STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 84, 8 April 1922, Page 18

STAGE JOTTINGS.

Mr. fieo. Cross an<l his company <■>: Irish players arrived from Sydney by the Moeraki on Tuesday, and will commence a tour of the Dominion, opening at Gisborne on April 15. An Auckland season will be played later.

One of the most important engagements made*by the firm of J. C, V\ liamson, Ltd., is the original company of the famous Irish players, from the Abbey Theatre, - Dublin, who, -paving completed a wonderfully successful tour of America, have sailed for Australia. They comprise twelve artists, including Mai're O'Xeill, Arthur Sinclair, Maureen Delaney, Nora Desmond, Sidney Morgan, Arthur Shields. They will present their original production of "The Whiteheaded Boy," which they have played with phenomenal success in Kngland. Ireland and America.

The latest in lx>ndon revue i* the male mannequin. In "Peep Show," at the Hippddrome. an American youth of 19 struts the stage in miraculous feminine garments, singing in a high falsetto voice, and further disguising his sex under the most perfect of wigs. His nttme is Karyl Xorman. ar.d after he has "vamped" in an astonishing circumstance, cnllcd by courtesy a frock, he discards his ostrich tips and pailettes and appears for the final item in a blue serge lounge suit. Julian Eltinge, considered the "perfect woman" in New York, was the forerunner of this claee of entertainment. He only gave up female impersonations when he lost his figure.

Walter Kirby (minus moustache plus a coat of tan) has returned from a few weeks at Lome, says the Sydney "Bulletin." One night he engaged the local hall for a concert, and, the weather being warm, windows and doors were flung wide open. Midway through the programme Kirby discovered that half the trippers in Lome were sitting on the grass and sand outside enjoying the show on the nod. The wrathful tenor at once shut down, telling those who had paid that the concert would be repeated for their benefit. Erskine House lent its hall for a later warble, and the good gate-money mollified the singer.

Talbot O'Farrell, now on the way out from England, and shortly to open his Australian season at the Tivoli in Melbourne, is to the vaudeville stage what John McCormack is to the operatic or the concert platform. Both possess the same liquid voices with the clear high notes. Both have the gift of going straight to heart with their singing. O'Farrell is a big man in the prime of youth. He is coming to us at the very zenith of his career. His winning personality described by many who have listened to him- on the other side is sure to make for him here a host of friends, both before and behind the ci.Ttain.

"Gladys MomriefT has made her choice,"' says the Sydney "Daily Telegraph." "Her successes of the last year or- so have raised her on a tall pedestal of favour in playgoers' eyes. 'Her friends began to suggest that she was turning towards freah fields to conquer on the upper half of the globe. And there was the new .theatrical enterprise ibegun by Mr. Hugh Ward. When the time came, a few; days ago, for a new contract to be entered into, the brilliant Australian girl decided that she was satisfied with her prospects in her awn country —at least, for several years to come. Phe has renewed her- engagement with the Williamson-Tait firm; and it's a fairlylong engagement, too."

Fifteen pianos played at the came time by as many distinguished artiets was the unusual feature of a recent benefit performance given at the Carnegie Concert Hall for Moritz Moszkowski. the composer and pianist, who was very ill ia Paris alter an operation, und "was practically without resources. The concert netted for him £3000 The 15 pianists, who pj-ayed separately and two by two, as well as all together, and some of whoee names are familhir to musiclovers the world over, were:—Bachau6. Bauer, Casella, Friedman, Gahrielowitseh. Grainger, Huteheson, Lambert Thevinne. Mine. Mero. Mine. Key. Ornstein. Sclielling. Hiss Sehnitzer, and Stojowski. The morceaux played ensemble were, first, in memory or the great French composer, who -died in Algeria recently. SaintSaens' variation on a theme of Beetthoven, intended for two pianos, and his funeral march; and subsequently, from Schumann's "Carneval," the "Preambule,"' and -the final "Marche dcs Davidshundler." The effect must have been striking: -a— -j — Mies Amy Evanf and Mr. Fraser Gange sang at a concert at Pentonville Prison one Sunday in February. Mise Amy Evans sang "Come Unto Me,"' from the "Messiah," and her strange audience was deeply moved, and many wept. Mr. Gango sang "Lord God of Abraham," from "Elijah," and his audience were equally warm in their reception of his work. At the first, concert of the eeriee there was no place where the artists could stand in full view of their unusual audience. The chaplain (Mr. Pugh) thereupon invited those artiste to sing from the pulpit, and this was a unique experience for the two artists. The band of His Majesty's First Life Guards also performed a magnificent programme of music, and it is safe to say that they too realised that they could never have a more appreciative audience. The whole audience as soon as the strains oi the "Hallelujah Chorus" were heard rose and stood to attention, and it was wonderful to note how ready they were to appreciate a kind word and to give back smile for smile.

La Scala Theatre at Milan, the home of Italian opera and a Mecca for worshippers of music from all parts of the Continent, was the scene of many hours' pleasure for Mr. John Prouse, of Wellington, on his recent tour. La Scala, he said, had been closed for three seasons, but wag now once more the resort of thousands. Here the thoroughness of To3canini was manifest. Every performer must be a complete artist first, and a singer secondarily. The singing, the orchestral music, and the general atmoaphere created in the theatre had impressed him that there was nothing to compare with La Scaln. The musical interpretation was so perfect that the most difficult music appeared quite simple. If for a moment the attention was diverted from the theme to he concentrated on one of the component parts of the production, so perfect was the combination between the stage and orchestral forces that the opera still remained a beautiful unanimous whole. "Eigoletto," played according to Toscanini's ideas, was something never to be forgotten. Toscanini insisted upon reproducing opera as originally intended by the composer —nothing cfmitted, nothing added, : nothing altered —and the results he achieved were unforgettable, ~