SONG, DANCE, AND COMEDY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 2 July 1928, Page 2

SONG, DANCE, AND COMEDY.

CLEVER BALLETS AND SPECIAETY ITEMS, FEATURES OF “THE. PUNCH BOWL.’ The Hawera Amateur Operatic Society is within a week of the first night of its first production for 1928, ‘‘The Punch Bowl.” It Intis already been indicated that in this the society is making a. departure from tlie type of allow usually favoured bv amateur oornpaniss, but it is certain that the pubbe generally has little conception of the big step the. committee has taken in its enedavou.r to achieve novelty. “The Punch Bowl” has been billed as am extravaganza. This might mean anything, and patrons may be excused if they foe I some haziness on the point as to just what type pf entertainment to exipeot. Those who have had the privilege of a poop behind the scenes during i cnparsalis- have learned that the “Punch Bowl’ is to be neither musical, comedy ■nor comic opera, but. an adroit mixture of the brightest features of both these forms of stage entertainment. The producers, Aiessrs. Cardston and Baxter, have achieved remarkable results with the amateur talent placed under their tuition, ' and nothing is more certain than that the. theatre patrons of Hawera are due to receive a very pleasureable .surprise when the curtain goes up at the Opera House next Alonday nig-lit on the first venture of the Hawera .society into a dancing-singing-eomedv show. The large company is comprised ol youthful, pei-foinners who throw themselves into their work with- zest, and also with an obvious enjoyment which no audience will be. able to* resist. Only a few of the girls -in the chorus have had previous experiences as dancers, but patrons will find a difficulty in crediting this, when they see- them, at work in their many “turns.” The step dancing and" “business” of both principalis and chorus have a finish which it would seem unreasonable to expect from amateurs. Such a -body as the Operatic Society is -always worthy of support-, for it fills a gap in the .social diversions of the . voting people, while at the same time it gives them valuable instruction in singing and deportment that would not otherwise be available to- all of tlie-m. But the “Punch Bowl” is going to he a production which will ‘‘stand on its own feet, and offer its own recommendation* to the public, apart altogether from any consideration of the desirability of supporting a worthy cause. It will be found- to be just tlie .sort,of sbow tlie theatre-going public appreciates anytime, anywhere.