The Climax

              The Redpath Lyceum Bureau Presents
THE CLIMAX

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The Climax
Dramatic Masterpiece of Comedy and Music

Players Selected and Rehearsed by the Author
The Climax—musical, dramatic, humorous—is unique in lyceum entertainment.  For two seasons the play thrilled New York.  Subsequently five road companies played to capacity audiences.  Revival of the production by the Redpath Bureau was made possible by the personal co-operation of the author, Edward Locke, who organized and coached the present cast.



Story of the Play
In The Climax the ever-popular theme of Love versus Ambition is presented most entertainingly.  Luigi Golfanti lives with his young son, Pietro, and an adopted daughter, Adelina, in a flat on the East Side of New York.  He teaches music, the boy Pietro composes, the girl sings.  Her voice has already won her some small success and she is on the eve of going to South America with a grand opera company, when a young doctor from Azalia, O., the village where Adelina was born, comes to New York with the intention of marrying the girl and taking her away from the stage and its influence.  Adelina loves the doctor but refuses to sacrifice her career.  He grows frantically jealous of her voice.  He persuades her to undergo an operation to strengthen her vocal cords, and afterward he gives her a spray solution which she is to use daily.  This solution paralyzes the vocal cords.

Pietro, the lad, has composed a new melody, The Song of the Soul, especially for Adelina to sing.  After the doctor has sprayed her throat she tries to sing but the voice is gone.  The girl, after a splendidly rendered scene of despair, tries to kill herself but is saved by the old music teacher.  With her career apparently at an end she turns to the man responsible.

The third act shows Adelina dressing for her wedding.  For several days she has been so busy that she has forgotten to spray her throat.  Without thinking, she turns to the piano and begins strumming out Pietro's melody.  Suddenly she finds that she can sing again.  The old man and the boy, beside themselves with joy, listen delightedly.  While she is singing the doctor enters.  Suddenly he confesses everything, tells the girl that he could not marry her until she knew the truth and then begs her to forgive him.  Luckily for Pietro, who is hopelessly in love with her, Adelina does not forgive.

But why more of the story?  The uncertain ending of the play is one of its many charms.  The curtain falls as the girl sings The Song of the Soul, to Pietro's accompaniment.



Nation's Capital Welcomes The Climax
When The Climax was presented at the Garrick Theater in Washington, D. C., during the 1919 season, criticisms were unanimous in their approval.


Washington Post
—An appealing story adroitly offered.


Washington Herald
—There are few comedies so worthy of revival as 'The Climax,' few which give such rich enjoyment.  It has a future no less brilliant than its past.


Washington Times
—This three-act play which requires but one stage setting and a cast of but four persons, is admirable.


Washington Star
—The lines of the play are amusing, sparkling, and the plot is one that abounds in human interest.



East and West Applaud
In New York and Boston, as well as on a western tour, the play was received with enthusiasm.


New York World
—There are several theaters in New York which might profitably discard their present plays for 'The Climax'—even with its quartet of actors and its single setting—and thus afford their patrons a genuine and novel treat.


Boston Advertiser
—Edward Locke's comedy, 'The Climax,' is the most popular production of the newer type of drama that Boston has yet seen.


Alan Dale, New York American
—'The Climax' is distinctly worth booming.  It is a sure thing.


Santa Barbara, Cal., Press
—'The Climax' bristles with epigrams and pleasing comedy.  It fairly bubbles with music and good humor.