlong in the acting. If
it were half as long it would be twice
as good in the theatre. Certainly this
production would be brisker amuse¬
ment if a half hour vere taken out
of it.
Although Mr. Schildkraut lacks
the spontaneity that Anatol needs
to keep you steadily interested in
his adventures, he has spirit enough
for the dramatic episodes. The two
lively concluding scenes are his
best. As the operatie hussy Miriam
Hopins is vastly amusing, going
shamelessly at the table, flying into
a passion, tearing angrily around the
room. And the horseplay of the
concluding scene on Anatols wed-
ding day is likewise unconscionably
funny. As the possessive bagage
who finds that she is losing her
lover almost at the church door
Ruthelm Stevens is immense. Mar¬
Connelly and Gabriel Beer-Hofmman
have done their shrewest work in
the direction here.
Despite these fitful thunderstorms
of comedy and the gossamer ro¬
mance of Patricia Collinges acting.
Anatol without a dynamic Anato
is makeshift entertainment. You can
console yourself with the sundry
blandishments of the production, and
still reluctantly confess that there is
a murmur in the heart of Schnitzler's
play.
4.9. Anatol
.
ork Times
AN
FORREST,
Appearing
in the
Revival of
Schnitzlers
Comedy, "Ana¬
tol, at the Lyceum
Theatre.
(De Baron.)
y
lus
box 9/4