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To any "Chauve-Souris" production there are two inseparable parts. One is the rotund M. Balieff, the other the varied scenes which make up the performance, One without the other would make "Chauve-Souris" something quite other from that which tradition has it to be.
The current presentation at the Majestic Theatre has both features. Balieff is again before the curtain, speaking in English more broken than any that has been heard in many months. Each scene is introduced by a few words from this great round face, and the applause greeting its appearance before each selection is quite as loud as that which closed the preceding scene.
The sketches themselves are highly entertaining, and afford a pleasing contrast to the usual run of theatre offerings. Laid mostly in a Russian milieu, the acts have a character only to be compared with that of previous tours of this company.
Simple, yet highly colorful and very effective settings form a piquant surrounding for the songs and pantomimes offered. The Russian scenes are mixed with such bits as "An Eighteenth Century Fan", "Fragment of an Etruscan Vase" or a rollicking Dutch travesty.
To one who has never before witnessed a "Chauve-Souris" production the display now on view should prove eminently worth while. It is a fresh breath in a theatrical world just now grown quite sultry. But, on the other hand, warning must be issued that if attending this revue will mean your second or third visit, it may not be all that past memories lead you to expect. For from our carefully amassed comments of theatregoers we find it reported that there is too much sameness in the productions. There is less dash; the joie de vivre seems to have worn off.
So if you have been to "Chauve-Souris" in the past, let your pocket book be your guide. But if you are ignorant of this once novel form of entertainment, by all means go. "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" should prove reward enough for anyone.
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