THE MONTAGUE SHOW

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22244, 8 November 1937, Page 3

THE MONTAGUE SHOW

BRIGHTNESS OF LONDON REVUE COMPANY

CLEVER AND ATTRACTIVE FIRST NIGHT

"Let's Go Places" was the name of the opening show of the Montague Revue Company at the St. James Theatre on Saturday night, and a packed house, in typical Carnival Week mood, certainly went to some enjoyable places with members of a talented company as very amusing guides. The sponsors of the present tour of the Montague Company claim that the show's present tour gives New Zealanders their first opportunity to see a genuine London revue. The Montague Show certainly gives a very good reason for the well-known popularity of revue with the London public, and sets a new and higher standard of fast-moving and clever revue entertainment in this country. Half the success of any revue company depends on the success of its comedian. In George Doonan the Montague Show has a polished and clever natural humorist. His personality needs no artificial aids of makeup or effects to aid it in the congenial task of bringing laughs. From his first appearance to his last he had his audience with him, as friends sharing in an intimate joke—some of them were the sort usually told among intimates, too—and his gaiety was infectious. He can dance and sing, too, and the end of one of his turns left an audience still chuckling, and waiting for the next. George Doonan, however, is not the only male comedian in a bright show. Jimmy Jewell and Ben Warriss ably seconded him, and also shone as comedians in their own right. The dialogue right through the show is witty and unusually clever, and when it skates over some seemingly thin ice, goes so quickly that the next laugh I comes before the audience has time to reflect properly on the last. The Dawn Sisters, dancing eccentrically in a burlesque of ballet, singing a little and talking a little, took the house by storm, and their act was all too short—a complaint that might have been made against the whole programme until when it was over the audience saw the time. The sisters brought a type of comedy seldom seen in Christchurch, and it has much more to commend it than its'novelty. The Two Rogues, an international comic duo of dancers, also were seen in comedy numbers, both clever and attractive.

The Darmora Troupe The dancing honours, however, in the Montague Show go naturally to the Darmora Troupe, The leader. Darmora herself, is a brilliant solo dancer, and the merit of her own work is enhanced by the polihsed skill of the ballet of her own training. Few ballets as good as the Darmora Troupe are seen in revue productions on this side of the world, and the audience showed clearly its appreciation of their work. Miss Catherine Stewart, formerly in Christchurch with musical comedy productions, was an execellent foil to some of the wit of Mr Doonan, and in several solo turns added to the general hilarity. Margaret Kelly is one of the several good singers in a show full of good voices and tuneful songs, and a male quartet, the Blenders, some of them also singing solos, was deservedly popular. Of the vocal excellence of George Doonan's own "Male Voice Choir," the maestro himself and future audiences can judge for themselves.

No revue company would be able to accomplish much without a good ballet, and the Darmora Troupe has not the ballet field "to itself. There is the ordinary ballet of the show which maintains the highest revue standard of brightness, beauty, and dancing. Costurnings and scenery are alike good, and the show brings a new conception, perhaps only given before by the American Marcus Show, of speed in continuity. Not a second is wasted. The laughs at one situation are swell-, ing to a crescendo as the curtain goesi down, when the curtain is up again, and the audience has either to make the same laugh fit a fresh joke or settle in its seats at some well-staged and well-costumed spectacle. The orchestra, when it could be heard above the laughter, was good, and the tunes are modern and bright.

If the Montague Show brings to the city its first opportunity of seeing a real London revue company, it is certain that the show will not be making its first visit also its last. The appreciation of the first night audience was an undoubted assurance of a successful season.