STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 136, 8 June 1907, Page 10

STAGE JOTTINGS.

FORTHCOMING ENGAGEMENTS. HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. May 2.1 to June 15 — Mr William Anderson June 24 _o July 13 — Mr Jnlins Knigh» nrirl Company (Mr Williamson) July in to 20 — Mr Fred. Shlpman July 2'>. to August 10 — Mr Musgrove's Grand Opera Co. August .2 to 2-1 — Mr J. C. Williamson August 2fi to September 14 — Mr J. C. Williamson September 16 to October 5 — Mr Allan Hiittjiltou October T to 2G — Messrs MacMahon's Dramatic Co. OPERA liOTJSE. Till further notice — Fuller's Entertainers July 0, 10, ;i, 12 — St. Patrick's Ama--1 tears, in "MarUana" I ™ | Last night Mr Edward Leicester and I Mr Edwin Geach's company produced I "Human Hearts" to an audience plainly I in active sympathy with the highly popular material of the play, which went with much swing and vim. Air Leices- , ter's restrained and natural acting, par- j ; ticularly in the closing scene, was a tine ] feature of the performance, and the | whole production, including the scenery, ' which bears the famous name of Coie- ' man. was a most creditable example of j j its kind. ] | At Sir Charles Wyndham's invitation j the Colonial Premiers witnessed, on j April 25. a revival of "The Liars" at the I i Criterion, prior to the supper given by i the famous comedians and Lady Wvnd-j | ham nt the Hyde Park Hotel. " " j ! It is not ge-m-rally known that Miss i Marie Hall Wits once" a street player m I Bristol where - h; fame unelei the noi lice of Professor Sir Edward Flgar. ' Tli'-'-ugh this famous composer's influence ; sbe became a pupil of the iloyal College I of Music in London—where during the j first 1_ months of her tuition slie obi lamed a scholarship enabling her to pro- ' eietl to Prague, where she lieeame a pupil j of the most celebrated teacher of the : violin (Prof. Seizig). Within a year or j two h,;-r teacher called her into his studio, telJitig her that he could not ' teach her any more, and handing her his j own violin, said, "Now. go forth and teli j th. world your story." j -Mrs Nolt Osborne (nee Miss Maud 1 Jeffries, the popular actress) left Austraj lia a few days ago for the United States j to visit her relatives. Mr Osborne, who j ws.- round New Zealand during the tour j of tho Julius Knight Company, did not j accompany his wife, as ho 'could not ] spare the time away from his station. | Tbe English contingent of Mr Williamson's new musical f-medy company j—Misses Maud Thome and Daisy WalI lace and Messrs Miles Clifton and T'c- j | ginald Kenneth —were on the Marmora. j which arrived at Melbourne at the bej ginning of this week, and the. company I is now entirely complete.-. Miss Amy I Murphy ane' lit-r sister arrived "-from j | New Zealand hist week, while Messrs •Victor f'riurisr (the leading comedian).! ; Mr Harold Parks. Mr Pat Bathurst. Miss Colin Ghiloni and Urn others were all in, i readiness in Sydney. Kebearsals have; already commenced in earnest under i Mr Gerard Coventry, on "Tlie ISluc I ' Moon." with which thr- company will j ' ope-n at tin- Princes Theatre. Melbourne, I ; on lunr- 22. I | Mr .1. C. Williamson's Musical Comedy | Company, says a Sydney correspondr-nt. i veill contain in the two Misses Murphy, | of New Zealand, who will both be members of it. ;i case almost on all fours ' with I hat of the now famous Castles : sisters. Miss Amy Murphy and Mis 3 j Amy Castles each possess a glorious i voice, which they devote to the interpretation of the more serious class of j music, while their respective younger i sisters are both excellent singers with ', a leaning towards the lighter parts of I comic opera. The younger Miss Murphy j has already proved her worth in that type of character, and her Serpolette is I very highly spoken of in New Zealand. | It has been said of Mme. Albani, who is about to revisit Australasia, that more than any artiste of ber age. she enjoyed the cordial personal friendship of the late Queen. By royal command, she was the only soloist at the obsequies of Her Majesty. Edwin Leicester, the English actor, now in Auckland with 'The. Human j Hearts'' Company, recently told the following story:—'"Funny thing happened i to mc one night when T was on tour ! with 'The Silver King.' I had a frightful ' abscess in the jaw, one of those beastly things that swell you out in an awful I bulge from the. cheek to the neck, and make of you the most ludicrous and un- | dignified emblem of woe. I pointed out I that [ couldn't possibly play the part. The manager said that there was an enormous booking, and the understudy was frankly impossible; I'd better play. Well. I went on. The audience took mc well, behaved like martyrs. But in the last act Nelly Denver has to say to Wilfri!. '7 can only look in your dear changI ed face and ask is it really you J' Aud I hail t.o say, 'Yes. darling. Do you think I am changed?' That absolutely settled tthe audience. Stalls and gallery, pit and boxes, were in one convulsion btr.nt." Madame Carreiio, the celebrated pianist whom Herr Benno Seherek is introducing to this country, cuts a great iigure iv her native land, which is Venezuela. No episode in tier varied career is more romantic than the visit she made to "Venezuela on the completion of a national hymn she was asked to compose. For nine months she was the guest of the State. Brass bands, civic and military oflicers met her at the railway stations, and the freedom of the cities she visited was presented to iit-r in gold boxes, Iler concerts were sold out for weeks in advance, and the hours between study and performances were filled iv with recepj tions, serenades and banquets. La Milo and Cruiokshank return to !_nsi ra-iia early next year. Thirty years ago (says Archibald Haddon" in' the "Daily Express") there were only 45 theatres and practically no music hails in the London district; today there are within a 10-mile radius of ■ Charing Cross, nearly 800 theatres, mv- I sic halls, and concert halls, with a daily attendance of 150.000 persons. In 1870 ; there were only three theatrical com- j j panics "on the road"; to-day there are ; nearly 300, for each of which a theatre has to be found every week. The question suggested by Mr Mervale is perhaps two-sided, but I think no serious playgoer will deny that he ia in the. right. No one with a figment jf capacity for dramatic ihision could ever forget the ludicrous effect produced

when Miss Van Btrren, playing Barbara Frietehie with Mr Daniel Frawley"s Company, was sndenly shot on the verandah of her house, and almost as suddenly came to life again to bow to the aduience. If there is no illusion about a play it is not worth producing, and it is a primary requisite of tragedy that death shall be death, and not a fleeting acrobatic trick. If there were Jiore Carton Mervales abont dramatic art would rise higher in Australasia than it does at present.

I am delighted to hear that Mr Garion Mervale is among those actors who, having once been killed on the stage, steadfastly refuse to come to life again. It seems that at the end of the third act, when Mr Mervale was included in the calls with "Miss Tittell Brune, he did not appear, and Miss Brune. whilst the audience wondered, re-entered hurriedly, and announced that through some misunderstanding Mr Mervale did not choose to accept- their call, and for this she was very sorry. Then the love scene in the last act was played, and at the final calls Z\liss Brune extended her hands appealingly towards the wings, presumably to implore. Mr Mervale to come forward, but he did not. The explanation of the management concerning his non-appear-ance after the third act is that he was "changing." As to the reason why he did not appear at the end of the play, this is given in a letter to the "Argus" from Mr Mervale, who raises a question which is of considerable interest to all playgoers. He thinks tbat the illusion of a fine scene—it may be even a death seene —should not be destroyed by ertists standing mutely, and with the affectation of mod. sty common on such occasions in front of the footlights, to receive applause which might just as genuinely be given in their absence.

Miss Florence Hamer, formerly of the "Marriage of Ki+ty" Company, is with the Bandmann Comedy Company, _ow touring India. The. final season, prior to its dishandme_, of the. Waldron-Humphrey "Dramatic Company began at Her Majesty's Theatre, Melbourne, last Saturday. THE DEADHEAD.