Song, Stage and Story.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 190, 10 August 1895, Page 3 (Supplement)

Song, Stage and Story.

We will shortly have wibh us Mr George Leitch'a 'Land of the Moa* Company, now giving its initial performances ab the Opera House,. Wellington. The company in* dudes several actors new to this colony* the lady who will play the heavy lead in tbe piece being Mrs Molynoux, who, though a native of .New Zealand., has never appeared on the stage here. For a time she was a member of the Brougb and Boacicaulb combination, and sho has filled loading parts in several productions in Australia. Other members of the Company are Misses Polly Emery, Gladys Leigh, Nettie Phillips and Mainwaring, and Maasrs Percy Brough, H. Leonard, Carr, Linden, Ashton.Cabhcarb, bhe veberan acbor for a long time associated wibh Charles Kean. The first performance was given on July 29bb, at Wellington, and this ia what the * Post' says aboub ib :— ' There has never before been seen in New Zealand such wealth of scenic seneabion and elaborabion as was here. Ib was nob surprising that the audience waxed enbhuaiasbic and insisted on "calls" after each act, thab Mr Leitch himself received an ovalion, and bhab bhe acbion of bho ; drama was delayed on bhe exposure of bhe Pink Terrace, while the audience yelled for the artists concerned in the production. The crowning sensations are crowded inbo the lasb act, wherein horror piles on horror's head. Ib opens in a weird scene, depicting "Sulphur Island and the Black Crater." Plutonic forces are ab work beneath, sbeam rises in volumes, and bhe roaring and bhe bhunders of the geyaers appear to shako the cheatre, bub everything culminabes in the final sensation, in which a volcanic cone representing Tarawera looms up oub of the blackness of bhe stage, becomes violently eruptive, and finally "pours forbh flame and lava amidsb crash, and ateam, and smoke, and thunders, which proved realistic enough to make many of the audience jump in theii seats aa each successive explosion came.

Mr F. Stephens, tho agent for Pollard's Lilipubian Opera Company, sends us from Brisbane an accounb of the voyage across bo Sydney in the s.s. Manapouri. Owing to bhe boab being overcrowded, shakedownß had bo be made for the male members in the fore part of the vessel, where racehorses aro usually pub. A very humorous account of tbe fun made oub of bhis circumstance iB given. Every nighb of bhe voyage across a variety enbertainmenb was held, ab which programmes were presented consisting of recibabions, glees, duets, quartettes, solos, clog-dancing, reels, etc. The room in which these were held Was crowded evory nighb. Altogebher, bhe brip ia said bo have been bhe mosb enjoyable ever made on board the Manapouri.

Mdlle. Bellincioni, who seems to ,have burst upon London aa a revelabion, haa for years boon recognised aa a greab singer in Italy. Ab Rome she generally aings with Stagno, a famous Italian artisb who has always refused to visib England, and ib was she who created bhe parb of Sanbuzza. Punctually ab 3 o'clock yeaberday (says a Sydney paper), Mr and Mra Charles Arnold left Sydney by the Thermopylae for the Cape, waving adieus to the lasb moment to a score of artistic friends on the wharf. Mr Arnold made a small fortune in this parb of bhe world wibh ' Charley's Aunb,' and his long stay has been albogebher profitable. Biand Holb haa engaged Miss Elizabeth Wateon, a siabor of Miss Henrietba Wateon, to replaco Mis._ Hilda Spong, who joins the Brougb and Boucicault Company. The • Gaiety Girl' season in Sydney has been a ' record ' for heavy receipts. The sboy of the company in Australia has been extended, and ib is probable bhab Arbhur Robert's latasb London success, 'Gentleman Joe' will be produced. Miss Amy Roaolle and Mr Arbhur Dacre,; whoao sberling arb won them many admirers in Sydney, will to-nighb produce 'A Scrap of Paper' ab the Adelaide Theatre Royal under bhe managemenb of Mr Wyberb Reeves. Mr F. E. Cowen seems bf> haveachioved anobher colourless succcs d'estime with his j new grand opera, ' Harold.' Mr Hugo Goilitz, bhe husband of Miss Amy Sherwin, who lasb season represented Signora T)uae, the greab Italian actress, is now claiming £2,500 damages from her for alleged breach of contract. The widow of Vincenb Wallace, the com* poser of ' Maritana," is over eighby years of ago, and ia living in poverty in England. [ She was well-known a« a brilliant pianlßb ! under her maiden name, Belene Sboepol,