MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10655, 16 May 1895, Page 2

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC NOTES.

NEW ZEALAND. Tbs Christchurch friends of Mr H. Weir will be pleased to learn that he has been appointed eolo tenor in St Patrick’s church, Sydney. Wellington amateurs hove decided to tender a benefit to the widow of the late Harry Marshall, and have put The Guv'nor in rehearsal. Arrangements have been made for the Tivoli Corapnny/whieh is st present playing in Dunedin, to open for a shore season at tho Opara House on May 17. A letter from Calcutta, dated March 28, states that Mr T. V. Twinning was again laid up with another attack of malarial fever, and had been compelled to return to tho hospital. Mr Walter Bentley has commerced a lecturing tour through the North Island, on the conclusion of which ho will take a benefit in Wellington and then crors over to Australia,

The Moslyn-Daiziel Dramatic Company commenced a season of twelve nights at tho Wellington Opera Hout-o on Monday last, opening with Sutton Tane’a sensational drama, Humanity, Tho Galatea Specialty combination baa just completed u very successful tour of tho towns iu tho Canterbury Province,and ia about to ehow through the Otago goldfields district. The illusion has proved a great success wherever shewn. At present Auckland ia without a dramatic entertainment, and thirf Ms led to a succession of concerts. I notice, however, that Mr Alfred Woods, who was through this colony in ISS9, is bringing over a company from Sydney, and will open at the Opera House on May 24 ia The False Prodigal, Mr George Leitch has gone to Sydney for the purpose of engaging a first-class company and staff, and procuring the scenic artists and mechanists for the production in Wellington of The Land of the Moa. This drama, the copyright of which has been secured throughout Australasia and Great Britain, is the work of four years. After leaving Christchurch it ia the intention of the Pollard Company to go south, visiting Ashburton, Timaru and Oamaru, going from tho last-menlionod place to the North Island, The present tour will be brought to a conclusion early in June, and then the company leaves for Australia, the first show place in that colony being Newcastle. Thh Gianetfca of Miss Mny Eoatty was quite a feature of the Pollard production of The Gondoliers. Her acting was head and shoulders above ar.yelling shown by tho exponents of the other female parts, and her singing was sweet and full of expression. This little lady’s Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin was another tsotimouy of the great advance she baa made in the last few months.

AUSTRALIA, Miss Hilda Spong has made great progress lately as an actress; and it is also noticeable that her figure is developing. Mr Qourlay ia under engagement to join Snazello in London in September, when they will appear at Toole's Theatre ia an up-to-date version of Shipped by the Light of the Moon, On May 1 Miss Naliia Stewart appeared at the Sydney Lyceum for the firac time on any stage in the part of Gianetfca ia The Gondoliers. Mr Bland Holt is reported to have cleared .£3OOO over his recant Sydney season. 1 hope the nows is true, tor though it is not iu the genial Bland to command success he deserves it. The unfortunate termination of the Dncvcs’ Melbourne season was quite unexpected, so fr.r pa the public were concerned. It is probable that the English actors will be taken int by a Sydney manager. _ Mr Elton .was given a benefit at the Melbourne Bijou on Tbnr:day afternoon, April 25, jrhen it was announced that the comedian was about to depart for England to. “fulfil engagements already made,” AU the leading musical and dramatic artists in Melbourne at the time (including Knight Aston, who had not appeared on the boards fer three years) gave their service?.

That big man, Allan Hamilton, has reached Melbourne with his circus and ” water pantomime,” which during the Easter holidays attracted crowds. A feature of the circus part of the show is the perfonnanje of a Hercules from Austria, who lies with < n'y head aad heels supported and. allows an anvil placed upon bis chest to be battered with a stonabraatar’a hammer. There are some female teapezist?, one of whom on the opening night met with a .mishap through slipping from the grasp of a follow-acrobat. There was a very unusual scene in the Bijou Theatre, Melbourne, on April 22. At haif-psst eight, when a fair audience was pvaDaut, there was no appearance of the orchestra. Tba audience war. becoming impatient, whoa Mr Pail Stuart, the manager, announced from the corner of the stalls that there would be no performance, and thas the mosey would bo returned at the floors. Mr Dacre then otepped forward and stated that the ladies and gentlemen surrounding him had not received any aviaries for some time past, and that Mr Wilson, the lessee of the theatre, had refused to pay Mt Dacre or tho young ladies whom he was

authorised toS engage in London. This invoke-! erics <f “Shame. 5 ’ Mr Dacre said that ia ep ta of the treatmeut they had received the company would perform the play. (.Cheers.) The orchestra then appeared and the performance was given. Interviewed subsequent to the performance, Mr Philip Stuart, the manager of the theatre, said that unpleasantness had existed for some time. Mr Dacre strongly opposed changes of programme which were found necessary, and every change had practically to be fought for. Finally, on April 19, under the terms of the agreement between him and the management, it was proposed to close the season in the city and go on tour. Mr Dacre refused emphatically, but he gave no notice of his intention to stop the performance on April 22 until about eight o’clock. Mr Stuart denied that any breach of faith whatsoever had been committed by the management, and asserted that Mp to date every penny due to Mr Dacre and the members of the company had been paid.

The following items are taken from the Sydney “ Bulletin ” Decima Moore's speaking voice is the most melodious that has been heard on the Australian stage for many a day. The little lady sings charmingly; but, to a cultivated car, it ia a rare pleasure to hear her say her lines. There is something sweetly flufcey in her tones. The manager of a Melbourne juvenile minstrel company, which has been playing to crowded houses down south for over a year’, has been clearing upwards of £25 weekly after ex.’c, and is going, on dit, to sell out his Melbourne connection with the intention of commencing a juvenile minstrel company in Sydney and suburbs on the “ silver coin ” principle. Should ho " catch on,” as in Melbourne, the various theatrical managers will use strong swear words.

Mr Percy Bates, who was so well received at the Good Friday sacred concert at Her Majesty’s, Sydney, when bo rendered with much acceptance "Now Vanish Before the Holy Beams,” and " la Native Worth,” is a native of Now , South Wales. Ha is barely twenty-six years of age, and is the possessor of a very sweet tenor voice. Having no friends behind bim, he has had 4o work his own way in musical circles, although to the Sydney Liadertaf el belongs the credit of having "ducovered ” him. FOBEIGN. Daring the Paris exhibition of 1900 it is proposed to give a cycle of Wagner opera with a German Company ia Paris. Curiously enough two operas, both bearing the title of and taking the theme from Tennyson's “ Enoch Arden,” have been composed and will be performed this tea?on in Germany. William Peplow, an English lyric singer, celebrated recsntly bis one hundred and second birthday. Ha is still singing, and it ia said bis voice is strong and sympathetic. <• A new four-act opera by F. H. Cowen, entitled Harold, the Last of the h'axons. will be produced at Drury Lane, this GCSBon. The libretto ia written by Sir Edward, Malet, the British ambassador to Berlin. . Among a cumber of old manuscripts left by Auber ia the hands 'of his notary, a bound volume has been found.containing an opera bouffo by Bizet which has never been printed or produced. , Its title is Don Procopio. ' 1 . .

There is s new dramatic star in Paris, Wanda de Bonczi, a Jewess, whom come of the correspindents compare to Bernhardt. She iic.s appeared in a new play by Coppee, Pour Le Couronnc, and last year she carried off the conservatory prize. The London County Council elections have proved the downfall of the licensing party which made trouble for the Empire Theatre at the instance of Mrs Ormiston Chante, and in consequence there is great rejoicing in the amusement circles of London. Eilen Terry was 47 on February 23. In Coventry, where she was boro, a brass plate on one house bears the inscription: “This is - the birthplace of Mias Eilen Tony,” while on another house ncrors the street is a similar plate marked: ‘‘This is the original birthplace of Hub Ellea Terry.” Mr Edward P. Smyth Pigofct, the English " Licenser of Plays,” who died recently from bronchitis, at the age of sixty-six, always witnessed a new play on the third night, and not on the first. It is, of course, well known that before apiece can be publicly pei formed in any theatre, the Licenser of Plays must first npprovd of it. On the average tholate Mr Pigott read about ten plays daily, and considering that some of them were the work of amateurs, the duties are not so pleasant as generally imagined. The full returns of the Paris amusement receipts for 1594 are now to hand. The twenty-eight theatres took £939,886, an increase of £26,354 over the preceding year. Adding to this the amount taken at thirty-four variety entertainments, such as cafe chantants,' music halls and dancing places, and the total paid by people in Paris for amusement last year comes’ to £1,170,205, as compered with .-31,1'25,281'in 1893. Or course, the Opera led the list, with receipts amounting to £126,000. The Theatre Praneaisa took .£80,380, Sarah Bernhard’s Theatre £36,200, and the Casino do Paris £22,800,whi10 the Ice Palace picked up the not inconsiderable sum of £26,000,

A chapter of New York theatrical history (says an American paper) closed on Saturday night, March 23, with the fail o£ the curtain at Niblo’s Garden. This theatre, the eldest but one in the city, ia to give way to a new office building. It was ia 1828 that William Hibio started n series of little concerts in connection with a coffee house cn thia site. The next year ha built a concert hall of a more pretentious sort. It was kept up till the Eavele, the famous paatomimiets, came from Europe in 1837, and were engaged for the summer at Niblo’s. They continued to play there at intervals for msny years. With Chippendale, an English actor, as stage manager, NibloVi had a prosperous career from 18-1-0 to 181 G, when it was burned. It was rebuilt in 1849, and opened ia 1850, with a play by Brougham, in which he and Chippendale had parts. Adelina Patti made her first appearance at Niblo’a on Dec. 3, 1851, being thou eight years old, and it was there that her wonderful voice first attracted attention. A season of Italian opera occurred at about this time, and ia 1855 Mdme Eachel cacao, After her Dion Boucicaulfc and his wifo, Acnes Eobertson, gave numerous playe. Cue of the most famous attractions; at this house was the Black Crook, which began its career in 1857. Then Lydia Thompson came, in 1871. After this thchouse was chiefly devoted to [spectacle and ballet, with occasional melodrama, and this policy has continued for the most part down to the present time. The theatre was burned again in 1672. It was rebuilt at once by A. T. Stewart. Then Jarrett and Palmer produced the spectacle “ Leo and Lotos.” Since then the house has been devoted to every sort of theatrical entertainment, spectacle and melodrama having the preference. Among the prominent actors who have appeared; at Niblo'a, besides those already mentioned, havebeanEdwin Booth. L'.wrehce Barrett, Joseph Jefferson, E. A. Sothevn, Charles Pechter, Daniel Bandmann, E. L, Davenport, Mr and Mrs I'i’Kee, Rankin and Maggie Mitchell. Several of the big spectacles contrived by the Kiralfys have been dene here. Of late the house has proved to be r.ltogother too far down town for first-class business, and it has been run an a combination house at popular prices. Even to-day, ia is one of the best designed theatres, architecturally in New York.