HASTY PUDDING PLAY AT 8 15

The undergraduate performance of the Hasty Pudding play, "Panamania," will be given in the clubhouse on Holyoke street this evening at 8.15 o'clock. Tickets, at $1 each, are now on sale at Leavitt & Peirce's, the Co-operative branch store, and Herrick's.

Review of "Panamania."

Blue sea beyond the fringe of palm trees--crimson blossoms glowing against the lush tropical green--dazzling sunlight and mysterious moonlight in rapid alternation--light-hearted maidens--rapturous song--love-making in three languages--dances exotic and unrestrained--conspiracies and revolutions warranted to chill the marrow on the hottest day, but all ending happily--and uninterrupted wireless communication with passing ships--No wonder all our friends have been going to Panama!

It all starts in a theatrical office properly stocked with fascinating stenographer-chorus-girls. Here we meet the personages in a plot that remains traceable throughout the play--a beautiful society maiden (she actually is beautiful) who wants to be a star; her sus- ceptible and perfectly-dressed papa; her amiably aimless admirer; a furtive and ominous villian; a mercenary manager; a dejected dinge; and various actors and would-be actors. The broken-down tragedian supplies an element unexpected in musical comedy, for Mr. Hodges succeeds in bringing out the full farcical effect and at the same time a suggestion of the pathos of the proud old actor who really could do "straight heavy" if he only had a chance. The act goes off with a dash and follow unusual in a college production, and ends with a skilful device which leads the imagination of the audience across the gap of the entr'acte.

The curtain rises on ruffians and rebels. Lieutenant-General Castillo is a walking menace to law and order, and his chief, the redoubtable Ohdearno, lends dignity and solidity to the desperate undertaking. And then there is Anita, incarnation of sinuous wickedness and unscrupulous grace -- alluring, exotic, venomous. You can imagine what trouble she makes. Even in the face of death and its dread alternative, matrimony, our friends find heart for song and dancing, yet the story bravely progresses towards its climax, with real sparks crackling from the wireless machine. All the characters turn up, and even the red-headed office-boy performs heroic deeds. The real thriller, of course, is the rescue in the nick of time by the naval officer in a white uniform fresh from Lewando's (Adv.).

Perhaps it would be as well to omit one or two songs and pension off a few of the older jokes, but the music, admirably led by Mr. Hancock, is good throughout. As the run is too short for the songs to become widely familiar, a few tunes already well-known have been interpolated. This gives the audience its chance to whistle. Rather too many of the songs are talked, but Mr. Freedley and Mr. Hollister produce some pleasant harmony, and Mr. Mills has a real voice. Messrs. Freedley and Hollister also do some spectacular dancing in the second act, and Mr. Sortwell clogs like a professional. The chorus is nimble and willing, though not always unanimous as yet, and countless details of arrangement staging, and business show the skill that we have learned to recognize as Mr. Sangers. The dialogue is light and rapid, and succeeds both in leading up naturally to the situations and in affording frequent provocation for song. Three of the principals--Messrs. Hodges, Freedley, and Spelman, have the distinction, rare among amateurs, of getting all their lines across the footlights, even when in competition with a graduates' night audience.F. SCHENCK '09