STAGE FOLK

Evening Star, Issue 22526, 19 December 1936, Page 6

STAGE FOLK

New. Zealand, theatregoers win welcome the return of the J- C. Wxlliainson Savoy- Opera Company which, it was announced some days ago, will commence a second New Zealand tour at Auckland on December 28. _ The Auckland season will last for 18 nights. Besides presenting; several, favourite Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the company will also play ‘ Paul Jones and * Lilac Time.’ The well-known comedian, Ivan Menzies, is expected to make the tour, as : will •• most *or the other actors and actresses who made themselves so popular last March. In addition, the company will be strengthened ■by r th© inclusion or Strelia? iison, the brilliant soprano, who was last seen in Auckland in ‘.The Vagabond King ’ about six years ago. At present in New Zealand, under the Sir Benjamin Fuller management, is the Mike Connors-Queenie Paul Revue Company, the cast of which is headed by that ever-popular comedian, George Wallace. It is bright and hreezy.and with an excellent cast and a, most shapely ballet, it goes with a. swing- from start to finkb. In addition .to George Wallace, who is said to be better than•• ever, the cast includes Mike Cpnnors. and. Queenie Paul, .who present popular numbers in their own inimitable way; Minnie Love, a popular star; Nelhe Kolle, male impersonator: Bulla Fanning, comedienne; Will Miller, Laurel Streeter, Jimmy Coates, Leo Trenette, Edna Hardy, Rex and Bessie, the Russell Brothers, Harry Thompson, the Marcella Trio, Russell Gough, Ginger James, Eddy Roach, the Moteni Trio, Elsie and June, and two first-rate Tyrolean dancers, Delaney and Butt—the latter will be remembered for ‘bis excellent work in. the ‘ Fight Dance * in ‘ White Horse Inn ’ earlier in the year. The shows are elaborately staged. ■Some-indication of the elaborate nature of ‘ Wild. Violets,’ the forthcoming Christmas production at His Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, is contained in the fact that , the two acts comprise no fewer than. 14 scenes, several of which are- unusually spectacular. On© of these; a big skating scene, proved raost successful in London when the play was produced at Drury Lane Theatre. The revolving stage which was ■a, feature of ‘-White .Horse-. Inn ’ will again be brought into operation in ‘ Wild Violets ’ for the ,rapid change of the many varied scenes. Archie' de Bear lias returned to the. theatre after a long absence, says ; a London report.. He was one of the founders of. the famous “ Co-Opti-mists ” and also presented a series, of successful revues. His new production is; ‘ All Wave,’ in which his broadcasting experiences are reflected. It is a revue pn intimate rather than spectacular lines, in which there is a Satirical and topical note. At the head of the cast is'Stanley Holloway, one of the original Co-Optimists, whose “ Old Sam ” monologues are known all over the 'country. Mr' George Robey. , told, of his 50 years on the stage recently, when a dinner was given in his honour by the Old Playgoers’" Club at the Criterion. The following were among his'remarks and stories:—“l suppose-I shall go down to posterity as a vulgar man, but I say that vulgarity is merely a question of tijne and place. : , Why„ if I were to * tell .you tn© story' of Faust in plain words, you would'all get up and leavi thArpom,. but Wrappedupin music” flpsoiiniiS quite' nice. ago at Bournemouth I staved, with some extremely ‘ posh ’ people. Next day they came to , see me off at the station. Three carriages full of convicts shouted out ‘ Hullo, George, old boy.’ My:‘posh’ friends’ eyebrows went up.” Miss Marie Tempest described Mr. Robey: as “ moralist, censor, and puritan.” After she had raised, her glass to the toast of “ George Robey, Puritan,” Mr Robey leaped forward and kissed the distinguished actress on the ch®ek amid loud applause. Of the half-dozen or so new Central London theatres built in the. last few years, one of them, - the. Saville, that celebrated its fifth, birthday recently, has been outstandingly successful from the beginning. Two new and very much smaller nouses, the Duchess and the Whitehall (with capacity respectively of 500 and 600 people), have had a .large, measure of: success. The Duchess .opened with several failures, but has recently been very much “ put On the map ” by ‘ Night Must Fall ’ and other popular plays, The beautiful little .Whitehall Theatre has also had many successes. But the larger new creations have not, on the whole, had' much luck. One of the largest, the Prince Edward, in Soho—either owing to situation or some other incalculable cause—never had any luck at all; and has now become a success in another field altogether—as a supper, cabaret, and dance establishment. One dr two other of the big new houses have either, in their time, become “popular price ” or “ t vice-nightly ” theatres, or have got most of their income from ’showing moving pictures. The Saville, in upper Shaftsbury Avenue, is large enough to hold more than 1,200 people, ... It has ■ been ■ able to charge full West End prices :-for the whole, of, its career. And. it has had an almost unbroken run- of successes; ■