Last Word, The

The Oxford Companion to American Theatre | 2004 | 700+ words | Copyright

Last Word, The (1890), a comedy by Augustin Daly. [Daly's Theatre, 101 perf.] When Faith Rutherwell ( Isabel Irving) announces she will marry Boris Bagoleff ( Sidney Herbert) instead of the Baron Stuyve ( Sidney Bowkett), whom her father ( George Clarke) has selected for her, she is forced to leave her father's house. The Baroness Vera Boraneff ( Ada Rehan), a beautiful and rich “Witch from the Neva,” whose laugh is “a full yard of velvet sunshine,” and who is also Boris's sister, takes Faith under her wing. Faith's brother, Harry ( John Drew), a conscientious but bookish physician, comes to Vera's house to demand that Faith change her mind. But Vera not only proves to Harry that the Baron is treacherous and her brother worthwhile, she makes Harry realize that he loves her. Together they make the elder Rutherwell see things their way. Based on Shoenthan's Das letzte Wort, the play was one of Daly's last major successes in modern comedy.

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Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Last Word, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Last Word, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-LastWordThe.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Last Word, The." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-LastWordThe.html

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