STAGE JOTTINGS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 138, 12 June 1926, Page 24

STAGE JOTTINGS.

"Poverty is No Shame," by Oetrovoski, a dramatist of the 'seventies and 'eighties, a simple love story in a provincial setting, into which Russian songs and dances are introduced, will be proI duced for the first time in London this month by a company from the Moscow Art Theatre. "White Cargo" promises to become one of the greatest dramatic successes in the history of the stage. Its success is international. It is now, being performed by eleven companies in the United States, three in England, one in Austria, one in Italy, one in Germany, and one in Holland. Recently Mr. Gordon sold the Russian rights to a syndicate in that country. The play has passed its 13,000 th performance. A permanent home for the production of "intimate" Grand Opera is the new Grove Street Theatre, New York, which seats but 290, and was erected especially for The Opera Players, whose directorgeneral is Enrica Clay Dillon. The first subscription season opened April 6 with a production of Rutland Boughton's "The Immortal Hour," which has passed its 486 th performance at the Repertory Theatre, Birmingham, England. A hurried note from our Sydney correspondent this week brought the news that the management of "Lilac Time," which, it was stated last week, would not be coming to New Zealand, had changed its mind, and will bring the show over after all. It will be brought here at the conclusion of a short season in Newcastle, but Marie Bremner will not be in the cast. A new girl is being tried in the lead, but it is not disclosed yet whether she will play it. Marie Bremner has to stay in Sydney to understudy Harriet Bennet in "Rose Marie." j

Conductor of ' the Don Cossacks Choir, which is to be heard here soon. Noel Coward is a surprising young man, whose much-discus6ed and witty plays are captivating all countries. The latest centre to fall to him is Berlin, where his "Hay Fever" is proving an outstanding success. Other British plays to score in the German capital were "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney," Somerset Maughan's "Victoria," and "Spring Cleaning." But Coward's play keeps the aus-terely-panelled Kammerspiele, built for a lecture hall and intended for the highbrow, in one continual peal of laughter. The German cast is stated to be excellent down to the smallest detail. One of tbe plays that did not fare too well was Israel Zangwill's "We Moderns." Arthur Bourchier took a bold step recently for an established West End of London actor-manager. He went down to the 0 Theatre to play in "The Prince's Harem," with Louise Prussing as leading lady. Bourchier, asked for his reason, said that he believed that it was in the nurseries—the small, outlying theatres- —that young authors and actors were going to have their chances. The cost of production of an untried play at a West End theatre was too great a risk for new playwrights, and he intended to give what assistance he could to the Q Theatre. A season of "The Silver King" is promised at one of the Sydney theatres at an early date. Some interest attaches to the revival, since the two English actors who made their earliest successes in the play remained in Australia. The part of Wilfred Denver was played by the late Mr. George Titheradge, under the Williamson management, in 18S:i; and a few years later Mr. Walter Bentley, who also made a conspicuous success in Shakespearean plays, was seen in the same part. George" Titheradge sleeps the long sleep in South Head cemetery; but Mr. Bentley, although advanced in years, is still a resident of the city. " The first Mozart festival ever given in America was held at Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 6, 7, and 8. William Wade Hinshaw's company produced three Mozart operas—"Don Giovanni," "Cosi fan Tutte," and the "Marriage of Figaro." The project was guaranteed by leading business' men of Cincinnati, and special trains were run from a radius of 100 miles. The operas were given with the same artists who were with the Hinshaw Company when it visited the Pacific Coast this spring. An orchestra of thirty Cincinnati Symphony players assisted, under the direction of Hans Morgenstern. Last December the Hinshaw comiMny gave a Mozart festival in Italian iv Havana, The Cincinnati performances were all sung in English. The New Oxford Theatre, the future of which had been the subject of many rumours, was sold recently for £130,000 to Mr. A. E. Abrahams, a leading but little known theatrical magnate. It is only a few years since Mr. Abrahams entered theatrical business, but he already controls five West End houses. He owns the Aldwych, the New Oxford and the Scala, has a long lease on the Garrick and the Pavilion, and controls altogether twenty London and suburban theatres. His provincial interests include the Liverpool, Olympia and the Glasgow Colosseum. At 48 he is one of the richest theatre owners in the country. He began his business career by selling space to advertisers on theatre programmes and drop curtains. He founded the Borough Billposting Company with one man and a handcart, and developed it into a vast organisation covering the whole of London. A X ew years ago he sold it for £250,000, and invested his money in theatres. Formerly a well-known music hall, the New Oxford has in recent years been devoted to revue and musical comedy.