THE WEST END THROBS AGAIN!

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE WEST END THROBS AGAIN!

rjp august i. a i cf l ( >8 awakening Charing C,o" R*o,T S"l" " J Pronged tSTZt Sun-burned variety artists are beginning, to drift in from the of a theV° nCert PartieS " The doors or the big agencies are blocked troups of show people LIS Y wrb. and clapping backs and exehan ™/w? d : tories ° f -".n : K^.; 1 Sfc the ,c----cancers. The new season ha« begun.

Last winter's failures are forgotten. A hundred hits are discussed. Little boys are waiting patiently by stage doors with autograph books to catch the returning stars. One of the greatest hits of last season was Leslie Jle'ison's gaiety farce, "Going Greek." Mr. Henson has proved the .value of teamwork and the same teamLeslie Henson, Fred Knmev, Louise Browne and Richard Hearne, and author Douglas iMirber—are rehearsing a new show. Little seems to be known of it except that Messrs. Henson and Furber ha'Ne spent weeks arguing about a title. The first fruit of the season will be seen on .Monday at Brighton, when Stanley Lupino's outrageous "The Fleet's for a fortnight before its West Kml first night. Mr. Lupino is a sea-struck youth who joins the Navy but suffers an injury which Hies him back into the age of pirates. Adele Dixon is the infamous woman pirate, Mary Bead, but another injury pitches' Lupino into to-day again. There is an uproarious fight between marines and modern pirates and the whole business ends with the Spithead Xaval Review. Vivian Ellis has written the music for that other writers' team. Guy Bolton, Fred Thompson and Bert Lee, who have convulsed Hippodrome patrons in a handful of tarces such as "Give Me A Ring." Shakespeare at the Lane The most controversial adventure vet announced is Ivor Xovello's Henry V., produced by Lewis Casson, to go into Drury Lane in September. Mr. Novello is studying the part in Venice, oblivious to the fierce discussion between his

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Londons Most Promising Theatre Season in Five Years.

Stanley Brogden AN EX-AUCKLANDER

Spectacle-romance fans and cynics. This will be the Lane's first Shakespearean production for years. Lric Maschwitz ha* made various hints of a successor to the haunting "Balalaika," but before tliat is accepted a* fact it must be seen what he has made

of Lola Montez. whose life he has made into "Bird On The Wing." starring Mary Ellis. Montez was one of the greatest courtesan-dancers in history and he could hardly slip up. Mary Ellis' fame is filmic and the West Kiul will be full of film stars. Jack Hiillx'rt and C'icelv Courtneidge are planning a stage return after seven years in tlit* studios, while Jessie Matthews and Sonnie Hale are at work on a script for a musical comedy. The Hollywood star, Constance Cummings. lias spent some time here and is just starting rehearsals of Rodney Ackland's "Remembrance of Things Past." a drawing 100111 piece. But the most sensational rumour is that Bette Davis. Leslie Howard and the full film caste are coming over with the full Broadway production of "The Petrified Forest." Head and shoulders above his contemporaries in public favour is John Gielgud. He has formed what is more or less a permanent company at the Queen's, with Leon Quartermaine and Hennione Baddelev. He is rehearsing Dodie Smith's sixth play, another drawing room piece with the amazing title of "Dear Octopus." As Dame Marie Tempest is starring opposite Mr. Gielgud, success seems to be assured. A Charles Morgan Play Xew Zealanders must have heard mnch of Dr. Merton Hodge's success at the Comedy, that fascinating study of Army life, "The Island." This conies off in a few days after a run of over 200 performances. Personally, I thought Godfrey learle's part was sufficiently strenuous to fill any actor's day, but he is rehearsing a new play at the Lyric to open at the end of August.

This is Charles Morgan's "The Flashing the story of a naval inventor whose international troubles seem to strike a topical theme. Mr. Morgan's novels have stamped him a* the most a-ucceesful intellectual writing in England to-day. Also in the cast is Margaret Raw lings, who will be remembered in Xew Zealand for the fine Elizabeth in the Barret t& of Wimpole Street" six years ago. Of course, Marie Xey is Xew Zealand's great A\ est End star. Just why her name is not a household word here is Im'voikl my comprehension, for she has tinllled London with some of the most intense performances of this decade. She is reading her part in "She Too was

Young," a light comedy written by Mrs. Charles Morgan (Hilda Vaughan) and Laurier Lister, with Edmund Gwenn, Todd, Dorothy Hyson and Esme Percy. The producer is Murray Maedona Id who staged Miss Neyi "The Lake" in 1933. I place Flora Robson among the six greatest actresses in the world. She is the one actress who can force the acceptance of melodrama through sheer intelligence. So I am looking forward to seeing her in Basil Dean's production of 'Last Train South." an intellectual thriller by R. C. Hutchinson placed in the Russian Revolution. Mr. does not seem to be frightened by the failure of his epic thriller nt the Lyceum. Edgar Wallace's Sanders of the River play, "The Sun Xever Sets," for his plans include a gangster horse opera, "Murder in Soho. The most important news, of course, is that .1. B. Priestley's two new plavs, "Wedding Group - ' and "Johnston Over Jordan ' are being scripted for production in the early autumn. Little has been announced, but I am told that they are based upon that time theme which Mr. Priestley has successfully propagated for several yearn at the Duchess. Altogether, during the five years I ha\e spent in London, I cannot remember a more promising season. Every possible type of play is being rehearsed. Alanagers are tearing their hair in their efforts to rent theatres which have already been snapped up by more enterprising gentlemen. There is even a new Crazy Gang show being prepared for the Palladium by that British Ziegfeld. George Black; lan Hay has completed a new comedy to replace "The Housemaster." They tell me the latter concerns the young wife of a famous man and the trouble caused by her leaving him to go _ back to school. The only theatre which has announced nothing but a complete lack of plans is the Coliseum, which has now taken in an international circus and seems to have forgotten that the spoken word ever existed.

Yet the plans are not completed, for almost every manager is travelling to Melvern at this very moment to see the Festival. This annual feast opens on Monday and the programme includes five important premieres. Frank Pettingell has at last been given a chance to star in James Bridie's * "The Last Trump," which is the story of a big business man haunted by the double fear of fatal illness and a world disaster. J. B. Priestley's "Music At Xipht" ■>tars Lydia Sherwood and is purely experimental. Mr. Priestley's prolific ty|K»writer is one -of the most amazing phenomena of modern art. C. K. Munro has written a play about the exciting "Coronation Time"' for the Festival, and Lord Dunsany s "Alexander" and Mr. Bernard Shaw's fiftieth play, "Geneva."* complete one of the most exciting Malvern programmes ever seen.

[Mr. Broaden left Auckland for London five years ago. and for the jmst two years has been on the West Knd stage and in the films. He is now a dramatic critic.—Ed.]