AMERICAN PLAYGOERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 71, 24 March 1910, Page 4

AMERICAN PLAYGOERS.

A COi£PAEISOST. : (By Telesraph. Correspondent) ; WELLINGTON, this day. American theatregoers are not so hard to please as those in Australasia, according to Mr. Harold Ashtori, who has arrived here in charge of the ''"Peter Pan" ( Company, which begins its New Zealand! tour on Saturday evening. It is only a short time ago that Mr. Ashfon finished up a six months* tour of the State. • ; During that time he visited over two hundred "shows in spying out the land, and bringing back evidence of its boxoffice fertility. . He found that' what would please Americans in the way of entertainment would not suit Australasia. He found plays no tetter produced than in the colonies,- no "better played, but the audiences were not so hypercritical as 13iose of Australasia. They would not complain of want of plot, or -want of continuity, so long as there was plenty of music* light, colour and dancing. They set themselves out to be amused, they were easily amused, easily satisfied, and they paid well for it. "Sometimes we hear grumbling about prices out here," said Mr. Ashton, "but two dollars is the price for any ordinisry dramatic performance, and two dollars fifty cents for ordinary musical attractions such as, say, 'The Country Girl. We give the same attraction, generally better piayed and produced, for 5/ and 3/ for parts of the house corresponding to those in American theatres. -Success in America," added Jfr Ashtdn, "is no guarantee for success here ■with the American 'play 3," and there has been- plenty of evidence to beer out mis-Assertion, - :