ENTERTAINMENTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 8 January 1927, Page 2

ENTERTAINMENTS.

OPERA HOUSE, TO-NIGHT. “THE SONG-AND-DANOE MAN" FINAL SCREENING. With the reputation of a big New York stage success, with the glamorous back-stage life of Broadway for ia, background, with a brilliant cast of screen and stage favourites, headed by TomMoore, Bessie Love, and Harrison Ford, and with the directorial stamp of Herbert Brenon, “The Song-and-Daiipe Man,” Panamounts picturisation of George M. Cohan's theatrical comedy, is a photoplay to look forward to with pleasant anticipation. It opened at the Opera House last evening and will be finally screened to-night. There have been many stories written, centring around the colourful life behind the asbestos curtain, none that combined the laughter and heart-tugs, the pathos and humour, the romance and picturesqueness in such appealing fashion as this sentimental tale of a typical song-and-dance trouper. George M. Cohan wrote the story from intimate personal knowledge. The supporting programme is excellent. The “Ace of Spades” serial will be shown at the matinee tomorrow afternoon. GRAND THEATRE —TO-NIGHT. “THE FAR CRY.” After enjoying immense success on the stages of five continents, “The Far Cry” comes lo the Grand to-niglit as a screen attraction. The added colour necessarily afforded by the screen should make this virile story of modern matrimony a thing to be remembered. The picture is the more promising in that Blanche Sweet is to lie seen as the roaming wife, and Jack Mulhall as the homing husband. These two players nave proved their ability to get the very most out of such material that “The Far Cry” provides. Myrtle Stedman and Hobart Bosworth, also proved screen portrayers, are prominent in the big cast of “The Far Cry.” There is an excellent programme of supports. OPERA HOUSE. “HER BIG NIGHT.” “Her Big Night,” which is a most delightful tangle of whimsical situations, will long be remembered for the brilliant comedy work of charming and accomplished Laura La Plante. “Her Big Night,” which opens at the Opera House on Monday, for a two-night season, is a big night in every sense of the words. So many complications in so short a time. The entire action of the story takes place in something like 12 hours. A press agent sees a pretty shop girl who bears a striking resemblance to the motion picture star for whom he works. When the star fails to show up for a personal appearance, he engages the shop girl to take her place, and thus frustrate the newspapermen, who were threatening to link the star’s name in a scandal story unless she appeared at the theatre that night. From that point on, complications almost beyond the human imagination set in, and a climax in which all of the various jarring factions of the story get together in a fantastic attempt to straighten out the entire mess results finally in an adjustment. The box plan is now open at Miss Blake’s sweet shop.

“THE PRIVATE SECRETARY.”

Local theatre goers will be pleased to hear that “The Private Secretary” company is to appear at the Opera House on Tuesday, January 18. This evergreen comedy is being presented by arrangements with J. C. Williamson, Ltd., who hold the Australian rights. It is a farcical comedy by Charles Hawtrey (now Sir Charles Hawtrey), and has not been presented by a professional company in New Zealand for over 20 years. The company have been meeting with wonderfully successful seasons through Australia and New Zealand. It is a sure laughter getter for old and young. The cast comprises Mr Bruce Allan, who has played the name part for over •100 performances, and Miss Avis North, who was in the last New York revival; also other well-known favourites to the New Zealand stage, such as Maurice Lynch, Frank Willoughby, Carmen Brunette, William Stafford, Vivian Grey, Joan Beverley, Naomi Herbert, Stan Wilson, Alfred Roberts, and Reginald Ashman. Miss Daisy Brassey is musical directress. The box plan will be on view at the Opera House sweet shop on Saturday next. AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH SILVER BAND. The masterly manner in which Mr. Albert H. Baile musical director of the Australian Commonwealth Band, presents his programme has been most favourably commented upon by the press and musical critics throughout every country visited during his tour around the world, of 1925-6-7. His band can swing about from grand opera into .jazz, from humoresque to hymns, and from descriptive numbers to classics, with lightning rapidity and versatility that is remarkable, imparting to each its own particular moods and changes of tone colour, in a way that is most pleasing and entertaining. With every movement of his baton, entirely new effects are produced, raging from the softest jdanissimos through myriad changes of tone colour and harmony, to electrifying double fortes that are grand and massive, but ever with that organ-like blend that never seems to get out of hand or boisterous. Mr. Baile is carrying with him over 600 numbers, from his vast repertoire, and each .performance curries its quota of standard overtures, classics, grand opera, hymns, descriptive numbers, comic operas, jazz, and solos by cornet, trombone and xylophone. The band will give one concert at Hawera on Thursday, January, 13. MARIE BURKE IN “KATJA.” The reappearance in Mel bourne, after the Queensland disaster, of Miss Marie Burke, which took place in “Katja,” which is to he staged here on Thursday, January 20, was the occasion for the most wonderful scene of enthusiasm ever known in that city. It is said that Miss Burke is seen to even greater advantage in “Katja” than in “Wildflower,” in which she so successfully appeared in her previous tour through New Zealand. Mr. R. BarrettLennard, the brilliant London light comedian, will make his debut here in

“Katja,” in which he scored an outstanding triumph in Sydney and Melbourne. Miss Babette Odeal made an instantaneous success when she made her first appearance in “Katja” in Australia, in which her dancing proved one of the outstanding features. Playgoers will be glad to welcome that genuinely humorous comedian Mr. Cecil Kellaway, who made himself so popular when he toured New Zealand in “Yes, Uncle,” and “A Night Out.” Miss Thelma Burness gave us a taste of her ability with the Pauline Frederick Company, but she has achieved her best triumph to date in “Katja.” The cast will also include Noel Dainton, Charles Zoli, Marie Eaton, Norman Lane, Frank Hawthorne, Stanley Odgers, Alfred Haigh, Frank Leighton, and John Hennings. “Katja,” with its alluring melodies, its romantic plot, its brilliant dialogue, and it® magnificent dresses and scenery, has been a success the world over. The bos plans will be opened at the Opera House Confectionery on Tuesday, January 18.