STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 215, 7 September 1912, Page 14

STAGE JOTTINGS.

HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. August 31 to Sept. 14— "Slnbad the Sailor Pantomime. Sept 10 to October s—Oscar Asche. October 14 to 26— "Nobody's Daughter." October —Auckland Amateurs (pencflle , November 18—Grant Melodrama Co. TOWN HALL. September 7, 0, 11—Ctenenoe Concert Co. Sept. 0— Royal Follies. Sept. 10— Choral Society Concert. PICTURES. IClnf'e Theatre, Royal Albert Hell. Lyric Theatre. King George—Durham Street. Newton Picture Palnce (continuous). Queen , Theatre (contlnuona). Emplrt Theatre—Dominion Road, i VAUDEVILLE. ! Opera Uouie— Nightly. ___________

The whole of the scenery, wardrobe, the donkeys, the snakes, the coloured men. together with the stage manager, musical director, and mechanical and electrical staff for the production of "Kismet" will reach Auckland on Sunday next by the Mahcno. Mr Oscar Ascho and Miss Lily Bray leave Sydney to-day for Wellington, and will come on to Auckland by next Wednesday's Main Trunk express. They will be accompanied by their manager, Mr B. A. Meyer. Playgoers will learn with pleasure that the repertoire for the Auckland season includes four Shakespoa-re productions, viz., "The Taming of the Shrew," "Othello," "The Merchant of Venice," and "The Merry Wives of Windsor." Although the prices charged for dress circle and reserved etalls during the Sydney and Melbourne seasons were 10/- for the opening night and 7/6 for subsequent performances, Now Zealand playgoers are only asked to pay 0/- for the privilege of reserving a seat. The Asche-Brayton tour has been mapped out so that not a single iiight will be lost in Now Zealand, an arrangement which must have have cost those responsible for it much time and thought- For instance, the Auckland eoaeor finishes on Saturday night, and opens on the Monday following at Wellington; the close of the season there takes place on Saturday, Christchurch beginning on the succeeding Monday; Christchurch finishes on Saturday, and the flnst Dunedin appearance will be on Monday; the season finishes there on a Wednesday, and Invercargill wall be played for the rest of the week, the company leaving the Bluff for Melbourne on Monday, December 1.

It seems probable enough, indeed, that Franz Lohar enjoys the distinction of being the wealthiest living composer. From " The Mecrjr Widow " alone he is reputed to have netted well over £HK),----000. But, like most other composers, successful and otherwise, he has known struggle , *. Not long ago Lehar was confiding to an interviewer some of his youthful troubles. At the ago of 12 he became a pupil at the Prague Conservatorium, where he studied the violin. " I lived the life of a boarding pupil, which is not the most agreeable sort of existence," ho recalled. " The money which my parents sent mc for board wae insuflicient, so that on one occasion I collapsed in the street from sheer hunger In the Conservatorium orchestra 1 played tho triangle. The wtirks given mc were chiefly by Bohemian composers, SMelana, Dvorak, and Fibich among them. The director, noticing that I was neglecting the violin for composition, eaid that I , niuat (five up my lessons in the latter with Fibich. . . In 1887 I laid before Dvorak two works —both sonatas. After looking at them, he eaid, ' Hang your vio lin up on the wall and dovoto yourself entirely to composition. , " In a sense, then, perhaps it may be said that wo owe tho "Merry Widow" waltz to Dvorak. It is a solemn thought.

Some statistics issued in connection with the operas performed in Germany during the last year aeem rather inconclusive, or, at any rate, very incomplete. But it is not without interest to loirn that the "Magio Fluto" and "Fidelio" each obtained 208 performance* —a somewhat curious coincidence—and that thoe "Marriage of Figaro" came next with 105. After Mozart, the composer moat in favour eecme to have been Wagner, whose "Siepfried " and "Tristan ,, were mounted respectively I".'! and 132 times. Strauss appears third in the list. "Salome" and "JJer Roxenkavalicr" having tied with tiO representations. But one must look lo light operatic realms, in Germany as elsewhere, for really impressive figures. And of its kind the must popular work with the German public last year was Lehar'e '"Count of Luxembourg," which was given 1,794 times. Lucky composer:

Tlie record of " Nobody's Daughter," i tho trump card uf the lMimmer-Denniston , repertoire is interesting. In London it won the dramatic success of the 1910-11 season. In America it ran for two entire sca-soivs. Its Australian success to date has been a repetition of the old-world verdict in every way. It ran for nine wcelcs at the Palace Theatre, Sydney; eight weeks at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne; and two weeks nt each of the Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth Thositres. Already its New Zealand tour has commenced in a phc7iomenally successful manner. The Plimmcr-Dcnniatoa Company is working up from the South, and will oommencv its Auckland season at llis Majesty's Theatre on Monday, October 14th. From Mr. Gordon L. Conrad, the advance representative of the Company, 1 have received a copy of " Nobody's Daughter" play pictorial. The book is attractively printed on fine art paper, and the illustrations of the principals and those depicting the many interesting situations of this charming comody(lmina show to great advantage.

Lucky or not, the number thirteen, ■ it is interesting to recall, played a curiously recurr/it part in the career of Wagner, who was not a particularly unlucky man by comparison, at any rate, with most of the great composers. Well, Richard Wagner was born in 1813. You will find thirteen letters in those two names. "Tiuinliauser" had its Paris production. (.1 melancholy fiasco, truly) on March 13, 1 SOI, and came into its own, a-s it were, in the French capital on May 13, 1807. The Bayreuth l'\ \ • spielhaus was opened on August 13. 187 C. li, was designed, by the way, to accommodate 1,344 people. Wagner's stage works number thirteen. The theatre at Riga, ivlicre he obtained his early experiences as a conductor, was opened on September 13, 1837. "Tannhiauscr" was completed on April 13, 1844. The fall score of "Parsifal" received its final touches at Palermo on January 13, 1882. The period of the composer's exile from Saxony lasted thirteen years. The 'last day the spent at Bayretxth, alter the production in 1882 of "Parsifal," was September 13- His friend, Liszt, saw him fop the last time on January 13 of the following year. On February 13 the composer of tho "Ring" breathed his laet. Add together the figures at the .year of hie birth, and yoa «31 discover )•

Miss Amy Murphy is to remime her former role in "The Chocolate Soldier" In the forthcoming revival of that comic opera, instead of Miss Florence Young, who, it was originally announced would play the part.

(leorge Bernard Shaw appears to be the most translated of living English dramatists. A Russian translation of all his plays will be shortly published in St. Petersburg. Mr. Shaw as a dramatist is the subject of frequent articles in Russian Literary and theatrical journals. Mr. Frank G. Barton, of Barton

Tiros.' Circus (says the "Sydney Ke-firc-e"), has now completed his arrangements for the third New ZeaJand lour, which commences on September 12. Mr. Barton will leave by the Maheno next week, accompanied by the Baker Family, tin: Five Zingiaras, and several oth«r specialty artists. The new menagerie of wild animals will be chipped by tile came boat.

It was with George Rignold that Miss Florence Ibchter—now playing in ''The Girl Who Knew a Bit" at The King's Theatre, Melbourne —started her the-

atrical career about twelve years ago. She got into, good Shakespearean parts early in her stage history, and was ,at once pronounced an engaging and forceful actress, wiho had brains to undertake what, the great author had written, and sufficient artistic ability to enaile her to giv« the sentiments full and powerful expression. Subsequently she played lead in Clarke and 'Mcynell productions, and has toured New Zealand as well as all the States of Australia. Ar> theatrical manageress, she lias also •had some experience, having conducted her own company in a successful and profitable tour in South Australia.

After a few days spent in Paria on her return from a thirty-six days' tour in France, I*elgium and Switzerland, during which she visited twenty-three towns and gave thirty-two performances, Madame Bernhardt ha« "one to her splendid property at Relle Isle to motor J boat, play vigorous tennis, and consider her plans for the autumn. She will probably return to Paris in Scptem'ljer, to inaugurate .the new theatre of Belleville, which is to be opened under tire management of M. Frederic Soulie. Later on in the same month she will go to London to appear at the Coliseum in an 3/ct of "Lucrece Borgia," "Lα Reine Elisabeth," and to create a part in a new piece whrch her son, M. Maurice Bernhardt, has written an collaboration with M. Henri Cain. "A Christmas Eve during the Terror." In this she will appear as a woman of the ipeople, a "vivandiero '" In October she will return to Paris for a few days before leaving once more for a "last" American tour.

"Ireland To-day" is the name given to an entertainment being organised in Dublin for the purpose of making an extensive tour of Australia and Ne-w Zealand, the object being to show in a comprehensive and attractive way the different phaser, of life, the industries and the s=enery of Ireland, by means of the cinematograph. Already a very extensive series of pictures have bern secured of a very interesting character, .and further pictures are being addedViews in and about Lhiblin and other important cities and towns, also numerous pictures of the Killarney district, County Wicklow, and the wild Western counties, Donegal and Galway, with thrir accompanying quaint cottage industries and mode of living, are all realistically are also numerous views of the coaet, showing Kinffstown, Queenstown, C'onnemara, th-? Giant's Causeway, besides many quaint scenes on some of the .coastal* islands. Apart from the la.rpp pictorial clement to bo presented in Ui;- programme, other features of a bright and novel character will be embraced in mueicai and vocal numbers, the entertainment to be given bring Irish in its entirety. It is cxpcctcii tha-t arrangements will be completed Lo commence the tour before tho end of the present year. So far as the cinematograph portion of "Ireland Today" is concerned (writes the "Star's" correspondent), the Australian and New Zealand Governments might reciprocate with advantage to their respective Suites. With the prospect of Home Rule ahead, it i 3 quite possible that a goodly number of ita Irish opponents may be spurred on to emigrate during the next year or so, if their distaste for Or f(>ar of Home Ririe is anything like *o great aa their Parliamentary spokesmen would have us believe. Such travclj limr cinematograph advertising need not be confined to Ireland. for th.?re is : plenty of scope in rural and urban England for the operations of a travelling cinema dca-ling with Antipodean life scenery and industries.

Mr. Oscar Hammerrtein's second season at the London Opera House, Kingeway. conclude on July 13, was not successful .from a financial point of view. The London "Daily Telegraph," in a report of the final "gala" performance, states that among the operas produced in the three months season were OlTenbach"s "Tales of Hoffmann" (performed 12 times), "La Traviata" (one performance) , Massenet's ''Don Qiucfaottc" and others. Host of .Mr. Hamanerstein's productions were beautifully etajred. The attractions of tire closing performance were of a kind best described as miscellaneous, the programme consisting of operatic snippets." The Venice scene From "Tales of Hoffmann," the second act of "Rigole-tto." and a scene from Massen-et's "Heriodiade,"' sung by Modmme Augusta Doria and Mr. Henry Weldon, were among the items enthusiastically received. Mr. Hammerstoin's speech from the stage woe heard -with considerable interest. He stated that during the seven months in which, he had produced grand opera in London he had lost over £45,000. He recalled his production of "Don Quichotte." one of Massenet's most popular creations. On the first night the public assembled, in great numbers, and tihe receipts were £83. From that they had dwindled to £51, at the final performance of the opera. He had not come before them •to whine and be indignant. He had been warned, before earning to London, that he was going to present opera to an uneducated piuWdc Musically, he lielieved that ho was corning before a public that-desired all his best efforts. But openitically it was uneducated. Love of grand opera must be inherited. It must come from generation to generation. That -was "why the Governments of other countries except America—built ar.d subsidised opera bouses. It was a mystery to him how the London public allowed themselves to 'be without it. 'What was he to do? Devote the house to music hall purposes? In his opinion, it woxkl be a crime. He was alone in the enterprise. It was his inborn love of his profession that enabled him to 'face disaster. He had no desire of wealth. Ii isa<»«. terrible thought to him to contemplate giving up that "beautiful edifice and slinking away. Audi so, he •was going to give opera again. Enthusiastic cheering followed, ibis tumoanccment. When it had ended, Mr. Hammerstein said be wenld letarn is November, and -would end "mitea they did not come Bgam." -.