The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1837Various
History
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 10, No. 3, September 1837
Various
Periodicals
There are many other things which need reform. The 'wardrobe wants
replenishing.' The orchestra needs both addition and subtraction, as
well as the company on the stage. The police are worse than useless;
being notorious for creating more disturbance than they ever quell.
When all these matters are brought to their just propriety, the Park
Theatre will be worthy of the liberal encouragement which the public
have shown themselves disposed to exhibit toward it, and not before.
FOOTNOTE:
[12] We regret to state, that the lady here alluded to has taken her
farewell of the American public and that the company has thereby
suffered a loss it cannot soon repair.
* * * * *
SINCE the above was penned, the Park Theatre, after a brief
intermission, has reopened, to commence another, and we hope a
prosperous season. The interior of the house has been much improved,
in the decoration and thorough painting which it has undergone.
The new drop-curtain, painted by Mr. EVERS, is the most prominent
addition to the local ornaments of the house. It represents the
well-known picture of the court, as convened for the trial of Queen
Catharine, and is well worthy of the high reputation of the artist.
The likenesses, according to the original picture, by Harlowe, are
generally well preserved. The figure of Mrs. Siddons is perhaps
somewhat large and masculine, but the bold, commanding dignity of
her look and action is perfectly maintained. The portrait of Charles
Kemble is true and familiar, even to those of us who have only
seen him when time had somewhat wrinkled his noble front. The face
of John Kemble seems to us, in the copy, more full and round, and
the features more massive, than in the original. Our own lamented
Conway presents a figure on the canvass at the Park, which is hardly
justified by Harlowe. His face and person are not as we remember
them. They are too muscular and broad in their proportions. Conway,
as we knew him, was of a tall figure, but rather delicately than
strongly put together. The other personages do not differ materially
from the pictured originals, and are certainly far superior, as
figures, to any that we have ever before seen from the hand of Mr.
Evers. We think, however, that the artist has committed the common
fault of crowding his figures too closely. The frame seems too small
for so many _tall_ persons, and all of them _prominent_. If the space
within the frame were larger, or the figures smaller, and placed at
more reasonable distances, this production would be almost faultless.
The draperies are naturally and gracefully drawn; the coloring,
perhaps, a little too bright and glaring for the chaste and subdued
white and gold in which the interior of the house is dressed. Of the
good taste displayed in the coloring and decorations of the pannels
of the boxes, and of the whole interior, from pit to gallery, with
the splendid dome which crowns the regenerated arena of our 'Old
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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