DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9321, 23 January 1896, Page 6

DRAMATIC GOSSIP.

" Weekly Press and Referee."

[Br Prospero.l Mr J. St. Clair, who has had large experience now in New Zealand, considers CJu'istchurcii about the worst show town, comparatively, of any of New Zealand's principal centres. For receipts it does not, so far as this trip of the Faust Family is concerned, come up to some of the chief country centres. When Mr St. Clair iirst brought the Faust Family to New Zealand, about five years ago, they did very large business throughout the colony. I happened to be in Dunedin during part of the season there and they plaj'cd to crowded houses nightly. The company open there on this tour on the 29th inst., but prior do a country trip through Canterbury, one and two nights stands, ami then work overland to Dunedin. In tho North Island the receipts were very satisfactory. Mr St. Clair tells mc the Fitzgeralds liavo been "coining " money with their circus in the North Island.

Pollard's Juvenile Opera Company will do another tour of New Zealand this year. At Christmas time they have arranged to be in Wellington, having already booked the Opera House. The Greenwoods did not do the business in Christchurch they anticipated, and I was surprised that they were not better supported. The family are now resting at Suinner, ono of Christchurch's seaside resorts. Mr Tom Fitzgerald sends mc word from Wellington that he has just received a letter from Mr Fred Dawson, the well known advance agent of the Payne family, who opened at the Bolton Town Hall, Lancashire in November. Mr Dawson writes that the eight months' South African tour was a great success, and that the performances at Bolton have also taken well with the public. He estimates that it will take the company two years to tour England. Mr Dawson reports Wirth's Circus Company as doing good business in South Africa, but nothing in comparison with that of Fillis' Company, whose principal is specially popular in that colony. Fitzgerald Brothers' Circus has been drawing large crowds in the Wellington country aistricts during the week. The season in the Empire city commences on Saturday. The clever combination is sure to meet with a great reception in Christchurch, where the Fitzgeralds are prime favourites. St. John's Royal Burlesque and Gaiety Company brought their Dunedin season to a close on Saturday night, when a benefit was tendered to Mr "Will Stevens, a member of the company. On Monday night the show opened at the Theatre Royal, Invercargill. The Newbury Spada Concert Company is still on the We3t Coast of >the South Island doing very good business. Professor and Madame Davis are also on the West Coast, playing to large audiences. Thus Mr Brough on being interviewed in Sydney after arrival from the colony :—Our New Zealand tour was a great success, and we found the people as kind and hospitable as ever. The only unfortunate incidents were an injury to Mr Alec Maync, who fell down an unprotected trap and broke his ankle, and a sousing in the River Avon (Christchurch) of which Mrs Brough was the victim. We had just come in from a leisurely pull, and she was getting out of the boat when it upset. I was a bit frightened, because she can't swim, but I got her safely to the bank, and we were just crawling up it like drowned rats when our eyes fell on a severe-looking notice board—"No Bathing Allowed." This ironical-remark was, so to speak, " shouted to us " in huge letters, and the comic side of the adventure striking us both at the same moment, we enjoyed a hearty laugh. In her letter, dated London, November 22nd, to the Sydney Evening News Emily Soldene writes :—Mr and Mrs " Bill" Holloway leave to-morrow by the Tantallon Castle for South Africa, taking with them a full company, scenery, wardrobe, &c., for th« production of Shaksperian pieces on a grand and complete scale. Among the artists are Mr and Mrs Haviland, from the Lyceum Theatre, and Annie Mayor, tho original Nellie Denver, of the " Silver King," in Australia. I understand that Mr and Mrs A. Greenaway are to arrive from Sydney, joining at Johannesberg. Mrs Haviland (nee Coleridge) will be leading lady. Mrs Holloway will play under the name of Kate Arden ; the eldest daughter, Theodora, will be Cecil Arden ; and the second (who, by the way, is quite an authoress, writing short stories for the Tasmanian journals, and was born in Sydney), Juliet Sydney. Mr "Jack " Holloway is secretary to the expedition, and great success is anticipated.

On November 29th, the same correspondent wrote: —I saw Mr Musgrove on Wednesday evening, just returned from Paris, storm-bound in Boulogne, two days. Miss Nellie Stewart is to open at the Broadway Theatre, New York, December 24, in " The Artist's Model"—npfc a " starring " expedition I fancy. Several of the best people now in the cast of the same piece at Daly's ■ Theatre are to accompany her. I think from Mr Musgrove's manner that these arrangements are not exactly to his taste. Any way, it was the original idea that Miss Nellie Stewart should open in opera. "Ma Mie Rosette " was certainly mentioned, and for her own sake that should have been the piece selected for her American debut. Still "The Artist's Model" may be all right. Mr Musgrove lias not an exalted opinion of that celebrated production, I know. It is a strange fact, but a fact nevertheless, that directly Miss Stewart sets her foot on European soil (in spite of all her advantages, personal and material) she become 3 the controlled, and not the controller. I hear her costumes from Worth are raviesante. I am going to see them oa their arrival. Meanwhile, Miss Stewart has bronchitis, and is off to Brighton to recuperate. The solicitors of Mr Dacre's family wrote to the London papers : " Mr Dacre was not without resources of his own, which he could have drawn upon at any moment, besides having many friends to whom he might have applied, and who would have been only too ready and willing to have assisted him. The last letter received from Mr Dacre contained the most cheering news with regard to his prospects, and conveyed no idea of temporary pecuniary embarrassment."