THEATRICAL NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 11681, 13 February 1902, Page 8

THEATRICAL NOTES.

Out London correspondent, writing on January 3, thus describes the Christmas productions at the principal London theatres: — Pantomime is, I lesm from Mr Broadben c's history of tbat entertainment, the imitation of Nature, derived from Pan, the god of nature, and Mimoe, an imitator. Just 200 rears nsro. in 1702, pantomime was in-tinh-.ced into' England by John Weaver, a darciug-master at Oxford, who produced •t Drury Lane the ' Tavern Bilkers,' an entertainment of "dancing, action, and motion." Drury Lane is still the home of "panto.." but the performance neither there nor at any of the other 119 places where panto, is played can be said to "hold the mirror up to nature." The idea that psß*omime is an entertainment for children is quite exploded. There is still plentv-,of "dancing and motion," but pre(ions little action and music-hall turns, comic banalities, and a superfluity of gorgeous pageants smother the nursery tale (which the pantomime professes to unfold) whenever it struggles to raise its head. But if the children' I 'arc bored by the "show," the grown-ups of this generation revel in it. and music-hall artists receive generous sums for a lavish display of vulgarity and shapely limbs. Then the manager is said to have out-Smithed Smith or out-Browned Brown, and the public flock to the spectacular triumph. Tho title of a pantomime is really of little importance, but it may interest the curious to know that the most popular theme this season is the 'Babes in the Wood,' which has been chosen thirteen times: 'Aladdin' and 'Cinderella' tie for second place, with fourteen each ; and 'Dick V-hittington' and 'Robinson Crusoe' are cctual for fourth place, with eleven each. For the last ten years the first four subjects have always been the favorites. At Drury Lane the apotheosis of pantomime is witnessed. ' BLUEBEARD.'

There is a " one-man " or rather a " onewnraan" sliow, and Dan Leuo is that man and woman. In fact his amies as Sister Anne arc the pantomime. After it has been derided at a meeting of the Four Winds that Fatima shall be cured of ennositv by a magic fan, which shall stimulate iiei iiiquisitiveness into ilame, Bluebeard, who, by the way. wears no beard, but a pa!r of "cobalt weepers, comes to the Slave Market with the six antique wives, of whom he has wearied, in order to get a fresh assortment He selects the beautiful Fatima and the veiled Anne, who, on further acquaintance, proves "a giddy old girl." Jealous of Fatima, she shows what real dancing is in a frenzied coon song ai:d dance, "in which she is accompanied by the six old wives. When Bluebeard departs, leaving Fatima the keys, the magic fan compels her to open the forbidden chamber, where the six decapitated heads are seen suspended, alive and kicking, for Sister Anne has a long irrelevant chat with them. When Bluebeard returns Fatima and Ann* are saved by Fatrma's lover, Selim, who on a fairv bugle blows a blast that gathers the fairies, makes the walls of the castle fall dawn, and causes Bluebeard to surrender ar discretion. Sister D'Anne is shriekingly funny—whether he is dancing a clog dance, or showing a party of tourists ronnd the castle, or trying to find for Bluebeard in Rrudshaw a train to Puzzleton that only runs on Shrove Tuesday or Ash Wednesday, or trying to tefl the story of Hamlet, or pi aym<r ping-pong with potatoes and frying pans, or burlesquing Sherlock Holmes's cigar-and-lamp performance, or watching on the battlements, trying Marconi's wireless telegraphy, and collecting all the reluarki from adjacent golf links. Miss Julia Franks (nee Julia Loel, of Melbourne) sang sweetly as Fatima, and will doubtless as time goes on improve histrionically. Of the tableaux and ballets the most beautiful and harmonious in color are the Laud r-f Ferns, where the fairies make the fan, and the Triumph of the Fan. The former is a symphony in green. In a valley, at one side of* which Is a cataract of real water, are grouped frogs, water-flies, butterflies, small birds, and insects, in all shades of green. These are joined by representatives of the ferns, each section" having its own distinguishing specimen attached to spears. The picture is complete when tlje- Grigolatis. with the feathers they have gathered for the fan, float over the "ferns. The ballet, 'The Triumph of the Fan,' which follows Fatrma's intrusion into the Blue Chamber, is a history of the fan, contingents of the most exquisite gradations of color representing the fans of Egypt, Home, India, China, Japan, France, and Spain, and so on. The harmony of black, silver, and orange, which represents lace faas, is particularly striking. Finally the u Glanz punkt," as the Germans would call it, is attained by the entry of parries jn delicate pinks, blushing roses, and sky bine. The whole is, in short, a melodious and ha monious fantasy. The managers are beginning to realise that pantomime hardly appeals to children nowadays, and in consequence real fairy stories and real children's plays become more numerous as each Christmas comes round. At the Alhambra ' SANTA CLAUS' is a fairy-dream ballet, specially intended for children. In a country mansion two cluldren watch their nurse decking out the Christmas tree with toys. They are sent to bed, but steal back to have another peep, and, making themselves cosy by the fire, fall asleep. At midnight Santa Glaus emerges from the clock and proceeds to fill stockings with all kinds of seasonable gifts. He waves his wand, and the scene changes to fairyland. Santa Claus summons forth most of the favorite characters from fami- ■ iar fairy tales—Little Red Riding Hood, Little Boy Blue, Tom the Piper's son, BoPeep, Uttle Miss Muffit, and several Jacks who hold silent reveL Then follows a wonderful finale, the dances representing the adventure with which each is associated After the exquisitely-garbed Fairies of the Sun have fluttered round, the stage is darkened, and the Nymphs of the Night appear, illuminated by a variety of electric lamps and devices. Of the children's plays proper the best is

«KATA WAMPUS,' at. the Prince of Wales's, founded on Judge Pan/a book. "Pater" and Mother have four nurserv plagues—three girls and a boy—whom Krab, the cave man, takes off to his cave to core of katawampns, or obstreporousness. Here new tempers are forged for them by goblin blacksmiths, and they are placed in cages to be inspected by gigantic fowls and ducks during a halfholiday. Then the quartet are arraigned before the Parliament of Toys, on the charge of having left the Dutch DolL Sarah Ann, unclothed in the garden all night. Rmw is a Speaker, who wants to speak, but may only sing, and there is a spirited debate among the dolls and other toys, in which three Irish dolls are frequently called to order, and one of them literally suspended. Eventually the charge is referred to the House of Dolls, where dolls, quite worn out and no longer of use in the Parli.nafc.nt of Toys, are pnt, and nullify any busi ness done in the House of Toys. Out of 750 dolls a quorum of three is found, by whom the youngsters are pardoned Finally Krab returns the convalescent youngsters to their parents. The play is, as the author Kays, one to which all children may safely bring their parents, and as the four youngsters arc delightfully natural, the Dutch doll realistically indignant, and Mr Courtice Pounds as Krab amusing in his "Clockwork Child" accompanied by a chorus of brownies, pathetic in the berceuse with which he lulls the children to sleep in their c-ijes, and always graceful and humorous, many children are likely to take not unwilling parents. •GULLIVER'S TRAVELS.' by George Grossmrth, jun., out of Dean Swift, is the shoe-king example of what a children's play should not be. Nothing particular happened, and the proceedings were as dull as ditchwater. The infant prodigies 'were very shrill and veiy painful, would have been much better in bed, and were not in the least like the men and women they were intended to represent. The scene of the first act is laid m Lflliput, that of the second in Brobdrngnag, and the contrasts are obtained by Gulliver in the first act being played by a man and the Lilliputians by children, and Gulliver in the second placed by a boy and the other chawctaw fay grewa-m*. Ail the Jittjb

Lilliputian women, and especially the Princess, are supposed to be in love with the Man Mountain, and in Brobdingnag Glumdalclitch. the farmer's daughter, with a dance ,and cradle sons, insists upon treating Gulliver as a little child, feeds him with a baby's bottle, puts him to bed in her doll's cradle, and sings and dances him to sleep. Mr Rolaud Cunningham, as the big Gulliver, sings and acts well, and looks sufficiently tall, but has very little " fat." Admiring relatives in the coarse of tlio play at the "Avenue" demanded rapturous encores, and handed numerous bouquets and bon-bon boxes to youngsters, who will probably be so spoiled by tbe time Gulliver emerges from the Avenue that Krab will Jiave to take them in hand for a severe attack of katawampus. A pretty, dainty couceit is 'BLUEBELL IN FAIRYLAND' at the Vaudeville, a musical dream play by Messrs Seymour Hicks and Walter Slaughter, of which the winsome Miss Ellalme Terriss is the central nncl captivating figure. Bluebell, a sweet London flower girl, and Dicky, a crossing sweeper who loved her, were out in the cold, bleak streets on Christmas Eve, without much prospect of earning tho wherewithal for even bread and butter on Christmas Day. But a cheery philanthropist, Mr Joplin (accompanied by two absurd footmen, Will and Wont), forks out a sovereign at the psychological moment. Armed therewith Bluebell returns to her two little sisters in their garret in Drury Lane, who have sat up in their nightdresses for her. To them and a black cat Peter, who had strayed into the garret, she reads a fairy tale of the King of a far-off laud who, as a punishment for extreme selfishness, was condemned to continuous slumber in an underground and almost inaccessible cave until awakened by a courageous girl ringing the bells by which he is surrounded. Before the close of the story Bluebell falls asleep, and thereupon, with the promise of fairy assistance, enters the imaginary realm over which the Sleepy King reigned three centuries before. Her adventures, in company with the cat (a fairy in disguise) and a couple of loutish schoolboys, Blib and Blob, constitute the greater portion of the second act. She is guided to the magic o:ik over the cave in which U±e King Is slumbering by an active Will-o'-the-wisp, but her associates have to do battle with a malevolent Yellow Dwarf prior to Bluebell completing her mission. To the discomfiture of the usurping monarch, who previously had been churlish to Bluebell, the rightful King is restored- Divested of his tattered garments and long beard, he reappears as a young man, and invites his rescuer to share his throne, but she prefers home with her little sisters and the flower basket. Then Bluebell awakes to find that her experience of fairies and of Court splendor has been a dream. Her days of privation are, however, ended, as the philanthropist Mr Joplin comes to Drury Lane to bear her and her sisters to his own home. As the curtain falls it is made clear that Dicky, to whom Bluebell has given her heart, will alao be of the party. In Fairyland there are comic frogs and owls, and a dramatic enactment takes place of the story of Cock Robin, his death, and obsequies. Miss Terriss makes a most graceful and fascinating heroine, and Mr Seymour Hicks a lively street boy. and a grotesque and realistically-awakening Sleepy King. ' Only a penny' is one of Miss Terriss's most fetching songs, and a medley recalls several of her notable hits, such as 'I want you, ma honey' and ' A little bit of strong. The music and merriment are of the best, and the fooling is always healthy and innocent.

'THE SWINEHERD AND THE PRINCESS '

at the Royalty is a thin and commonplace production, whose humor is somewhat antique, and whose chief merit consists in the reappearance on the stage of Miss Decima Moore as the Swineherd, looking veiy charming in picturesque doublet and hose, singing sweetly, and acting daintily, and of Miss Phyllis Broughton as the Princess, dancing prettily. The plot, based on Andersen's fairv tale, may be briefly summarised. The Swineherd is a masquerading prince who, failing to secure the favor of the Princess Ernestine by sending her a rose, resolves to woo her in a. humble capacity. With a magic " singing" kettle he gains her attention, and on being asked the price of his curiosity, replies: "A hundred kisses from the Princess." She consents, whereupon the King, who is as proud as he is poor, orders her to leave the palace. The Swineherd allows her to inhabit his hut, whilst he lives in the forest. The Priucess is touched by his respectful devotion, but annoyed that he allows supposed difference in rank to forbid him claiming her hand. Meantime the King has adopted the chief maid of honor as his daughter. The Princess returns to tbe palace in a thunderstorm, and the Prfnce, no longer a swineherd, because he is assured of the affection of Ernestine, again comes to the King as a suitor. The Princess is soon restored to her former position at Court, and the lovers are made bfiijipy. At th* Garrick the management are content to revive

' SHOCK -HEADED PETER' AND 'THE MAN WHO STOLE THE CASTLE,' and in the former Miss Nina Boucicanlt is a light-hearted Harriet A novel feature of the performance is a doll-dressing competition in connection with ' Shock-headed Peter,' for which specially-maauiacUired dolls axe obtainable in the theatre. The children are expected to dress the dolls exactly like the characters they select, and prizes will be awarded by the votes of children in the audience. Good needlework; as well as the best resemblances, will be considered. At the close of the rut the dolls sent in for competition will be sent to London hospitals. The revival of

'LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY' at Wyndham's is welcome, if only for the fact that the hero is played not by a girl, bat by a boy, Master Vyvian Thomas, with a simplicity, frankness, and absence of selfconsciousness and refinement that make the part not only tolerable but delightful. Tlie cast throughout is good, and Miss Marion Terry as "Dearest" and Mr Arthur Williams as Hobbs, the grocer, could not have been bettered. Another revival that is appreciated is Mr R. C. Carton's Dickensian play, ' LIBERTY HALL,'

which Mr George Alexander is producing every afternoon at the St. James's. How Sir Hartley Chil worth, assuming the name and character of Mr Owen, a humble traveller in soap, returns to the baronial hall of his ancestors; how a feeling of pride prompts his pretty cousins to refuse all offers to help; how he falls in love with the elder, and follows her to William Todman's unpretentious abode in Bloomsbury, onlv to be misunderstood, scorned, and finally taken into farvor, is familiar to all lovers of the drama nowadays.