MIMES AND MUSIC.

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 141, 11 December 1897, Page 3 (Supplement)

MIMES AND MUSIC.

[By Oephkus.J COMING EVENTS. OPIBA BOXTSK. . Bland Holt; 17th November to 15th December. ' The Messiah.' Maughan Burnett's Musical Society, 17th December. I THe Messiah,' by the Festival Choral Society, on Christmas Night. . Pollard Opera Company, Boxing Night to 19th January. ; Williamson A Musgrore, 27th January to 16th February. EXCHANGE HALL. Gardner Bros.' Musical Comedy Company, 22nd to 25th December. Hudson's Surprise Party, Boxing Night to Bth January. Bessie Doyle Concert Company, 14th to 17th January. My London correspondent writes under date of 29th Ootober :— Speaking of the close of the season at the Lyric Theatre and the departure of Wilson Barrett, the writer of theatrical notes in the Weekly Sun says : — 'It is now nearly two years since Mr. Barrett came to town — for ten weeks. The phenomenal success of •Tha Sign of the Cross* has, of course, maintained him in West End management. This remarkable play has now been done nearly 5000 times 'in the four corners of the earth.' There is no harm in saying that it has shaken from the back of its author- actor a load of responsibilities incurred by a too noble devotion to the higher art of th« stage, borne with splendid courage, and Herculean strength. Most Englishmen love a great fight against adversity, and they must be proud to see Mr. Barrett emerging victorious from a struggle that can only be compared with that of Walter 3oott.' 1 Max O'Rell's ' aim in appearing on the stage in the provinces, is not to become an Irving or a tip-top music-hall artist like Arthur Roberts, but to gain a little necessary knowledge of technique with a view to writing a play. It is a matter of rejrret that the ' Children of the King ' at the Court Theatre, in whioh two erstwhile Australians, in Miss Hilda Spong and Mr. D. Boucioault are interested, should not so for have caught on. For it is a charming fairy story, with the moat delightful descriptive music. So little have the playgoing publio supported it, however, that it was deoided to withdraw it last Saturday, and it was only in deference to many requests to continue that the management deoided to let it ran a littl« while longer. That interesting historical romance, 'The Courtship of Morrioe Buckler,' which was published in Macmillan's Colonial Library, has gone the way of all good stories. Messrs Charles J. Abud and Yorke Stevens have undertaken, with the consent of the author, Mr Mason, to dramatise it. There have been few more successful plays of late years than 'Under the Red Rube,' and there is no reason why the 'Morrice Buckler' romance should not afford an equally good dumatio story. 'Car ados,' in the Referee, speaking of the departure of Miss Maud Jeffries for America en route to Australia, says she carries with her the affection and admiration of thousands of playgoers. An, amusing story of a theatrical manuscript and its travels is told by Miss Olga Netheraole. A day or two ago she reoeived a tattered parcel containing a play whioh has been following ■ her round for two years. Originally it wa» . addressed from Sydney, in September '95, to Miss Nsthersole, in London, and forwarded from her former address to Daly's Theatre, and thence to the Savoy Hotel. Being returned to the Dead Letter Office, Sydney, it was endorsed there 'January, 1896,' and lay dormant some months. Than it set forth on its travels again to New York, May 18, 1896, to Chicago, June 10, to New York again. Thence in July it came to the Gaiety, London. Several other addresses in London were tried, and again the unluoky parcel got to the Sydney Dead Letter Office on November 26, 1896. Not until March, 1897, was another attempt made at delivery. Then it made a journey through America, crossed, the Atlantic, and followed Miss Nethersole oil hit English tour, and eventually was delivered to her in Dublin last week. And only to think that in this way some aspiring and unknown Australian dramatist may have been robbed fox two years of the sweets of fame. A good theme has been worked in ' The Vagabond King,' by Louis Parker, produced for the first time last week. The horo is a pretender to the throne of Pern, and holds in Park-lane a court in whioh is observed the strictest of court etiquette, but little excluaiveness. Dominated by . his scheming mother, the young man marries the daughter of a rich merchant. He pays her not the remotest attention, and does not become cognisant of the fact that his court has been maintained by her money till the money is squandered. There follows then a couple of very fine scenes in wtiich the Vagabond King asks her forgiveness, throws over his pretensions, and sets to face the world as a man. The final scene ia a cottage where the couple have set up housekeeping, and there is scope for some good aoting where the soheming old mother comes to tell her son that his claim has been recognised and that, if he leaves his wife, he can be King of Peru. Of course, the honour he declines in heroic language, and there the business ends. There is plenty of opportunity to hang a good play on the skeleton briefly described, and Mr Louis Parker makes the most of his ohances. Great as have been many of the theatrical plums sent by Messrs. Williamson & Muagrote through this colony , it may be predicted that none have yet approached in importance the odd which is to open its New Zealand tour at Dunedin on Boxing Night, and known as 'The Sign of the Cross' Company. Seventy odd members will form its personnel— as big as an opera company— and the scenery may be reckoned by tons. Mr. Williamson writes that every member of the original cast, as well as every detail of the plays in handi will be sent. Three of the most remarkable plays of the age form the repertoire— 'The Sign of the Cross,', 'The Prisoner of Zenda,' and ' A Royal Divorce' —a bill that is unique, in that no one company bM ever before had the trio in its repertoire, and that within the space of two or three weeks Maorilanders will witness plays thai it took audiences in other parts of the world years to make the acquaintance of. The oorapany includes Mr. Juliiur, Knight, Miss Ada Ferrar, Meisfs. Mervale Carvill, Atholwood, Stewart, Glassford, O»leb Porter, Hawtrey, Misies Terris, Neilaon, Mortyne, Raymond, Elliott Page, and others well np the theatrical ladder. Firat interest will probably centre in ' The Sign of the Cross,' Mr. Wilson Barrett's great drama, whioh he will probably play during his approaching Australian visit, and which has been tho success of modern times. As it triumphed in England, so it toomed in Australia. It ran tat ten weeks in Melbourne, nine weeks in Sydney, and three weeks in Adelaide— the record business everywhere. 'The Prisoner of Zenda.' the dramatisation of Mr. Anthony Hope's romantic novel, is a play of npectacularsplendour, and ' A Royal Divorce ' ia a Napoleonic play, containing notable scenes in the career of the great Frenchman. The four centra* only will be visited, the Dunedin season beginning on 27th December; Christchurch, 12th January ; Wellington, 27th January; Auckland, 21st February. It ia probable that in New Zealand, as in Australia, special excursions will be arranged to each centre to allow residents in the country to see the company. Messrs. Herbert Baillie & Co., Cubastreet, send me copies of that excellent London weekly the Musical Courier, which, I should think> would add to its circulation out here were it to arrange for a reliable letter from this colony on musical matters, wnipb are surely worthy ot tome atention.