Mme. Grace Doree

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There was a succession of high scores, with Mme. Doree’s Operalogue taking the third spot for the first smash. It may have been true as charged that vaudeville took to opera slowly, but that doesn’t go dating with Mme. Doree’s entrance. She has achieved the finest operatic turn ever given to the big time, and the enthusiastic reception Monday night, when barrage applause was meted every number, left no doubt as to the popularity of her effort. The Metropolitan backers are for agencies that aid in popularizing opera and they might well applaud Grace Doree for her operalog. The “plot” conception of “Operatic Sweethearts” – true and otherwise – lends itself to some of the best possible selections, and her simple, humorous and high effective explanation of the libretto stories explaining the numbers given is one of the turn’s best features. Popeo Tomasini in “Pagliacci,” the Rigoletto” quartet sung by Diana Walters, Alize Pelletier, Clifford Pollard and Adamo Adami, and the company’s diva. Aline Verdikt, with the aria from “Traviata,” drew gales of returns, with the “Faust” finish also a whale. That Mme. Doree assembled so good a combination of voices is extraordinary. Her offering is a charming act, charmingly done and it was sure fire.
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Variety Magazine, LVIII: 6 August 1920