"A Moorish Maid."

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8094, 18 September 1905, Page 5

"A Moorish Maid."

.." A Moorish Maid" will.not belong now in making her Palmerston debut, as the season opens on Wednesday. The comments of one of the Northern centre's weekly -journals, written after the close of the season there, niake interesting reading;—" The induction of ' A Moorish Maid r ' which ran to phenomenally large houses, and was withdrawn:-in the full tide- of its sue* cessful career, marks an epoch in the theatrical history of AuciclaiKl. and indeed of the whole _blon_e-s. A rare and proud achievement it must be written down, not alone on the part of tlie young collaborators, and everybody concerned in the (production, < but for the city which could produce-the brains ; and talent necessary to: the successful carrying out of a venture of such magnitude. . . The score, no rechauffe of familiar airs, albeit in many instances so . melodious. and catchy: as to at once captivate and haunt the ear, is daringly conceived, combining as it does light, topical, and sparking numbers ;with others which reach the high-water mark of grand opera." Another Auckland writer said of the " Maid" on its first production : " The opera was received with_ quite extraordinary enthusiasm, and it may at once be said that every mark of appreciation and public favour was thoroughly and completely deserved. . . The opera is certainly one of the most beautiful that has been seen and heard in Auckland, and it will be highly astonishing if it will not be transferred in due course, not merely to the boards of Sydney and Melbourne, under the auspices of Mr Williamson, or perchance Mr Musgrove, but to the great .British metropolis itself, where it is certainly worthy to rank with many of the works of a similar class which have brought both fame and fortune to their authors and composers."