MIMES AND MUSIC.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 110, 10 May 1913, Page 11

MIMES AND MUSIC.

(By "Orpheus.")

THE SHOWS. OPERA~HOU3E. Marlow Dramatic Company, in season to 17th May. J. C. Williamson, 4th June to 14th June. HattiHton-Pliramer, 3rd to 12th July. J. C. Williamson, 27th August to 9th September. J. 0. Williamson, 16th October to Ist November. TOWN HAIL. Farewell concert to Mr. Horace Hunt, 13th May. Choral Society, "Elijah" and "Creation," Ist and 12th August. Concert Chamber. The Dandles, 26th May. The Dandies, oth Juse to 25th July. THEATRE ROYAL. Brennan-Fullers Vaudeville Company. HIS MAJESTY'S. Fullers' Pictures). THE KING'S THEATRE, Royal and West's Pictures. ■TAR THEATRI. fltir Picture Company. BT. THOMAS'S HALL., fullers' Pictures. EMPRESS THEATEE. Continuous Pictures. THE NEW THEATRE. Continuous Pictures BHORTT'R THEATRI. Continuous Pictures. * PEOPLE'S PICTURE PALACE. Continuous Pictures. Wellington is about to lose one of the most familiar and popular figures of its concert platform— Mr. Horace Hunt. During his residence here, covering ten years, Mr. Hunt has taken part, and a welcome part, in most of our first-class concerts. It is only fitting now that he has decided to gain further experience in the art centres of the world that he should bo farewdled by those who have been associated , with him. To this end his musical friends are holding a fare--well concert in the Town Hall next Tuesday evening. This will be Mr. Hunt's last appearance on the concert platform for some years, as he leaves for England by the steamer Indrabarah on the 23rd. It is "his intention to proceed straight to Germany, and he will probably make Berlin his headquarters, and after spending some time on the Continent, London. His ambition is to hear the great masterpieces, und their world-famous exponents, and to become en rapport with the latest developments in the musical world and modern ideas. Mr. Hunt is particularly looking forward to the opportunity of becoming closely acquainted with the modem French school, which is characterised by the same symbolism and impressionism which so strongly marks the poetry of Verlaine, Mallamie, and Bandelaire. His Wellington admirers will wish him well in the realisation of his ideals. The programme for the comcert on -Tuesday evening is unique, ahd one which, on its merits, should draw a packed _ house,- quite apart from the special circumstances attaching to the pc- > casion. The readily-given assistance and the enthusiasm of his fellow musicians has been most gratifying to the promoters. ■ Some of those assisting are Mr. Robert Parker} Mr. Hamilton Hodges, Mr. Herbert Bloy, Miss Gertrude Hunt, Misb Agnes Segrief, Mr. Baxter Buckley, Mr. Frank. R. Johnstons, Mr. C. H. Stephens, the Orpheus Quartet, and the Wellington Professional Quartet. Mr. Horace Hunt is to play a piano concerto with accompaniment by a full orchestra under the baton of Mr. Robert Parker. An arrival from Sydney this week was Mr. J. Gee, of West's Pictures, Ltd. Mr. Gee is here on business in connection with the change in management of The King's Theatre, in which Wests are interested. Mr. Alf. Linley is retiring from The King's Theatre. Mr. Gee will' be remembered in Wellington as being manager of the Theatre Royal when Mr Percy Dixs companies held the boards there. Recently the Wellington Royal 'Choral Society presented "Carmen," with Mdlle. Carmen Pinschof in the title role, - and the society's enterprise was much appreciated and rewarded. Now the society has made a further notable engagement, j For its festival on lßt and 12th August, J when Mendelssohn's "Elijah" and j Haydn's "The Creation" will be sung, it has engaged no less a celebrity than i Madame Mary Couly, an Australian oratorio soprano, brilliantly distinguished in England. Madame Couly recently appeared. in Sydney in the abovenamed oratorios with the Royal Philharmonic Society. Madame scored a ! great success in "Elijah," the Herald J stating that "Sydney audiences may ! ( never again hear the scena between the Widow < and Elijah as thrillingly render ed as it Was by this artist and Mr. Andrew Black." In "Hear Ye, Israel," Madame Couly showed buoyancy, dramatic feeling, and ati easy command of the voices ( in the high passages, and her beautiful voice also dominated the quartet of femalo voices, full chorus, orchestra and organ in "Holy, Holy, Holy." The soprano's interpretation of the beautiful songs that fall to her part in "The Creation" was marked by the most expressive charm. It was at this, performance of "The Creation" in Sydney that Mr. J. C. C. Hellemann, the Wellington Choral Society's new conductor, made his last appearance there, and the Herald states that he employed the vast resources of the organ with judgment. Through the steamer meeting with rough weather on. the run from Hobart to the Bluff, the Red Dandies missed their first date at Invercargill. The next night, however, they were greeted with a packed house, and Mr. Leo D. Chateau telegraphs that the "Reds were accorded a rapturous reception " On Monday night the Reds will commence a short season in Dunedin, and then will come north, being due in Wellington, at the Concert Chamber, on the 26th. Mr. Claude Haigh, who is in advance, wiil arrive, here next week. The Reds are comprised of the same members as when last in Wellington — Mr. Claude Dampier, character comedian ; All 1 . George Morgan, light comedian ; Mr. Oliver Peacock, baritone ; Mr. Gavin Wood, bass ; Mr. Leonard Griffiths, pianist; Mass Evelyn Ward, contralto; Miss Hilda Lane, soprano; Miss Irene Vere, soubrette. The Pink Dandies arrived in Wellington by the Ulimaroa on Wednesday, and proceeded at once to Auckland, where £hey opened this week. This company is under the management of Mr. Scott Colville, and includes a great favourite with Wellington audiences, Mr. Ford Waltham. Mr. Allan Hamilton, at the close of the Hamilton-Plimmer Company's season in Melbourne shortly, will retire from active management. This announcement is made by Melbourne Punch, which paper states that "after twenty-five years of strenuous theatrical hustling, he finds that his bank balance is sufficient to enable him to retire and take things easy for the rest of his days. Mr. Hamilton in his time has played many parts — behind the scenes. He has run a circus, managed variety showsj and has-^-as at present — gone in for high-class comedies. He has not had any trouble with his companies ; but he tells me that one of his best ventures was when he went over to Sydney on a little speculation: "And brought back my Whole show in my coat pocket. I cleared £2000 out of that coat pocket !" He explained that tho contents of that coat pocket were tho films of tho fight for tho championship j between Tommy Burns and Jack John- I f*n, which ho purchased from Mr. Hugh M'loboih. Allan Hamilton is cute of j

the most popular of managers, has many friends, no enemies, and all will be glad to hear that he is now able to retire and lead the simple .life in his own fashion."' A pretty compliment was paid the Hamilton-Plimmer management last week. On Monday the dramatic critic of the London Daily Telegraph reached Melbourne. On Tuesday night he visited "Dr. Wake's Patient," and on the following day wrote : "In all my experience of West End London theatres I have never enjoyed a more finished performance.than 'Dr. Wake' at your theatre last evening."* The company will tour New Zealand during Juno and July, and Mr. Gordon (Jonrad, who is now a resident of Wellington, has again been engaged to pilot the company. Mr. W. A. Low will be the business manager, and Mr. ,H. Plimmer general manager,. A suggestion that has been forwarded to the Christchurch Competitions Society with reference to the championship has much to commend it< It is, briefly, that the ( elocution championships should bo decided along the lines of the King's prize aggregates at rifle meetings. The competitors should appear in (1| Shakespearean recital ; (2) Milton recital ; (5) humorous piece ; (4) musical monologue ; {h> character recital; (6; oratorical aisplay; and (7) reading at sight. The first mx (oi« any other number desirable) should compete in the semi-final, which should consist of (1) a ballad (set) ; (2) "own choice" selection ("not humorous"). Then the three recalls should contest the final, which should be a dramatic recital set by the judge or the committee. The scheme's great commendation (says a Christchurch paper) is that it will provide a champion who is the best allround reciter at the festival. Now it is possible for a competitor to win the champjonship, and yet fail utterly in Shakespearean work, Milton recitals, humorous recitations, or in character sketches. Madame Marvelle's cockatoos will make their first appearance in Wellington at the Royal on an early date. The birds, assisted by tame very pretty South American macaws, perform some most intricate feats, while all the time a running fire of interjections is kept up by the humorist of the party. Many of the birds are over 40 years of age, and appeared several times before Royalty in England and on the Continent. A big novelty for patrons will be Mik, the mysterious mind-read-ing dog. Mik's powers border on the supernatural and uncanny. It matters not what his -master touches in the audience, Mik will correctly describe it. Mr. Pip Powell is waiting for a chance to come to' New Zealand again. " 1 want to have another shot at that Dunedin audience," he states. " I've been trying to get a joke that will catch them, and I've thought of it. If I succeed I'm going to have myself billed on my return to England as ' The Man Who Made Dunedin Laugh.' " Mr. Frederic Shipman, who has rej turned to Sydney from America, has something to say about the Melba concert tour of 1910 in the United States, which he conducted. " This was the biggest tour Madame Melba ever had, and the most successful," he says. "At Calgary (Canada), where there are 30,000 people, she sang to a house of 8500 dollars (about £1700) ; while at Saskatoon, a place wSere buffaloes and Indians ran wild not so long ago, we had for the one night 6000 dollars (£1200) at the price ot 25s a seat. Sales opened for the Winnipeg concert at 10 o'clock in the morning, &nd by 12 the house was sold. Then, we announced 400 seats on the stage, and decided to charge 12s 6d each for them. These had all gone by next morning." Miss Ethel Irving, entering into man j agement on her own account, has secured a long lease of the London Globe Theatre from Mr. Charles Frohman, and was to have produced there on Ist April a new comedy, " Vanity," by Mr. Ernest Denny, author of t " All-of-a-Sudden Peggy." The play illustrates middleclass London life, and provides Miss Irving with a real comedy part of the " Lady Frederick " order. A novelty is that her character has a double and at one moment both of the doubles are seen on the stage at the same time. After "Vanity," Miss Irving will revive "Lady Frederick," in which she made one of her greatest successes. Then, turning from comedy to drama, she will essay a tragic role associated with the fame of Sara Bernhardt, and in the autumn she will produce an American play, which is said to have an immense success on the other side of the Atlantic. Mr. Frederic Shipman, the well-known impresario, of New York, has arrived in Sydney. He comes as the herald of four world-famed musical artists, who will tour Australasia under his personal direction. The first tour will be that of David Biepham, the greatest of American baritones, whose success at Covent Garden in Grand Opera was just as great as his wonderful performances at the Metropolitan Grand Opera House, New York. The inaugural concept of the Australian tour will be at the Town Hall on. Saturday, 31st May. Two months later Mme. Lillian Nordica, a. name familiar to audiences throughout the world, will commence her concerts. Mme. Nordica is a dramatic soprano of entrancing and thrilling power, and she is the greatest Wagnerian exponent the musical world has ever had. On the third tour Mr. Shipman will introduce the renowned Russian violinist, Mischa Elman. For three years past this musician, who creates a musical soul, has broken all records. The fourth artist will be the famous contralto, Mmc. a Schumann Heink. This artist occupies in the contralto world what Caruso does in the tenor world. The ■nann Heink tour will take place in 1915. . *.i unusual number of new pieces have failed during the first quarter of tho year in London, and this fact probably accounts for the revival of several successful plays of a past generation. One of these is Pinero s early effort, "The Schoolmistress," with Minifred Emery in the name-part, a character which has been played in Australia both by Maggie Moore and Mrs. Brough. The London cast brought forward Dion G. Boucicault as Voreker, the impecunious, suppergiving little husband of* the schoolmistress, and it is interesting to note that the actor played the same part in Australia nearly twenty years ago. On 26th March "Diplomacy" was revived at Wyndham's Theatre. The Bancrofts originally produceJd Sardou's comedydrama in 1878, with Mrs. Kendal as Dora. Tho play has now been superficially modernised, with references to taxi-cabs and telephones, and the abolition of soliloquies. Sir Herbert Tree has produced "The Happy Island " at Her Majesty's, a poor kind of piece adapted from the Hungarian. The Westminster Gazette sums up the whole thing as "rubbish," other papers let it down very gently indeed, or praisa it altogether. Theatrical Clips:— Six theatres in Berlin aro bankrupt, and a number of others are verging on financial disaster. The extraordinary spread of the biograph craze is said to bo responsible. . . . Mr. William Desmond, who played the lead with Miss Katharine .Grey in her New Zealand tour, is reported to have signed a two years' engagement with his old manager Morosco, of Los Angeles. . . . The death is announced from London of Mr. Barton MTtuckin, the well-known tenor singer. He was the principal tenor with tho Carl Rosa Company for several years, and paid a visit to Australia with Miss Amy Sherwin some years ago. . . . The cast for "Sweethearts," the new Victor Herbert 'opera in New York, includes Miss Ruth Lincoln, who was in Australia with the Clark and Meynell Company.