STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 254, 25 October 1919, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

One of the best scenes in "De Luxe 'Annie" is a completely furnished hardware shop.

Mr. Arthur Gordon, the violinist, is about to commence a tour of the North Island, after very successful performances in the Soutn.

Miss Beeban McDonald, formerly of the staff of the Bank of New Zealand in Gisborne and who went to Australia to follow the' stage as a profession, has joined J. C. Williamson's revue, which opens at Melbourne at Christmas time.

Madame Marie Power, tr.c Dunedin contralto, who during the one or two appearance in New Zealand, created a favourable impression, has been engaged by Messrs. J. and N. Tait to tour New Zealand as a member of the Dearth Concert Company. Madame Power is a robust contralto, with plenty of voice ot excellent quality. Her voice has a range from G above the stave to G below.

in a revival of Gilbert's "Pygmalion and Galatea," which has been staged in London at the Scala Theatre, the part of Daphne, the vulgar wife of the old philanderer, Chy'ros, is taken by Miss Susie Vaughan. During years on the Australian stage Miss Vaughan presented a series of character studies, always admirable and sometimes brilliant.

Miss Maggie Moore has achieved another personal success, this time as Abigil in Old Lady 31. at the King's Theatre, Melbourne. It is nearly 50 years since she first appeared as Lizzie in Struck Oil. with the late .1. C. Williamson art .John S.tofel. In those days she popularised the mouth organ on the stage. The veteran actress still plays the instrument in private, and sometimes delights her friends by rendering the airs which were the feature of the original production of Struck Oil.

Helen Edith llolroyd. formerly an actress, sued David B. O'Connor in Sydney to recover £150 compensation for alleged breach of contract. Her case was that the defendant engaged her as leading lady, at a salary of £I."> a week, to tour with a company in New Zealand for a period of 13 weeks, without any broken time. The part she was to play was Judy Abbott in "Daddy Long Legs.'' The defence was a denial of the contract alleged, or of any breach. The jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff for £50.

"The keynote of melodrama is accentuation," says Mr. Brandon C'remcr, in i an article written in "The Theatre."' ''"With that object we take greater liberties than may be necessary in finer, plays. For instance, we have to proclaim the entry of the villain by music appropriate to such a character. 'Heavy i music' is our name for it. Similarly! with regard to the heroine. Her music is in the plaintive key. Then there are the lights. The villain is spotted from j one of the perches with blue or green. He never comes on without his music, and rarely is he deprived of the light designed to identify him -with -his deeds. The usual colour for the heroine is white or amber. Even the comedian has music —something bright and lively. But he has to carry tho weight of his character without any special light."

November 1 will be the opening date of the J. C. Williamson Grand Opera Company at Melbourne Her Majesty's, when the season will be initiated with a grand gala performance, in which Miss Amy Castles will take part. The operas to be played during the ' Melbourne season will include the following: "Cavalleria Rusticana" and "Pagliacci," "Faust," "II Trovotore," "Lucia di Lammermoor," "Rigoletto," "Madame Butterfly," "Carmen," "La Boheine," "Tales of Hoffmann," "La Tosca," "Romeo and Juliet." Artists who will make their first appearance with this company in Melbourne will include Miss Amy Castles, Ralph Errolle, Raymond Loder, Walter Wheatley, Alfredo Valenti, Carl Formes, and Eileen Castles, sister of Miss Amy Castles- The season in Melbourne will be a short one only on account of arrangements made for a comprehensive tour of New Zealand, which is to follow.

"How many musical critics are there who, while admitting to their inner souls that Dolores is a better artist than Melba, will ever declare themselves in print to that effect? (asks a "Bulletin" correspondent). Consider the moving effect of Dolores' music on her audiences, and observe the same sort of audience "sitting under" Melba. Melba gets tons of applause; but half the really musical-souled section of the crowd goes away complaining of a hollow feeling. Dolores seems to fill the void every time. Melba, alive to the value of advertisement, is quite willing to do a bit of it herself in interviews and so on, and it's an old gag among Pressmen that the only one to whom she is really polite is the puff-par man. Dolores, hiding the light of her lovely voice under a bushel of privacy, would be more polite to the scribe than Melba, but she would do it to be polite, not for what she could get out of it."— Bulletin.

Visiting Wellington at the present I time is Mr. John Tait, of the firm of J. and N. Tait, entrepreneurs, of Sydney and Melbourne. Replying to a remark regarding the increase made in the admission tariff, Mr. Tait said that there was ample justification for the rise, and the public here would realise it on being mac]e aware of the position, as they had done in Australia, where 7/- had been charged for the best seats on week nights and 7/6 on Saturdays for some time past. Mr. Tait mentioned several remarkable increases in the cost of production, notably in canvas colours, furnishings, electrical fittings, the cost of transport, and salaries: "It is also common knowledge," said Mr. Tait, "that the salaries of artists and orchestral performers have been advanced during the war period, but it does not end at that by a long way. Take the cost of transport before the war and now! Thei single far e from Sydney to Wellington per artist, travelling with a company,' was £s—to-days—to-day it is £9 15/, nearly 100 per cent. on. I think the freight rate on scenery used to be about 17/G to £1 per ton; to-day it is £.1 per ton, so that when we travel with a lot of scenery, as is the ease with "De Luxe Annie," and "The Eyes of Yoti-h," our freight bill is pretty considerable. At to the cost of wardrobe, ask any lady as to the position, and 6he will admit that in the price of clothes there has been more than a slight increase since Wilhelra shocked the world. You cannot see Miss Polini from the best seats in New York or London for 7/- (plus tax), yet you can in Wellington. Ask your returned soldiers what they had to pay in London for a good seat at a "ood show! No, even with the rise the _«ew Zealand playgoer is fortunate in his theatre charges. He only has to travel to realise that."