SONG, STAGE, AND STORY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 288, 11 December 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

SONG, STAGE, AND STORY.

The Bland Holb Company are still play. ing to crowded houses in Wellington The •Derby Winner' and 'In Sight of St Paul's' were the latest productions. Hudson's Surprise Party has been well patronised during its season in Dunedin. It will open in Christchurch this evening. The Inman Company commenced a four nights' season at Nelson on Monday even, ing. The St. John-Hayman have been playing to good business at Blenheim. : Madam Albani, the greatest of English singers, Sails under engagement to Williamson and Musjnove f rom Naples on January 7th with a full concert company to support her. She sings in Australia at sixteen performances in concert and oratorio.

Mr Wybert Reeve's cinematographe is well spoken of by the Southern papers The 'Weekly Press' says:—'A very noticeable feature about the performance was that all the views were rem.trkab_y clear, and there was an absence of that vibration so trying to the eyes after looking at several pictures. There is a naturalness and lifelike reality about them that is cpiite startling, and a total absence of the jerkiness and semi-obscurity of some we have seen here.'

Mme. Amy Sherwin's concert season in Adelaide was so remarkably successful that the prima donna sang at several of the local churches a& a thank-offering before leaving the city. At her farewell concert the Town Hall was densely crowded. Mr Barton M'Guekin did not sing after the first concert or two in Adelaide. He was obviously out of health, and as a consequence sailed for London by the Ormuz on Wednesday last.

For theatrical enterprise and generous expenditure the next attraction sent by Williamson and Musgrove through this colony is first amongst. their numerous ventures. There has been none to equal or even approach the magnificence and importance of the one which is to commence its New Zealand tour at Dunedin on Bexiug night. It is the English Dramatic Company, or generally known as ' The Sign of the Cross' Company. Seventy odd members form its personnel, as big as an opera company, whilst hundreds- of tons of scenery are being brought over. Mr Williamson writes that every member of the original cast as well as every detail of the productions will be sent. He intends to give this colony a fair test as to its. strength, and we shall see whether it will come up to expectations. The Company's repertoire will comprise three of the most remarkable plays of the age, ' The Sign of the Cross,' ' The Prisoner of Zenda,' and 'A Royal Divorce,' three productions that no one company has ever had in their repertoire. Within the space of two or three weeks New Zealanders can witness plays that it took audiences in other parts years to become,, acquainted with. The original company will he seen here including Mr Julius Knight, Miss Ada Ferrar, Messrs Mervale, Carroll, Atholwood, Stewart, Glassfo.rd, Caleb Porter, W. Hawtrey, Misses Elliott, Page, Terriss, Neilson, Mortyne, Raymond, and numbers of others who have earned such great kudos *on the" other side for their fine representation of these grand plays. The greatest interest will naturally centre in the production of " The Sign of the Cross,' Wilson Barretf, play, which has created such enbhusiasm everywhere. Nob only is the play to ty staged with a magnificence that is in itself remarkable, • but intense human interest pervades it throughout. The encomiums which the piece gained from English clergymen and men of eminence might have ___eri quite unavailing in Australia had ii nob been for the intrinsic value of the piece itself. It is not unworthy to stand side by side with the sublime tragedies of the past age. As it triumphed in England and America, so it " boomed " in Australia,. It ran for ten weeks in Melbourne, nine weeks in Sydney, three weeks in Adelaide, to record business everywhere. People, religiously inclined or otherwise,' flocked from ail parts of the country by special excursions on land and sea to the metropolis. In this colony the four centres will only, tie visited, beginning Dunedin, December 27th; Christchurch, January 12th; Wellington, January 27th; and Auckland^ February 21st. Ib is probable that the management will arrange special excursions to each centre to allow residents iv the country to see this fine Company.