STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 168, 15 July 1916, Page 14

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Mice Thehna Flanagan, an Auckland Grammar School girl, who was a member of the Seven Little Australians Company, made a very favourable impression oa Mr Sydney Jame3, of the Koyal Strollers' Company. After hearing iher Tecite lie expressed the opinion that she wag a finished actress, and that, in the right hande, ehe wouM some day become a great actress. A popular success is attributed at the first night in Melbourne to the Gonzalez Opera Company. By common consent the star of the evening seems to have been Signor Cappelli, who made a handsome figure as Mannico, and exhibited a beautiful tenor voice, variously referred to aa " lyric " and as " robust." This einger was overwhelmingly applauded. Signor Cacialli with a fine base voice as FeTrando, Signor Scamuzzi, as the Count di Luna, a graceful actor, and good baritone. Signorina Bus as a tragic Azucena, i and Signorina de Revers ac a competent Leonora, with a vibrato, completed the cast. Signor Giovanni Gonzalez is the new conductor, and there were some initial deficiencies in orchestra and chorus, which repetitions may remove. The second cast was brought forward on Tuesday, when " La Traviata " was produced with Signorina Gonzalez ac Violett, Signor Dagradi as Alfredo, and Signor FiKppini ac Gcrmont. In this work, which ■was evidently less well interpreted, the baritono is chiefly chosen for praise. The Gonsalez Italian Opera Company has played ever since its opening in Melbourne to crowded houses nightly. Signor Tino Capelli is (the "Daily Telegraph" cays), perhaps, the best operatic tenor that has been heard in Australia. He sings with delightful ease, grace, and charm, and acts with much finish. The j leading baritone, Signor Scamuzzi, has a big broad voice of great range and power, and his singing of the prologue to "Pagliacci" will long 'be remembered by all who hear it. The company this week has played "Lucia di Lammermoor," "Un Ballo in Masehera," "Traviata," "Cavalleria Rusticana," "Pagliacci." and "Rigolctto," in each of which they 1 have scored a distinct euccese. The orchestra has begun to find itself, and the chorus is much improved. "Peg o* My Heart" has reached its 100 th performance in Sydney. Besides establish™-; this record for all Australasia, it has made another record for the charming young Irish lady who plays tho name part, as Miss Sara Allgood, on July 10. when the comedy became a cen-turion-play, had m;ulo 'ZGO consecutive appearances in the role. She played it I for 20 weeks on tour in England before I she came to Australia, and did not misa one performance in Sydney, even though i for several days she suffered from a cold I and incipient influenza. It is |ust on the I boards that before Miss Allgood goes back to the cold country she will have come very close to, even if she does not beat. Miss Lnurette Taylor's record of 604 appearances in New York. For it is expected that the tour of "Peg o' My Heart" through, the other Australian capitals, and the New Zealand, centres '. will take at least a whole year, and after ! that there arc the country towns to follow. Mr. Allan Hamilton, for so many yeare I general manager of the various eompanI ies headed hy Robert Brough, arrived in , London, via Buenos Ayree, early ill May jHe finds the theatres very much as I usual, all of them being open, and the 'best pieces drawing crowds. Melodrama; is as dead as Juliue Caesar, probably be | cauee so many find it on the battlefield or read it in their daily papers, but the revues are coining money, as also several new comedies, euch as "Caroline," "Please Help Emily." and "The Show Shop"—all three excellent. A Birmingham manager told him that in the great I munition centres it was difficult to fill the gallery. Doth men and women are earning high wages, and spending every I farthing, co, disdaining their former i lofty resort, they crowd into the back stalls, ousting the usual patrons, who are quite nonplussed by the unexpected invasion. Mr. Hamilton, who reportn that Mrs. Brough is looking remarkably well, was leaving London for Devonshire, and the English lakes district, and hoped to return here at the end of September. One of the Melbourne newspapers recently remarked, having regard to his name, that it seemed strange for Mr Albert Felino to be cast for the role of the "Golden Goose" in the J. C. Williamson pantomime instead of a cat. Now, : it happens that Felino is the artist's real name, ajid though be was born in England he is of Italian descent on his father's side. He has played a dozen different birds and animals in pantomime. After being a "Golden Goose" for 1,000 times, says Mr Felino, it is quite understandable that roast goose is positively nauseating to mc. Miss Lillian de Veimy, the Principal Boy of the J. C. Williamson "Mother Goose" pantomime, is tall, shapely, and divinely fair. She is what the novelist describes as willowy. She is not a strident, assertive, tremendously confident boy, nor is she shrinking and subdued. Miss do Venny just strikes the happy medium. She has a voice that carries her many songs in a telling manner. Her two best solos are "The Dream Girl" and "Soldier Boy." She is said to wear the close-fitting pantomime garments as to the manner born and with a gallant air. Arthur Sligant, London's celebrated pantomime Dame, who appears in the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., production of "Mother Goose," had to be strongly persuaded to come to Australia, for he confesses that he is a very bad sailor. "I have never been out of England for this reason," he explained. "Three years ago I was offered a fine engagement for America, and feared to face the stormy ocean. On refusing, a cable came from the late Mr Prohman offering mc increased terms and passage paid, with a cabin dc luxe; but I turned it down. I have refused three engagements for Paris because the English Channel runs between England and France. For years I have never had a holiday, and it was only tho earnest advice of my doctor, with tho addition of the special inditeemont from J. C. Williamson, Ltd., that induced mc to face the nightmare of a trip to Australia." Miss Maud Fane, who takes the part of the principal girl in the "Mother Gooso" pantomime, ia delightfnlly young, with a gift of lively comedy. Sho has, too, oil excellent voice of good volume and quality, and good looks are generously added to her other stage gifts. Aβ a mere child Msss Rmo used to sing in England in oratorio. In her toens she travelled tho East and Australasia with "Tho Scarlet Trtmbadoure," and in recent yuan fru been the ftrvourfte tearing Ijmfcjjaiutti;,'r/Tlraftt cad flhfct %

Some odd things occur in dark hours, and here is a story from the provinces (says Alfred Baxnam). Nora Delany had been playing at a certain hall, doing two numbers. The firet was a Scotch number, in which ehe wore kilts. The second was her recent eong, which she dresses -with evening dress. Walking home behind a woman, accompanied 'by •her soldier son —they had both been to see the show —Miss Delany overheard this from the proud mother of the gallant youth in khaki, "Jnst think of the husey. In her first eong she comes on in kilts, showing her legs; and, in her second, she comes on in another dreae that sbowß all the top part of heri" Mise Clarice Duckman, a sister of Mies Rosina Buckman (who recently crowned her meteoric grand operatic , career by 6inging the role of leolde in Wagner's wonderfully beautifnl opera "Tristan and Isolde" in London) is at present in Wellington. Mies Clarice Buckman is also a fine singer, having studied for over a year under Madame Weidermann, of Melbourne. A few months ago Miss Buckman toured New Zealand with the "Bought and Paid For" Company, since when she hae been resting in New Zealand. She hopes to be able to go to London later on in the year. Under the heading: "Kriegsgefangenensendung, Englanderlager, Ruhleben, via Berlin, Germany," Mr. Horace Hunt, of Auckland, now in dur-| ance vile, writes cheerfully to Mr. Walter Gorham, of this city, as follows: — "Was awfully delighted—excuse the Ibsenism —to have your letter with Ha cheering tone and interesting Wellington nems. Did not know that you were fathering some of my things. Thanks, old friend. Sent you a programme of a lecture-concert I gave recently—hope it arrived. Am helping one Jones, of Chrietchurch, in a Maori evening Boon. Getting a certain amount of piano now, I but was quite without for many long! months. Glad Bloy was in such good: form, phyeical and musical, when youj wrote. Look forward to more joint con- : cert work one day. Remember mc to Brookce, Frank Johnstone, Musicians' Society, Orphans, Savages, and good friends on the Press. All good things to you who flourish, I hope." Max Vogrich, who died at York recently, was the conductor of the Sydney Liedertafel some 30 yeara ago. He was a gifted pianist, and firet player at seven years of age in public. Prom 1870 to IS7B he toured Europe, Mexico, and South America, and subsequently with Wilhelmj he toured the United Statee and Australia. He resided in Sydney from 1882 to ISBG, marrying Mies Alice Rees, who wae the soprano in the firet "Patience" company to tour New Zealand. Since ISSG Max Vogrich lived in New York. Hie compositions include three grand operas (text and music) one of which ("Wanda") received ita premiere at Florence in 1875. Max Vogrich'e "Staccato Caprke' , is familiar all the world over, and at Christmas time the Sydney Liedertafel (Apollo Qub) invariably revive ibis memory by performing hie much-admired arrangement of Gounod's "Nazareth." Steele Eudd's new comedy " Duncan ilcClure and the Poor Parson," was produced at the Melbourne King's Theatre on Saturday night, June 24, to a house that was packed from floor to ceiling. The " Daily Telegraph" says its success was never in doubt from the rise of the curtain. It is brimful of the best comedy of Australian farm life. The greater part of the comedy hinges on the doings of the man about McClure's farm—by name Bill Eaglefoot. To the man who has dwelt in towns all his life Bill is an unknown type. To the other, who knows something of farm and station life, he is quite familiar, and not a bit overdrawn. Fred McDonald's portrayal of thie character is really splendid. He fitted into the part from the start, and played it with even greater success than he did that of Dave in "Our Own Selection." The audience laughed from the first to the last curtains at the hundred situations, humorous in the extreme, that Steele Rudd hao given us in this new Australian play. Bill Eagleton's presentation of an axe and an alarm clock to his bride as his nuptial gifts wae a fitting climax to a bachelorhood capable of almost anything. It is safe to predict a big success j for "McChrre." | Scene: Outside, the stage-door of the Adelphi Theatre, London. Time, 11.15 p.m. Leading actor, Godfrey Tearie, in khaki, comes out and hails a taxi. Tearlc: The Barracks, St. John's Wood. Taxi Driver (incredulously): The —the i barracks ? Tearie: Yes, the" barracks. It is doubtful whether the other West end actors of military age who will shortly be called to the colonra mil be able to emulate the feat of Mr. Tearie, who still plays his part in "Tina," while learning to be a soldier. According to Mr. Tearie, the combined dirties impose a big strain. He is a cadet in the Royal Horse Artillery, Officers' Training Corps, and has just been made - a bonrbardier. .. "I only get five hours' sleep a day, and I feel very tired at night," he said to a "Weekly Dispatch" representative. "I get away every day after 6 o'clock, and that just gives mc time to Teach the theatre soon enough for the evening performances. I can also manage the matinee on Saturdays, and sometimes see something of ray home on Sundays. "Foi Lunately the ■training has made mc exceedingly fit, and, except fof the tiredness at night, I don't feel any tlwj worse. '1 (fancy there ■will he many more of the theatrical profession at 6t. John's Wood shortly." Mr. W fi. Percy forwards to the "Sydney Morning Herald" the illustrated programme of the London Hippodrome's rcrvue, "Joyland," a 'wonderful example of theatrical enterprise, consisting of 33 tnick, superfine pages, adorned with innumerable portraits, and an elaborate coloured frontispiece Playgoers pay 6d for this extravagance, as well as cloak-room fees, and prices which indnde 10/6 ior a fauteml and 3/ for the "promenade" (standing). There are 10 different scenes in "Joyland," and Mr. Percy figures as a valet at the Liverpool landing stage, as "Mr. Isaccas" in Cinema-land, and as the only conscientious objector before the comic tribunal appointed to try war delinquents of that character, The last news of him «ms that ho was doing well in a vaoderrflie sketch with Blanche Browne aad Herbert Clayton. Ham Tate is tho starring comedian in "Joviand." Hβ declares that uncansekntß humour is always tho best, end qnotee a propertyman to whom ho showed the Forth Bridge, with tho pkyful remark that it was a fine hit of stage carpentering. "Ay, itfa ■woederfuy , replied Bob. Ton