The complications and extravagances of Victor Herbert light operas are perhaps surpassed only by the antics of Congress. The current offering of the Copley Light Opera Company, "The Red Mill" presents a wide collection of songs and slapstick set against an incongruous background of Dutch windmills, green fields, and canals.

Two wandering Americans whose mission of "doing Europe," has been somewhat complicated by a sudden shortage of funds to meet hotel bills, seek escape by disguising themselves as two Italian organ grinders. Young Gretchen, a burgomaster's daughter, is suspected of wanting to elope in order to avoid marriage with the Governor of Zeeland. She is consequently imprisoned in a haunted mill. The two Americans, ConKidder and Kid Conner, rescue her. This unexpected disappearance from the mill occasions the offering of a large reward. A telegram is at once dispatched to the Hague summoning Sherlock Holmes, containing the declaration "money is no object." Intercepting this, the two Americans change their disguise to that of the English detective and his medical friend. They then "discover" the girl and collect the reward. There are other complications the denouement of which is that love triumphs over economics in match-making activities.

The choruses are disappointingly small and no part of the production could be described as elaborate. "Because You're You" and "The Streets of New York" were the most successful songs, the latter requiring many encores to satisfy the enthusiastic if somewhat liberal audience. The lines have been modernized right up to Monday, March 6, as indicated by the query by one of the players, "Cash or scrip?"