Broad — William Gillette in Sherlock Holmes
Broad — William Gillette in Sherlock Holmes is an article published in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 27 january 1901.
About the play Sherlock Holmes at Broad Street Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Broad — William Gillette in Sherlock Holmes
On to-morrow night, Charles Frohman will present William Gillette in his latest and greatest success, "Sherlock Holmes," at the Broad Street Theatre.
Founded on a hitherto unpublished incident in the life of the great detective of modern fiction, made famous by Conan Doyle, Mr. Gillette has written a drama which has been declared to be an almost perfect play and one of the greatest masterpieces of realism ever seen at any theatre. The actor-author has taken the detective hero, who is so familiar to readers of contemporaneous fiction and incarnated him to the physical eye in a manner so realistic and amid surroundings of such a thrilling nature, as to cause his auditors to forget that they are in a theatre. It is no exaggeration to say that no book hero. has ever been so completely and fascinatingly realized on the stage as Sherlock Holmes is in Mr. Gillette's impersonation of him. He is all that Conan Doyle painted the detective to be, and more too, for Mr. Gillette lends to the character all the charm of his own personality, has introduced a touching love interest, and his well-known method of naturalistic acting adds immeasurably to the realism of the performance. From an interest-absorbing standpoint, the play is unique. As if to add to the realism all that art which has been attained by modern stagecraft in fulfilling the requirements of modern productions is brought to use and some startling innovations are introduced. This is particularly so in regard to the electrical effects which are put to a novel use in this play. The curtain will rise each evening at 8 o'clock sharp and at 2 P. M. at the matinees, which will be on Saturdays only.
