Mimes and Music

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 21

Mimes and Music

BY "ORPHEUS'

THE SHOWS.

Opera Souse—Lawrence Grossman, in season liis ilajesty-a—Vaudeville. .Artcratt Theatre-Pictures. Our Theatre—Pictures. Kinpress Theatre—Pictures. Siiortt'B Theatre—.Pictures. Straud Theatre—Pictures Britannia Theatre—Pictures, rrlncess Theatre—Pictures JSverybody's Theatre—Pictures, yuoen's. Theatre—Picturei. Phil Smith is touring the small towns of Victoria with his own company slaving "The O'Brien Girl." ■" f ■> ■ Oscar Asche confesses that his birthday is on 6th June, and that he will be 51/ next time. Miss Phyllis''• Fuller, the youthful daughter of Mr. John Fuller, is taking up stage work. Accoridng to an Australian paper she has made a start in the chorus of the Fuller-Ward revue "Eockets." Few actresses willingly play "unsympathetic" parts, for they know that most playgoers are swayed by feeling rather than, by critical judgment. A character may be remarkably well played, and yet receive little applause, because it invites little or no sympathy (says the Melbourne "Argus"). That is why Emelie Polini will not appear in "East of Suez," the play written by Somerset Maugham as one result of hia Oriental tour after he visi'.ci Australia a few years ago. In the play an Englishman has married a-half-Chinese girl and there are problems of nationality. ' John M'Connack has this spring been singing ip for the first time, and has stirred his audiences to enthusiasm. The oldest singer of the Handel Festival Choir at the recent Crystal Palace performances was probably Alderman Charles William Cox, J.P., of Maidenhead. Now in his eighty-third year, he has been in the choir more than forty years. A good reason why Britain has such superb choral bodies. Georgette Leblanc, famous throughout Europe on the concert, dramatic, and operatice stage, is announced for an extended tour of America, for next season. Mma. Leblanc was the wife of Maurice Maeterlinck, eminent Belgian dramatist, and for her he wrote several of his greatest plays. Dr. Charles Harriss has been in England two months making preliminary arrangements for his six great concerts in the Stadium at Wembly during the .Empire Exhibition. He organised " his Empire Choir of 10,000 voices, drawn from nearly ninety choral societies in and around London, and his orchestra of over 500. He had the necessary music printed, which amounts to two tons weight, and he held one rehearsal, after which he left for Canada. Lee White and Clay Smith are to appear at the Alhambra Theatre, London, probably this mouth. They have been in the English capital ever siuce their return' to -England, hoping that they would be able to secure a suitable houso for their musical comedies. It is not yet known, whether Miss Ellaline Terriss, the beautiful and accomplished wife of Mr. Seymour Hicks, the great London comedy star, who leaves for Australia early' this year, to play a season under Hugh J. Ward's management, will be-seen here. It is hopea tbat the long sea voyage to Melbourne will so restore her health that she will br< able to take part in some of the plays produced in Australia. Mr. Hicka'g re. pertoire has not yet been decided on, but as Mr. Ward has already secured the Australasian rights to "The Man 4r> Dress Clothes," the most recent of>his London triumphs, it i s probablo that that comedy will be included in the plays he will star in..

Jean Aylwyn, the.-' musical comedy actress; who. began her career in "The Spring Chicken" in 1906, and has girice played .many parts in London and New York, is retiring from the stage. Miss Aylwyn, who is 38 years old, is preparing to nurse in Indian leper hospitals. ' Plays about golf multiply; one, "The Little White Ball," is by Vincent Lawrence, whose "In Love with Love" is running in the La Salle Theatre, Chicago, America. Another is called "Around in Par," and is among the plays to be produced soon, in New York. And "Kid Boots" is plotted on golf. On the night of sth January, "Sally," at Melbourne TheStre Royal, broke all records for Australia, for on that riight the alluring musical comedy commenced upon the second year of its run. The occasion was something of a gala night, and intense enthusiasm prevailed. Josie Melville was given an ovation, and each of the principals was given a demonstration of appreciation by the crowded audience. It is interesting to note that Josi6 Melville has never missed I a single performance throughout the entire year's run excepting one night I when there was no performance owing ;vto a strike of. the stage employees. ' This- season, in London, six concerts will be given by the London Women's Symphony Orchestra, founded last year by Mme. Elisabeth Kuyper, the brilliant Dutch, composer t and conductor. The programmes include classical and modern works, by Beethoven, Borodin, Brahms, Elgar, Debussy, Mozart, Ethel Smyth and Elisabeth Kuyper herself. Last winter's concerts were a marked success, notably one at the Lyceum Club, when the condnctor's composition, "The Song of the Soul," was performed for ,4ha first time. '

The .' 'Times'' musical .critic joins his confreres on the leading London papers in- his complimentary criticism of Miss Stella Murray, says "The Post's" London correspondent. Ho refers to her recent song-recital at the Aeolian Hall ac .most successful, and he continues: "We knew her already for the possessor of a contralto voice exceptionally fine in quality and equally rich in tone throughout its compass; but we had not previously' heard her undergo the test of singing great music. She proved an excellent interpreter of Wolf, whose 'Come Mary, Take Comfort' (Miss Murray sang throughout in English—a proceeding justified by her unusually clear diction), stood out above everything else in' the programme, with Pergolesi's 'Sun Above Me' as a good second. We look forward to hearing Miss Murray again when she has not to contend with a physical disadvantage (cold) which obviously prevented her from doing her best." i.ln a brief but complimentary notice, the Mail" says Miss Murray "displayed a stately voice and a stately style."

Those who know Miss Una Buddie, whose norn de theatre is Miss Una Dysart, will be interested to. hear of the striking success she recently achieved in Liverpool When "she played the leading part in Joseph Conrad's play, "Victory." In referring to that performance a well-known English dramatic writer, under the heading of ''Charm and Directness," said:—"Anyone else but Miss Una Dysart would have converted the part of Lena' into an absurd Unreality. As it was; she played with a charm and directness that made up for the shortcomings of the story itself. Miss Dysart is the possessor of'a fascinating manner: a fine emotional discrimination, and a sound understanding

of character delineation. Her acting last night 'was the outstanding featnfe of the production." Miss Dysart, who has been in England several years qualifying for her profession, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Buddie, of Auckland. "Simon Called Peter" has been made into a stage play by Jules Eckert Goodman, the Potash-Perbnutter playwright. "The Way Things Happen" is the name of a new play by Alias Clemence Dane, the Englishwoman who wrote "A Bill of Divorcement," much admired in America last season by all save the public. The Humphrey Bishop Company, which, for the past two or three years, has been charming Australian audiences, is having a very successful season in Auckland; With one exception, every performer is new to New Zealand. The company will be in Wellington next month. Barbara Hoffe, a beautiful and accomplished actress, who will come to Australia with Seymour Hicks, is the wife of Monckton Hoffe, playright, and author of "The Faithful Heart," lately produced at the New Palace Theatre. Oscar Asche will go to Africa, South America, and Canada, after hig Austra- ' lian Beason. Captain Adams and Odiva's" Seals, who are touring New Zealand, may return to America next month. Kreisler, the world-famous violinist, will tour Australia this year. He is said to >be London's musical idol. Jack Waller 13 presenting a revue,' and Laughter," in the English provinces. With the show are several who are well remembered here, including Billy Rego, Madeline Rossiter, Wyie Watson, Ada Smart, and Marion Armitage. Madame Winnie Fraser (Mrs.' John Fraser), the well-known New Zealand singer, has, since her arrival in England a few months ago, been studying continuously (says "The Post's" London correspondent, writing on 4th December). She has been taking interpretation repertoire and method with Sir Henry Wood, and she has also been studying with Monsieur Raymond Muehlen, in each case with very gratifying success. Madame Fraser had a very cordial reception from Sir Henry Wood, who unhesitatingly decided to take her as one of his pupils. This,, of course, is a great compliment, for Sir Henry's pupil list is a limited one, as his numerous orchestral engagements throughout the country occupy so much of his time. The New Zealand dramatic soprano, to?,, has had satisfactory auditions with Mr. Lionel Powell and with Messrs. Chappell, and in all probability she will do some broadcasting. On Saturday, ac companied.by Mrs. and Miss Corliss (Wellington), she will leave for the Contmen,t- r, c pa.rty have 'arranged to spend Christmas in Rome, travelling by Switzerland and Florence, and they will go on to the Italian Riviera for two months. Mrs. and Miss Corliss will I then return to England. Madame Fraser intends to make the most of her opportunity quietly to cement the /work which has been given her by her London instructors, and then she will go to Vienna and Budapest; again with the'] idea of furthering her musical studies [ and of hearing opera. In April she will come back to England and she will resume her lessons with Sir Henry Wood. -. ■ , , ...

- Apart from the uaoal Ghristmastide productions and revivals and one or two new musical pieces still to be put on, all the important dramatic plays of the year have now been set before London s increasingly critical tbeatregoing pnblw. Which have been the outstanding plays of 1923! Leaving out revivals revues, and musical comedies the new (to England) pieces which have made ■ most impression on people-who taKe tne theatre more or lees seriously can be narrowed down to a dozen (says a London writer). They are : "Anna Ohtißtie," "E.U.R.," "Back to Methuselah," ''Outward Bound," "The Green "£r™ S-' r ' Haßf n>" "Our Betters," So This Is London!" "The Lie," "AtMrs. Beamls/' "The Outsider," and The Insect Play." Not all of these made money, but they have all left strong memories. Eleven of these 12 plays were written by men, and almost half of them have attracted a great deal of attention, despite unevennesses and crudenesses in their construction and development1. It is the ideas behind Oapeks 'robots" and insects, Sutton Vane s dead people, Dorothy Brandon's impassioned cripple girl, Eugene O'Neill s woman of the streets and man o f the seas, that have made these plays remarkable and memorable. On the other hand, "The -Green Goddess," Hassan, "Our Betters," and "The Lie are beautifully written. W Somerset Maugham is the successor to the Restoration dramatists. "Our Betters" is the sort of play Congreve or Wycherley might have written had either lived to-day. William Archer has given a r. eff, literary polish to melodrama. Henry Arthur Jones carries artificiality by the strength of his treatment. 7