Drama -- History and criticism; Theater; Theater -- History
'Sumurun' was provided with a plot devised by Herr Freksa, and with
music composed by Herr Hollaender; and it was produced by "Professor"
Max Reinhardt. The story was a little complicated, and it lacked the
transparent simplicity of the 'Enfant Prodigue,' as it lacked also the
broad humanity of the French piece. Its chief claim to attention was
that it is an amusing spectacle, sensual as well as sensuous. Its humor
had a Teutonic heaviness in marked contrast with the Gallic lightness of
the 'Enfant Prodigue.' "Professor" Reinhardt sought eccentricity rather
than originality, queerness rather than beauty. His effort was directed
to the achieving of something unexpected and something different rather
than to the attaining of something good in itself, or of something
poetic. Esthetically, musically, dramatically the German pantomime was
pitiably inferior to the French; and yet so potent and so permanent is
the appeal of the wordless play that 'Sumurun' pleased a host of younger
playgoers, not old enough to be able to recall the 'Enfant Prodigue' or
'Humpty-Dumpty,' the Hanlon-Lees, or the Ravels.
IV
'Sumurun,' like the 'Enfant Prodigue,' was supported by its music, which
sustained the gestures and which sometimes suggested more than gesture
alone can do. In the 'Enfant Prodigue,' for example, one of the most
amusing scenes is that in which the elderly rich man tenders his
affections to the charmer who has fascinated the Prodigal Son. She
insists upon marriage. It would be difficult to convey this idea in pure
pantomime. So she points to the fourth finger of the left hand, and the
orchestra plays the familiar Wedding March, thus instantly conveying the
idea. When she goes off to get her bonnet, the elderly suitor repeats
her gesture, and the orchestra repeats the Wedding March, whereupon he
winks and shakes his head, giving us clearly to understand that his
intentions are strictly dishonorable.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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