MIMES AND MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1917, Page 11

MIMES AND MUSIC

(HI "OBPHEVS.'*)

THE SHOWS. Grand Opera. House: "The Magic Carpet." 15th September. "]j» Mttseotte," '--nil September. Town Hall.—English Pieirots, in season. His Majesty's.—Vaudeville. The Kiiig't Theatre.—Pictures nightly. Crown Theatre.—Pictures nightly. Star Theatre- Pictures nishtly." Our Theatre.—Pictures nightly, i'ew Theatre.—Coutimioua I'ictures. Bmprt-ss Theafre.—Continuous Pictures, Sliortt's Pictures.—Continuous Pictures. People's Picture Palace.—Continuous Pictures. Britannia Theatre.—Continuous- Pictures. Everybody's Theatre.—Continuous Pictures. Queen's Pictures.—Continuous Pictures. Paramount Theatre—Continuous Pictures.

The Australian strike permitting, the next J. 0. Williamson production for New Zealand will be the Royal Comic Opera Company in "The Pink Lady" and "The Red Widow/ opening in Auckland. Maud Allah, "the famous dancer, has made application in Los Angelos for passports to leave New York at the earliest opportunity to go to France to niirse the American wounded. Miss Allan, who spent the winter with her mother .near Los Angelos, has placed at the disposal of the American Red Cross her residence in Hyde Park, London, for - use as a hospital for General Pershing's injured soldiers. "La Mascotte," probably the most popular comic opera of thirty years ago, is to be revived by the Wellington Amateur Operatic Society at the Grand. Opera. House this mdnth. It is on record that of all the operas produced by the Pollard Opera Company when it toured New Zealand almost continuously for years at a stretch, "La Mascotte" was "jthe meat popular. Manyplaygoers will 'recall its pleasing melodfies —the '"Glou-Glou" duet, "The Attractive Girl," "Love is Blind,"~"The Tap of the Lli-um," "Oh, She's Charming," "Wise Folk Have Always Noted," "Fill Up the Can," "The Legend of the Mascotte," and "The Bell" chorus. A special feature is being made of. the dresses. Spectacularly the apex will be reached in the, third act where, in the woodland, the troops of Prince Frettillini's army execute a grand march. In this march 48 of Wellington's'most attractive misses wiil be. seen in strikingly becoming costumes of a style not usually favoured by amateurs. In characteristic fashion, the Sydney Bulletin discusses the late Beerbohm Tree's probable successor in popularity. It says: Now Tree hife gone, it, is reasonable to suppose that an Australian will step into his shoes as Britain's premier actor-manager, for Oscar Asche has fairly earned the title. As a producer, Oscar is far ahead of anybody else in London, while as a legitimate actor, though he has his limitations, he is the most interesting figure on the Metropolitan boards, and always gives good value for the money. Tree was a " character " artist pure and simple. Some of his ad-, ventures in heroic parts would have " got him the bird" outside his own theatre, The grand opera company which Madame Melba is to bring to Australia next year is the new Boston Opera Company (writes "Musicalus" in Sydney Theatre). The principals are : Sopnnos : Maggie Teyte (the Cbveht Garden star), Tamakai Miura (an excellent Japanese soprano), Luisa Villani, Mabel Piegelznan, Dorothy Follis, and France a Peralta. Contraltos : Maria Gay (the great Carmen who caused a stir at Covent Garden some years ago), and "Viria Winjetskaja (a Russian singer), ienors : Giovanni Zenatello (the famous Italian tenor and a Covent Garden star), lecardo Martin, Tovio Kittay, and Giuseppe Gaudenzi. Baritones : Geo. Baklanoff (a Russian baritone from the Imperial Opera, Petrograd), Graham Marr, Thomas Chalmers, and George Puliti. Bassos : Jose Mardones (a celebrated Spanish star), Virgilio Lnazari, and Paoli Ananian. Although it is a fine organisation, it cannot be compared with the former Boston Opera Company, which was disbanded in 1914, after five years' existence, and costing an American millionaire five million dollars in I order, to pay the deficits. It included I stich stars as Carnsw, Tetrazzim, Melba, 1 : Titta Ruffo, and Scliumann-Heink, and ! was the most magnificent opera organii Diition in the world. Madame Evelyn | Scotney, the Australian soprano, was a | member of tiiis company. j Now that America is well in the war, j and her man power and industrial re- • sources ;tro being requisitioned to the very fullest extent, picture entertainers in Australia are beginning to speculate as to how. long it will b«i before the. i supply of films will give out. Incidentally (says the Sydney Morning Herald), not a few persons are also asking when some individual with the necessary grit —and capital—will take advantage of the unique opportunity offering, and go in for local production on a scale that will approach 'the demand. Of course, there is the old argument that the actors nnd actresses of this continent are not sufficiently experienced to turn out au even passable play. Let those who take this view of the situation call to mind the number of Australians who have made good—Sylvia Bremer, E«id Bennett, Louise Lovely, for example—to say 'nothing of quits a, host- of well-known actors who have done more -thai) well—to emphasise the absurdity of this conten- | tion. Here we have everything necessary to successful picture production, and, jjiven a stage manager who knows his job, and is allowed abundant spending capital, to quote the spout, "the rest is easy." For practically the whole year round the lighting is well nigh perfect; the_ scenery for backgrounds in the out-of-door sections is unsurpassed anywhere in the world, especially when one thinks of the glorious Blue Mountains, the glistening heights of Kosciusko, and the wonder reaches at the waterside, whereon sport thousands of surf-bathers; and what nature does not supply in the way of pictorial embellishment need not be taken into consideration. A ■ veritable gold-mine is awaiting development. The death of William Furst, musical composer and conductor, was reported in America on 11th July. In his youth he became associated with the operatic performances in the old Tivoli Gardens in San Francisco, and while there produced an opera.of his. own, "Theodora." Ho was best known, howprer, as a composer of incidental music, one of his best efforts being the symphonic accompaniment for >" The First Born," produced some years ago at the Garden Theatre. When he was conducting the orchestra in San Francisco, Mr. Fnrst met David Belasco, who engaged him to write the incidental music for a, number of Belasco's productions at the Baldwin Theatre there, and was induced to go to New York to become the leader of the Empire Theatre in 1893, when "The Girl I Left Behind Me ". was produced, From that, time on Mr. Furst composed the incidental music for a number of Mr. 'Belasco's dramatic productions, notably among which were "The Heart of Maryland," "Under Two Flags,',' " Zaza," "Dv Barry," "Madam Butterfly," "The Darling of .the Gods," "the Music Master," " The Rose" of the Rancho," " The Girl of the Golden West," "Sweet Kitty Beltairs," " Adrea," " A Grand Army Mail." "Tlie Warrens of Virginia," "The Easiest Way." "The Return of Peter Grimm-," "She," "The Concert." "The Phantom Rival," " Marie-Odile," "Van dor Decken," and several other of Mr. Belasco's dramatic productions, and was engaged, upon the inU3ic for new productions by Belasco at the time of his death.