IN THE STATES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 69, 23 March 1910, Page 2

IN THE STATES.

THE THEATRICAL TASTE. A WAVE OF GRAND OPERA. Mr. Harold A.*hton, the well-known theatrical manager, who arrived from Sydney to-day with the "Peter Pan" Company, and has also recently returned from tho United States, gave a Post representative somo interesting details of the theatre in America. Ho had a six months' tour. There was no stopping at beauty-spots or high-priced pleasure resorts. Ho visited over two hundred "shows" in spying out the land and bringing back evidences of its boxoffice fertility. He found that what would please Americans in tho way of entertainment would not suit Australasia. He found them no better produced than in tho colonies, no better played; but tho audiences were not so hypercritical as those of Australasia. They did not complain of want of plot, want of continuity, so long as there was plenty of music, light, colour, and dancing. They set themselves out to bo amused. They were easily amused, easily 6ati»fied, and they paid well for it. "Sometimes we hear grumblings about pieces out here," said Mr. Ashton, "but two dollais is the price for any onlinaij.* dramatic performance, and two dollars fifty cents for ordinary musical attiactions—such as, Fay, 'Tho Country Girl. 1 We give the &amo attraction — generally better played nnd produced — for 5s ana 3s for parts of tho hou.»e corresponding to those in American theatres." "Then there is the Scalper?'" "Yes. For anything extra good you have to deal with him. You will pay one dollar move for your ticket. It's useless applying to the box-office. 'All seats sow,' they 6ay. Yes ; bought by scalpers. You pay for your ticket on the pavement." "The scalper takes tho risk?" "Oh ! he runs little risk, I assure you," was Mr. Afrhton's reply. The Americans, he added, had evolved a drama of their own. It suited them, and they paid well for it. But it would not necessarily do here. "You have to t-hut your ears," said he, "and ignore the applause. You must nsk yourself, 'How would it take in Australia and New Zealand? Would they like it?' And you come to the conclusion that they would not like it, would not understand it. Success in America is no guarantee for success here with Ameiican plays." All over tho States there was a wave of ' grand opera — "II Trovatore," "I Pagliacci," "Faust," "Dinorah," and Wagner were all the rage — a very good sign, he thought, of tho trend of publictaste. lmmeiiKe sums had been invested in opera houses to meet this need, and some fine buildings had been erected especially for the performance of grand opera. From America, however, Mr. Ashton brought back "Tho Lion and tho Monan" and "The Third Degree,' both by Chas. Klein. These would bo seen in New Zealand, with Mr. Julius Knight and Miss Katherine Grey as principal interpreters. The latter was one of the leading ladien in America, and hud there a great reputation. Mr. A.«htou was also successful in inducing Miss Grace Edmond to take- the place of Mihs Dorothy Court as pnnia donna in comic opera, and he considered himself very fortunate in doing ko, ■ '"Peter Pan," he said, impressed him personally more than any j»lay he could lemember. "It is one of the most lovoly things I have ever »ccn — one of the most touching, too. It is pure symholi^m. ) hope people will look at it in that way. There is plenty of fun in it, but underneath all Barrie has made to flow a subtle current of meaning. That must be discovered by the people who see it. Well, of its success in London and America — its long success, you know. But so much do 1 think of it that I am going to invite the old people from tho chautable institutions and children from the orphanage to sec it. They have been so before — filled the theatres in Melbourne and Sydney. Their joy was all we got out of it."