OPENING TO-NIGHT

Evening Star, Issue 23527, 16 March 1940, Page 8

OPENING TO-NIGHT

‘SWITZERLAND,' THE ICC SHOW

J. C. Williamson’s ice show, 1 Switzerland,’ has been a success wherever it hag been shown, and to-night’s Dunedin theatre-goers _ will have ,an opportunity of seeing it .at His Majesty’s Theatre. The stars of the production are -Miss Megan Taylor, formerly world’s champion amateur skater, Eddie Marcel, a famous London comediajn, and Phil Taylor, the father of Megan, and acknowledged as the world’s best trick skater. !xho company numbers 60, and the Various skating numberson the programme will be executed on: real ice. Seats may be reserved at Jacobs’s, where ticket® for unreserved seats also may b© purchased. ; The first act of • Switzerland ’ is derated tb. the, ice ballets and the ice show, the second act to a very entertaining cabaret, scene, and the third act reverts back to the,, amazing exposition of .glorious dancing On the ice, and in this scene the highly-amusing, pantomime ‘‘.horse,” Blaijk: Bess, never: tails to raise laughter. , The manybeautiful ballets include Tyrol folk;’ dances, dainty minuets, , ‘ Florodora ’ sextet, 1 and a brilliant military number. “ Yet the ballets,” wrote an, Auckland critic, “ are but the pale ha]o round the central stars. Megan Taylor was dazzling in the highlights of classic precision and purity of form,, which have gained her world champion honours in the recognised .competitive tests of. ice-skating. In lighter mood, she displays the expressive fire and colour of a gipsy dance; and the dash of a champion unleashed in free skating. Phil Taylor,(pere), champion in: his own right both before and after his lovely daughter won her honours, lifts the pitch of the skate-song up to speedway recklessness in stilt stunts, daring jumps, and, with. Elsie Heathcote as partner, the hazardous refinements of adagio: dancing on skates. Scintillating personalities, all three, but none was more brilliant than that merry jester of the ring, Eddie Marcel, to whom the house owed and gladly paid in laughing tribute a deep debt of gratis tude for full enjoyment and understanding of the show. The artistic blend of character, comedy, 'and compering made him a life-long friend-of all patrons,”

Other skating stars include the MacKinnon sisters, Diana Grafton. Doreen Parr, Rita Bramley, Ronald Priestly, Graham Hobbs. Eric Gerrard. and outstanding artists in the entertaining cabaret scene are Connie Graham and Hal Scott, notable Continental comedy artists, and Russell and Marconi in an act called a ‘ Musical Merry-go-round.’ A feature of the show is the ‘ Switzerland ’ Tee Ballet, comnosed of 50 beautiful skating girls.. The scenery and costumes are features of the performance, and an operatic orchestra is under the baton of Mr Leo Packer.