Pollard's Opera Company.

Hastings Standard, Issue 50, 24 June 1896, Page 2

Pollard's Opera Company.

THE GONDOLIERS

A good opera will draw anywhere under almost any cirumstances. It requires a Brnnner disaster to keep the public away from anything announced under the management of Tom Pollard. With his two popular lieutenants, Mr Fred Duval and Mr W. O'Sullivan,' he can command business where another company would fail. Last evening may be taken as a criterion. It was about as miserable a night as has been experienced for some time. The streets were ankle-deep in mud, and it was raining as it alone can rain in Hastings. Notwithstanding these drawbacks the Princess Theatre was again filled. The audience had come to be amused, and they had no reason to regret having braved the elements. There is no doubt the happiest effort of the happy combination of the two princes of comic opera is the " The Gondoliers." The dialogue is thoroughly Gilbertian, and the music especially Sullivanian. When these two gentlemen agreed to differ the music-loving world had cause to shed a tear. The opera was wi tten at a time when company-mongering was at its height in England, and the brilliant idea of floating the Duke of Plazatoro into a limited liability company was a pleasing satire on the popular craze. Fun ripples throughout, and the plot is surrounded with smart incidents. It would be difficult to find a single fault with either of the gondoliers, Mi ss Maud Beatty (Giuseppe) or Miss Marion Mitchell (Marco), for both were perfect. The latter's rendering of the gem " Take a pair of SparklingEyes " was the feature of the entertainment, and it had to be twice repeated. Miss May Beatty made an attractive Gianetta and Miss Lily Stephens a pretty Tessa. The acting and singing of the former recalled pleasant memories of the late and much lamented Violet Varley. Casilda was in the hands of a stranger to Hastings in the person of Miss Maud ITewson. She is a decided acquisition to the company. Possessed of a pleasing voice and good presence, she is natural, and being natural is of course successful. Her interpolated item " Thine, only Thine " received due recognition from a critical audience, and the solo was repeated. Miss Metcalfe gave becomingly decorum to the character of the Duchess, a part which is by no means an easy one. Miss Nellie Ford was Inez (the foster mother who puts all things to rights), and the manner in which she explained matters was entirely satisfactory. Miss Nellie Wilson made a successful Luiz. Alf Stevens is versatile, and nearly all his characters are perfect. As " the celebrated,cultivated, underrated nobleman the Duke of Plazatoro " he was inimicable. Harry Quealy made up well as the Grand Inqusitor, but has put in better work by a long way. He was rather apt to make comedy, but perhaps this can hardly be called a fault in comic opera. The choruses were again perfect, and the grouping highly effective. The limelight added greatly to the effect of the cachuca and the gavotte. Altogether it was a really good performance. To-night the great moral and religious drama " t ncle Tom's Cabin" will be played. This is stated to have created a perfect fumn- down south. Jubilee choruses and plantation pastimes will be introduced, and there will be a magnificient tableau in "The Rock of Ages." Tickets may be had in town, and it will be advisable to book seats, as another crowded house is assumed.