OPENING PERFORMANCE

Evening Star, Issue 25849, 20 July 1946, Page 7

OPENING PERFORMANCE

SIR ALAN HERBERT'S NEW PLAY ~ ATTENDED BY MANY CELEBRITIES (N.Z.P.A.' Special Correspondent.) LONDON, July 19. .. One of the greatest gatherings of celebrities London has seen for many, years attended the opening performance of Sir Alan Herbert's, new play, ' Big Ben,' atthe'Adolphi. The most notable absentee was perhaps" Mr : Charles Cochran, who became ill at the final rehearsal and was unable to attend his 125th production and one of the most notable successes of his long career. Princess Elizabeth, who was accompanied by the Duchess of Kent, was present, and,the gathering of Parliamentarians included almost the whole Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister, Mr C. R. Attlee, and the Foreign Minister, Mr Ernest Bevin. Viscount Montgomery was in the second row of the stalls, and received a great ovation from the crowd when ho arrived. For the first time since the war mink coats and white ties and waistcoats predominated .in the Stalls. ' ." SPARKLING WIT. The play is a musical and political satire on the " Merry" England of 1946, and tells the story of '.a shop girl who became a member of Parliament. It sparkles with Herbertian wit, and the Vivian Ellis musio is full of good tunes and rousing choruses. Sir Alan Herbert makes the Tory hero and the Labour heroine pair, both in the parliamentary and domestic sense, and then turn against the common enemy—a puritanical lady who wants to close all licensed houses. One of the scenes, a parade of British' fashions, is the most Bpectacular seen in any British stage show for many yeara. The audience cheered Sir Alan Herbert for several minutes when, in a witty speech' at the final curtain, he expressed regrets that Mr Cochran, " the Grand Old Man of the British theatre," could not be present. Crowds outside the theatre, waiting,, to see the celebrities arrive, caused a traffic jam and delayed the ringing up of the curtain for 15 minutest HOME ROBBED. While Sir Alan was at the theatre burglars entered his home at Hammersmith and stole jewels, a radio set, a snow leopard-skin coat, and petrol and clothes coupons.