DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Press, Volume XLVIL, Issue 7741, 22 December 1890, Page 6

DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Br *hk Wat ifr the Vtt.

Mr J. L. Toole finished his New Zealand tour on Wednesday week,with a ml* eellaheoas entertainment at the Choral Hall Auckland. There was a capital audience to wish the comedian ana his company good-bye. Amongst the items given were selections from Ms well known part of the Artful Dodger. He also afforded considerable amusement by hie performance of Buzfas in the trial from X Pickwick". Mr Toole is now nlaybiga short season in Sydney, after which _ he goes to Melbourne and Adelaide, lesving for England at the end of January next,. The company brought to this colony by Mr Edwin Thome, the American actor, are meeting with fair success in AoeklaQd; their opening piece was "The Coast Ga&rd. That Prince of Lecturers, the Star. Charles Clark, whole under the managership of Mr R. 5. Smy the, is renewing ilia

acquaintance wltu the Wellington people, ftad-iolaff 4t~in most Mr Clark Is due in Chrletchurch on the mh 'loetr when he Appears at the Oddfellowa . Halt, add is aOre of & hearty reception. ■ A new musical instalment called the vlolinettg host been Invented, which t&e following advantages. It has tone exactly similar to that of the violin; it Is so easy to learn that it can be thoroughly mastered by anyone with the slightest previous knowledge of music in a levy weeks. It is equally suitable for either lady or gentleman ; it has a beautiful effect either aa a solo instrument, or when accompanied by the piano. It ia easily tuned, and coats very little for strings, &c A large assortment of music is published for it. It has a full compass, is handsome in appearance, and very portable. • The Mary Anderson ranch on the Kiowa River, in Colorado, is now almost abandoned. Mies Anderson bought the place several years ago, and stocked it with blooded horses and cattle, for which she paid thousands of dollars. The property and stock she made a present of to her relations, and placed a half brother in charge, out it has been sadly neglected, and Is now almost a wilderness, abandoned to the coyotes and jack rabbits. Madame Pattie is having a synagogue erected on the grounds of her Welsh castle, at Craig-y-Nos. It is to be an exact copy, though of course on a much reduced acafe, of the Jewish Synagogue in Berlin.

Few actors (says the Era) have had to die upon the stage as often as Mr William Terries has had to do under Mr Henry Irving's management. In the realistic duel ia "The Corsican Brothers" Mr Terries was killed some two hundred times in succession; in " The Cup "he departed his stage life about a hundred; as Mercutio he was two hundred times run through the body; in " Hamlet" he likewise met a violent end ; as Romeo he perished on two hundred nights at the Lyceum; and now. as Bucklaw, in "Bavenswood" he falls nightly by the "Master's" sword. The boards of the Lyceum have evidently a deadly influence on Mr Terriss, who may be calculated to have expired upon them on very nearly one thousand occasions.

The Chevalier Scovell, the tenor, is engaged at the London Lyric Theatre in the opera of "La Cigale" at a salary of seventy guineas a week and ten per cent, of the profits. According to the wonderful business they are doing at the Lyric now, the Chevalier's weekly draft will ancount to about £200. The incomes of artists in English opera will s-jon be as large as those of Italian opera artists. There is an appalling rumour in theatrical circles in America to the effect that the puglht, John L. Sullivan, is preparing to appeor in "Richard the third." Mr Richard Mansfield lose a fortune in attempting the tragedy there last year, but Mr Sullivan is reported to be undeterred by that fact. The daring scheme originated with Mr Duncan B. Harrison, who is making a fortune out of his drnrna " Honesc Hearts and Willing Hands," in. which Sullivan is the hero. The pugilist, encouraged by the ease with which he earns his salary of SOOdols. a-week, has declared bis ambition to appear In what he terms " something heavy." He intends to begin with "Damon and Pythias," and ond up with tne tragedy in which Mr Mansfield met disaster. Mr Sullivan, however, states parenthetically that he believes " there will be the devil to pay in the galleries and newspapers if I try one of those pieces that Booth and Barrett and those fellows play in." This may be a saving clause. But John L. Sullivan's dramatic ambition is aroused, and he means to secure on the stage the same prominence that he held In the prize ring. Sir Arthur Sullivan's " Gondoliers " will shortly be prodused in German, at the PriedrichWllhelmstadtischesTheater.Ber. lin, by the company of that house. Great preparations have been made, and the original designs for the costumes have been utilised. There is little doubt that success will attend the performance, though the Viennese were not edified by the music. There was, however, a reason why Sir Arthur's operetta did not go down in the Austrian capital. The critics objected to the introduction of anything foreign, and, furthermore had a bone of contention to pick with the theatre, so they vented their wrath on the stranger, and cried down his work. A sorry war of avenging themselves, but not an uncommon one on the continent. In Berlin Sir Arthur Sullivan's music Is everywhere most popular, and his " Mikado" in Germany at the above-named theatre had a very long run. Mr Gladstone recently attended one of Madame Pattl's concerts at Edinburgh, and acknowledged the pleasure he received by letter in the following graceful way :— "It was a rare treat to near from your Italian lips the songs of my own tongue rendered with a delicacy ol modulation and fineness of utterance such as no native in my recollection ever reached or even approached." ■ Mr Fred Leslie, having been ordered by his physician to take absolute rest for some months, the American trip of the Gaiety Burlesque Company has been abandoned for this year. The company will start for Australia in April.