MEETINGS AND AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 1894, 13 March 1876, Page 3

MEETINGS AND AMUSEMENTS.

SMITH'S NEW COMBINATION.

This new combination ol musicians, vocalists, gymnasts, and impersonators were well patronised on Saturday evening last, in tho City Ball. The programme was most attractive in its details, and excited general enthusiasm. Mies Lano anil Mr Gary sang several choice songs, which Were deservedly applauded. Miss Lane's " Stay with me 1 was gracefully rendered. Mr| Gary's " Ropp your powiiordry,' h -insri'liesecond half of Cromweil'sfamous axiom; s»cl "That's whare you maka a mistake," w»re Cordially received. Mr WiUurd introduced hia farmyard echoes on the violin, which Were exceedingly clever, The lady gymnasts Went through their usual evolutions with great, success. This part, of Wt performance was received with immense satisfaction. The Marionettes wero as playful sn eVer, and the children wondered at their marvellous representations. JUNCTION LODGE. A public tea-meeting will be hfld this evening in] the United Methodist Free Church, in connection! with Templary. Tea at half past six o'clock, nnrfj meeting at half past sp.ven. Eev S. K.stlgson in ihs chair. Addresses by Messrs Vdger, Atkin, and Cole, interspersed with singing, recitation, and music. SATURDAY NIOHT KNTERTAISTMKNT. Mr Tremain t^ok the chair on Saturday evening at the Young Men's Christian Association, and v?as as instructive and amusing aa oyar in iris thoroughly provincial ad'>resa. Mr Tremain is an old teetotaller, who nailed the colors to the roast twenty yews ago, and his native ntcrioi end aneodotea aro as amusing as Bomvell's olio of oddities, Cornwall abounds in tradition and romance, an Polwliele and Harris have shewn in their book?; hence Mr Tremain i" one of the most interesting of Telnplar chairmen. Tha programme of Saturday evoning vns good, and the attendance good. £ OagH were surjg by Misses Spurgeon Ash, and other ladiia; also, by Messrs Marson, McKuna, Carter, and Bishop. Mr Sroi'h gave "Paddy's Lovo Letttr," in true type. ''Meet me in the Lano," waa prettily suns; by Miss Lane. Mr "W. Doran, the local coivic did not malcehis appeawn-e is expected, and much disappointment War expressed especially by a plaintive vo'ce at t1 o remote corner oi' the room, wimperine forth, "Oh Willie, we have missed you " Mr Milburn presided at the pianoforte. THE TBEA.TRE The performance of Saturday evening last opened with the lively, sparkling comedy which never fails in exciting a deal of laughter, whenever and wherever it is produced, "Did you ever send yonr wife to Camberwell?" Chesterfield Honeybun, and his wife (Mr Power, and Miss Nye,) are tie prefatory characters. Honeybun ia a clerk ah a puinea a week, and gets into all sorts of debts and difficulties and consequently sends his wife to his old married aunt at Camberwell, a plea&mt snburb in the South oi' London, and during her absenca, and while Honeybun is ("having, another party, Christophw Crank and his wife (Me Sea"le and Mi&s'Bnshe.) take posseMon, by mistake, of Honeybun's apartments. Without t-oin" into further particulars, we may say that the comedy i=s full of life and sparkling with i*iins. Mr Po<ver was excellent, , and Mr Seatle, as Crank, was ia his giory, and his jumping pretended rage, and attunk upon Honeybun, who fears he shall be tried for baby-c de, drew immensely upon the risible fncultie-s of the audience. The burlescjus of Kermilworth was subsequently played in which Miss l.yrtid Hownrde nppeared a> 'ho Earl of Leicester. "Lo, hear the Gentle Lark," was exquisitely sung by this artiste. The character of Sir Walter JKaleigh was assumed by Madame Nr av ., ro , that of Amy i-ob-at, by Mis? Jeaiiie Nye. and that of the miscuiine Elizabeth, by Mr Power. This evening, we call particular attention to the fact, Fftrnie's operaBouffe, entitled Nemesis, or "not wisely bat too well," v?i!l bo represented, in which Miss Lydia Howarde will take the part of Rosalia, daughter of Roland, (Mr Power,) Mr Coliicr will appepr as Caline, Mr Searje as the retired shup-kaeper, Mdlle Navaro, as his chatminft daughter. Niss Nvc as Zidore, and Miss Biuhe as Aunty Thornton the scenic artist his been busy with his brush and palette in preparing the scenery of Nemesis A grand evening may therefore be expected by intending visitors to-niefht. A full orchestra will alto be in attendance, The,following is tho legend of Nemesis.

"• The new " musical extravaganza " brought out at the Strand, with the title "Nemesis; or, Not Wisely hut Too Well," is a a hybrid between burlesque and operabouffe, embodying the fun common to the two species of o-rotesque drama, hut avoiding the operatic pretensions of the latter. The author, Mr. H. B. Farnie, has token tin hand a French farce, entitled "Les Deux Noces de Bois joli," and by heightening the farcical into the grotesque, and introducing music by a number of composers so cast, that we may briefly call them " Offenbach & C 0.," has with the art of managers and actors, consummated one of the merriest and brightest little works ever seen even in the theatre especially devoted to merriment. Calino, a lax but nervous young gentleman, on the eve of his marriage with Praline, daughter of Mr. Potiphar de Patoche, a retired, shopkeeper, finding himself unable to enter his lodgings, comes back to the inn, where he has given a farewell supper to his bachelor chums, intending there to pass the night. Among the lodgers at the inn are Roland deßoncevaux Ramponneau, a fire-eating major, and his daughter 'Rosalie, a young lady of a very impulsive temperament. While Calino is preparing to repose/in the, deserted supper-room, Bosalie takes it into her head to leave her chamber and stray into the same room, which she supposes empty, in order to regale herself with'the view of the moon-lit sea commanded by the balcony. When ■she has indulged for some moments in the expression of a wish that some kindred soul were near to share her lofty sentiments, Calino, whom she has not noticed, and who thinks that so favourable an opportunity for a last flirtation is not to be lost, flings himself at her feet, and declares that he is the very_ person required. She is at first frightened, but soon highly delighted, and the panhave just reached an avowal of mutual love, when the Major peeps in, and is highly shocked at the scene passing before his eyes: He accordingly carries oft a cloak that he may identify the offender, and presently returns with a formidable array of weapons, demanding that Calino shall immediately engage in mortal combat, or wed the compromised Rosalie. The timid libertine accepts, not cheerfully, the latter alternative, and the hands of the couple are joined by the veteran after the the most approved stage fashion. On the following day no one is more miserable than Calino, who, engaged to marry Praline, and bullied into a promise to espouse Rosalie, finds himself in a fair way to become a bigamist against his will. He has only one loophole which affords a possibility of escape, and the use which he makes of this constitutes the chief action of the drama. The cloak the Major carried off belonged not to him, but to one of his friends, and consequently he is koown to the gallant veteran, not as Calino, but as Zidore de Filoselle. We will not_ attempt to follow the extraordinary incidents which arise from this false position of Calino, who, finding himself in the presence of both the fathers and both the daughters, is forced to approach the condition of Ceberus by_becoming two gentlemen at once. Soon he is driven into the remaakable strait of having to fight a duel with himself, and rushing off the stage, rushes back fgain, pale as death, with a discharged pistol in his hand ; one-half of the persons present believing that Calino has killed Zidore, while the other half are convinced that Zidore has slain Calino. Even more embarrassing is the position of the wretched man when the " Nemesis," who arranges his unhappy flirtation at the inn, brings the two fathers and the two daughters to the Mairie that two marriages may be civilly solemnized, he being the expected bridegroom in both the ceremonies. At last he is released from his purgatory by the appearance of the real Zidore, who is found equally acceptable to the Major and Rosalie, and he may now hope to live in a state of matrimonial bliss with Praline alone.

Into the canvas we have described are woven practical jokes sufficient to fill five acts of a wild Palais Royal comedy, though "Nemesis" only consists of one. Utter absurdity is intended, and from utter absurdity nobody, whether author, actor, or costumier, flinches for a moment. Thus, when the fire-eating Major challenges Calino he wears four collosal sabres,_ two dangling at each side, four horse pistols, mhis girdle, and moreover, carries a blunderbus in his hand and drags behind a small field-piece. AY hen Calino is about to be married he is attired in a suit of modern cut, but made entirely of white satin. 'Were there anything serious about the piece one might find fault with an in; consistency in one of the most amusing scenes, where a garden wall sometimes seems effectually to separate two families, sometimes is altogether disregarded. But this very inconsistency-gives rise to " fun," and no one even quarrels with honestly avowed absurdity, especially when it is productive of uninterrupted mirth. ■ ' [From the Awstralasian.'] MissLydia Howarde has a character to _ play which tests her powers, both of singing and acting, a good deal, but she comes well out of the trial. There is a finish in both, which attests the careful attention she has given to the sudy of her art; but there is, besides this quality of carefulness, so much unquestionable earnestness and feeling, as to suggest capabilities beyond those required for pretty trifles like Nemisis.