Mimes and Music

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 25

Mimes and Music

E|Y "ORPHEUS"

■'• ■ THE SHOWS. ■ Town. Hall— • William.. Hcugliau, basso, 23rd,1 20th, 2Sth ■lime. '. . brent); Kecit.il, orer.v Sunday. 8.30 i>im. Esther;. Jflsher, p.iuulst, 7ih':July., ': _ Alfred; (Jl^hea;' tpflor,'2Stli Jtily.. ■ Cpucort Chainboc-T^. .. . ••;",■•" Wellington '.Ooilegd piny, 10-night. . Oncra House—. -. "Student ■ I'rinco" . mid "Madame l'ompuqqur," :!Bth June. Pis Majesty's-r. ltcvue. ' Grand Opera, k'ca.sou, 31st July. I • Regent— Vaudeville an(l Pictures.. Do Luxo TKejt't.rq—iX'liiturcs. I'a.ramount Tlieatre-rrPiplures. . Kjng's TheatrW-Picturos.. ( Artcraft—Pictures. Our Tlieatror^ictiires. S((ortt's TUaatrc^Hcturcs. Strand Theatre^-P^ctiires. T^e'atreT^Pilcttircs. ■ Queen's Thpaire—Pictures. ('(lncess Tliejitre^Plctures. Tiv. now theatres aro to be' opened ir. Auckland, by .the Fuller-Hayward firm —at Remuera and Grey Lynn. Theatres aro also being acquired at Wellington, Timaru, Ashburton, and Dunedin. A musical version of "The Throe Musketeers," called '"The Swordslnaii," has been -presented in England by Jack' Buchanan, with Carl Brisson as* the dashing d'Artagnan. Mr. Oscar. Ascho acted as producer. . The' Christchurch Operatic Society has. just completed. - 3 six nights 1 sea-, sqn of "Tho Arcadians." Mrs. L. . J.. Hulruo (Miss Eva Moore) was the producer. Mr, Clement May, .the well-known Dickensian, has been appointed adjudicator iv the...elocutionary section of the. Dunodin coinpetitipns this year. Mr. Lester Brown will.produce "The. Sunshine 'Gigl.V^for, tho"-- New.'Ply-; mouth fancl:, Nelson; ■Q'peratie Societies.. Mr. Brown acted in the same capacity for.tho Wellington !Opqratic Society's recent, production; of ''The Belle of New York"." '. ' ' The Hamilton Operatic is ret hearsing ''High ,Jinks," . The' Auckland Operatic Society will start rebearpals of "The Belle of-Now York shortly. . . The receipts for "The Sunshine Girl" were arecqrd.'for tho Waipawa Operatic Society, which commences, the new season with a. credit'balance of 15s 7d. •■■ : .:■ ■'''-■' , .. 'Excellent progress, /is being . made with the . • new St. James's Theatre, which is expected to oijon on sth 'Jiily, with the J'uller musical comedies, "Areh;e,??. /fguiiny,?' niul : "Merconr ary Mary.".. . "■;''. It is likely, ,that,'tho; nex{ production of the "Madame Pompadour"^ Company will be "The Vagabond King.". "Beau Gesto" has been.made into a,; play and iB to be prbduced in Engr land by Mr. Basil Dean. The revival of the vaudeville in Auckland, at the jipVkassy Theatre, is prov> ing very-popular. . "Henry VIII.," produced- by the Allan Wilkie, Shakespearean Company, had not been previously done in Sytfr ney for 5Q years. > : ■ Miss Vpra- Spaull, tho winsome Mari^; ette pf !(Mfldaniie Pompadour,?* played the* child. Mytyl in "The Blue Bird" aome years ago. Miss Adele Crane, who played Madeleine, formerly played lead, in tho tuneful "Lilac Time." Members., of the Auckland Little Theatre ..Society aro '. now rehearsing Sutton Vane's "Outward Bound. >\ This has been a long-promis,e,d treat for patrons of Auckland's Repertory Theatre, but its "productjon was held liack \>y a thi'?Rtened injunction from a company which claimed to hold the profesiipnai rjglits. However, the sor ciety received the personal permission of the author to produce the play and all. opposition ya'nislied, M Outward Bound'f was in the repertoire of the Zillah Company which toured New/Zea= land a^put'two yoara agoj " The. folr lowing tentative cast has been peleoted by thq producer,- Mr, Kenneth Bramp^ ton: Tgjh Prior, Ifoberts Tolej Soriabby, Arnpld Goodwin; Mrs. Clivedeb Banks, Daphne Knight j Mrs, Midget, Lind,a Murphy; Lin'gley, -Jamea §wan; Duke, Jack Stewart. ' ! James hi&Ayt tho Anierican tenor Wlw is thg h?rp in. "The Student Prince,", opposite Beppy do Vries, the 'Dutch star, ir the role of Kathie, conf quered a critical Melbourne audience in pne night with; bis glorious ginging voiqe. Mr, Liddy i$ % graduate pf Bei> koley ITiiiversity, California, Hs is niaki ing his first visit to Australia -.and New SJea'lajicl. He jpvests the role of Prince Carl with, ii dignity and charm that re^ veals ; persofiaHty, "^nd ; nia^es pf the1 romantio singing prince a figure of sheer delight, He nas youth, dancing ability abbyo, the average, a resonant voice. ;■ "Student Prince" follows' "Madame Pompadour.'-,? On Saturday, 30th Julie, in the Sydney Town Hall, Shura Cherkassky, the wonderful sixteen-year-old Eussian boy pianist, will commence his Australia!), tour under the direction of E. J. Gravestock, Ltd. This extraordinary young artist has been playing before the public since ho waa nine years old, and when he was eleven years he had, a repertoire of over two hundred pieces, which included the s.taridard classics, amongst them the best known Beethoven sonatas, a large number of. Chopin works, and various miscellaneous pieces that1 go to make up tho repei-' toire of q, famous pianist! To-day his repertoire includes nearly four hundred, compositions. Franz Lehar, the composer of tho famous "Merry Widow," has recently j completed another musical comedy named "Fredericia." The "book" is basod upon tho lovo episode between tho youthful. Goothe- and Frederika Brion, tho daughter of a German clergyman. "Frederika" will bo produced in Berlin during October uext, with Kichard Tauber in tho part of Goethe. . "Top Hole" at the Sydney Empire is a thin carbon copy of "Kid Boots," writes a Sydney journalist. Most of tho popular songs have already been made familiar to Sydney by vaudeville artists. Tho ballets aro excellent, though tho dressing is somewhat crude and garish in colour. Tho Empire is whero tho musical comedy "Sunny" was first produced in Australia, but by an entirely different company from the one hcro,this woelc. / Tho opening production of tho Williamson Comic Opera Company will bo "Madamo Pompadour," which commences its Wellington on 28th June. In. this tho art of potito Beppy de Vrios as Pompadour herself has full sway; he royal intrigues will Bot the aouße laughing at the audacity of tho woman. "Madame Pompadour" had a most successful season 'in Sydney and Melbourne, where it ran for! over twelve months. It is being presented hero with tho samo beauty of setting and frocking as characterise^ tho Australian productions. Miss do Vries's songs with Frank Webster, the tenor who has the rolo of Comte d'Estrados, will be judged somo of tho best of the vocal score. Hedley Hall, who is strong in the cast, has a good voice; Arthur Stigant revels irl his comedy rolo. It is on tho cards that Benno Moiseiwitsch will, at tho conclusion of his Southern tour, in July, givo a final concert in Wellington, to bo called a plobiBcito concert. Patrons will have the privilego of selecting their favourites from tho repertoire of tho famous pianist, and the programme will be from voto. Moiseiwitßch concludes Bis Auckland, season, to-night, and a Southern

tour follows. Moiet'iwitsch ratunis to Australia after tlu Wellington conceit. Criticism of musiunl xcstiHcctioiis (says ■ Kobort Hull iv the "Musical Times") is no new (liing. ' Scveval effoi-ts liaye bopn made to restrain unclisoiplxnetl entiiusiqtijii of tlie Elijfa: botliaii and folk.song revivalists. Viewed from a. general standpoint tho diil\cultiea with' which one has to contend arise in.two forms, revival of music by moans of Press propaganda (which has become considerable during) recent years), and revival of music by actual' performance. • Some 'of t tho works of William ■ Byrd are intolerably tedious and'are. now beginning 'to be recognised as sueh —ljut at first, such an opinion was accounted equal to blaspuomy. Tp the revivalist, all is sgcrpsauet-r—there is little attempt at diseripiinatipn. But if disciples qf script are iv evil case, in'so far as they often lack ability to convince, those of us who would restrain tneij'. efforts aro no less handi-_ capped. It is a difficult action to prove music-to bo» bad unless it is assumed that pne?s ('c^clprs possess t|io score, ar(d to take this for granted is not justifiable. Bach may not have been a'pprqeiated by the generation which immediately succeeded him, but in his case the lapse was of a very temporary, character. England may not have been cutely cpirs,cipus of him during tho early part of tli.B. nineteenth century—still it was not necessary ■ou that-account to make 3 discovery as 'though the name of Bach had' been forgotten through Europe. It must bo admitted that there is always danger of one famous composer being, exploited to tho ciclnsion of a contemporary almost equally worthy. So long, as {he revivalist confines his enthusiasms to the Press one has at least a means of defence, in so far. that the mpre injudicious of their excitements can for the most part be ignored^. 'But this policy will.no longer servo comes to a quest qf actual peyfbrmanoe. We have many composers,'not all of them young, writing in our midst ■ to-day. Some havo already made a cqnieii!, judged to be of permanent worth) while others have promise of doing so. That we are 'ignorant of the existence of several of them is in; no way a suffleient excuse for leaving their work unexplored and unassensed. This country (England) has not been so productive of "great" composers to shirk our responsibilities in this matter. .. ■ . . ■