The Best Plays

These are the plays which, in the light of metropolitan criticism, seem most important:

Drama

DUSE--Returning after a lifetime of public deification and personal unhappiness to display in a distant land the talents of the greatest actress in the world. In Italian.

MOSCOW ART THEATRE--One of the few good things that have come out of Russia since the Revolution, returning with new plays to test America's capacity for critical superlative. In Russian.

QUEEN VICTORIA -- Reviewed in this issue.

RAIN--The tale of a California harlot marooned in a dripping South Sea wilderness inhabited by U. S. marines and missionaries. In plainest English.

SUN UP--Feud hatred of Carolina mountaineers is switched to assist in the national dislike of Germany during the War. Primitive but penetrating.

TARNISH--Convincing reversal of the original concept that Eve is to blame.

SEVENTH HEAVEN--A tale of War-time Paris, chiefly valuable for its second act climax and a scintillating performance by Helen Menken.

Comedy

AREN'T WE ALL?--Witty commentary on the conflict between the ruling parties in the Holy State of Matrimony. Cyril Maude, chief commentator.

THE CHANGELINGS--Henry Miller, Blanche Bates, Ruth Chatterton amiably intent upon a comedy of up-to-date society.

CYRANO DE BERGERAC--W alter Hampden relighting Mansfield's torch in the classic romance of Edmond Rostand.

THE NERVOUS WRECK--Discussing with high hilarity the error of selecting one's cemetery plot before falling finally ill.

THE SWAN--Modern Continental Royalty perfectly painted (Molnar), perfectly produced (Frohman), perfectly played (Eva Le Gallienne, Basil Rathbone, Philip Merrivale).

Musical Shows

For those whose predilections turn by instinct to musical comedy, the following are recommended: Music Box Revue, Poppy, Ziegfeld Follies, Stepping Stones, Runnin' Wild, Wildflower.