"THE GIRL FRIEND”

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 79, 27 December 1928, Page 13

"THE GIRL FRIEND”

VERY COMICAL MUSICAL COMEDY

“The Girl Friend,” a musical comedy in two acts and four scenes, adapted by K. P. Weston and Bert Lee. Music and lyrics by Con Conrad, Gus Kalin and Richard Rodgers. Cast: — Porter Jack Dunne Mrs. Bnrke .....' Ivy Parker Mr. Burke Leslie Donaghey A Girl on the Train .... Winnie Tate A Country Girl Tui Black Robert Mason Reginald Sharland Kitty Brown Annie Croft Jennie Billie Lockwood Jerry Leo Franklin Miss Wendell Mary Rigby

Phillip' Dennison ..;... Frank Leighton Johnny Jack Dunne Richard Dennison Gus Bluett Mrs. Dennison May Beatty Hotel Visitor Winnie Tate Night Clerk James Hughes Mary Katie Towers Bell Boy Bunny Beattie

“The Girl Friend,” the Palace Theatre (London) hit of a year ago, was presented to two bumper audiences at the Grand Opera House yesterday in a manlier that accorded with the best traditions of J. C. Williamson Ltd., which means a standard that compares very favourably with any part of the world, so far as musical comedy is concerned. This may be taken literally, as the writer witnessed the London production. The comedy, which was adapted from Messrs. P. Barthlomae and Otto Harbach’s “Kitty's Kisses,” by Messrs. R. P. Weston and Bert Lee, has all the attributes of successful musical comedy, namely, a reasonable framework of story, oodles of nonsensical comedy, > clever folk to put it across,” plenty of pretty girls, and bright catchy music. „ ~ . ' The public is given all this in The Girl Friend.’,’ and everything being done in a delightfully effortless manner makes the concoction all the more entertaining. Illuminated by the presence of a, new and graceful “lead’’ in Miss Annie Croft, also two bright dancing comedians, the performance moves along smoothly without any straining for effeit to the accompaniment of roars of laughter, wple tapping feet follow the rhythm ot the many haunting lilts, most of which are already well known. They include The Blue Room,” “The Girl Friend, Just Imagine It.” “Mountain Greenery, “Early in the Morning,” "I Travel the Road” (a little gem of a gipsy song). The settings given each number and the accompanying ballets lend animation and gaily toned charm to the play. The story needs little telling. It concerns > the misadventure of Kitty Brown who during a temporary holdup of an express train loses her trunk and purse, and arriving at a hotel is refused admission for very obvious reasons by a comic night clerk, who is also the house detective. Kitty tries other hotels, but is forced to return again to the first for a night's shelter, and is given surreptitiously the bridal suite by a sympathetic telephone girl, who knows that the couple who have booked the rooms, Mr. and Mrs. Dennison, are not to occupy them. But the husband does turn up, making complications which are further entangled in the morning when the irate wife arrives to find that her room has been occupied by a ‘charming bit of fluff.” She immediately drags in her lawyer, who proves to be Kitty s friend of the .railway journey, and who has been looking for her to restore to her the lost purse and trunk. The husband. having been blissfully alcoholic the whole night, only laughs at the whole proceeding, but Kitty has been compromised by a set of circumstances over which she had no control. Finally the combined clerical .strength of the hotel prove an alibi, and all ends happily. Miss Annie Croft is a finished artist in musical comedy. She is tall, lithe, graceful in motion, has a pretty. little voice, and presents the last word in sophistication and appeal in the class of work called for in the role of the distressed Kitty. She made an immediate appeal, and. by her restraint and sureness of touch, confirmed the favourable impression made by her ability elsewhere. Mr. Gus Bluett, in the role of the young bibulous husband, with a shedragon of a wife, was enormously and continuously funny. His wildly eccentric attitudes and idiotic babble, his. dumb show and mimicry, kept the audience in a state of ecstatic giggle. Another excellent comedian is Mr. Leo Franklin, a newcomer, who as Jerry, the hotel clerk, made a distinct hit with his electric dancing and amazing variety of expressions. He was particularly spry in the scene where he figures as the hotel detective, wearing a badge for every emergency. and his duets with the telephone girl Jenny (Miss Billie Lockwood) were among the priceless gems of the evening. Miss May Beatty, who received a warm welcome, played the dragonesque Mrs. Dennison with enormous vigour, and was very amusing where her fury is aroused by the yellow demon. Mr. Burke, Dennison’s uncle, a threepenn'orth of elderly mischief, was comically played by .Mr. Leslie Donaghey, and Miss Mary Rigby figured as Mrs. Burke. Mr. Reginald Sharland figured effectively as Robert Mason, the lawyer, who secures Kitty for his own. and with Miss Croft made the little romantic scene of the second act a thing of delight. Mr. James Hughes appeared ns the night clerk, Miss Katie Towers was Mary the housemaid, and Miss Bunny Beattie scored in a neat dance as the bell-boy. The ballots (arranged by Miss Minnie Hooper) are as original as they are beautiful, and the pretty frocks worn by all the ladies were a feature of the comedy. An efficient orchestra completed the ensemble.