THE CRIMSON PLAY-GOER

"Oui Madame," now playing at the Wilbur Theatre, is described on the program as "the ultimate in intimate musical plays," and while one feels that this goal has not yet been reached, still it is well above the standard of similar offerings.

"Intimate" as applied to musical comedies had its origin on the diminutive stage of the Princess Theatre in New York, and the play thus characterized should have a small, well-trained chorus, catchy tunes, and the principals must take the audience "into their confidence." "Oui Madame" fulfills these conditions and offers a pleasant contrast to the showy, elaborate plays which hold sway on the more spacious stages. The chorus consists of but six girls, augmented on occasions by other members of the company, but these six make up in dancing ability and good looks for what "isn't there" in pony ballets and three-row choruses.

The title of the play has little to do with anything in the plot; the plot itself has little to do with the play, the sole thread being the theme of identifying a man by a mermaid tattooed on his leg. Although Georgia O'Ramey, of slap-stick comedy fame, is featured in the production, yet the humorous honors are over-whelmingly carried off by Mr. William Kent, who, as Steve the janitor, masquerades triumphantly through the piece as Colonel Hutt. The audience chuckles perforce every time he appears on the stage and is put into roars of laughter during his inimitable interpretation of inebriety. In these days of drought one appreciates all the more so natural and true-to-life a reminder of wetter times.