STAGELAND

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 289, 3 November 1934, Page 12

STAGELAND

(By “Call Boy.”)

“No, No, Nanette,” will be staged at Dunedin this month by the Dunedin Operatic Society. Sir Benjamin Fuller’s Grand Opera Company will stay in Melbourne until the middle of January. Twenty operas will be produced. Drury Lane Theatre (London) will return to pantomime at Christmas with the over-popular “Cinderella.” The' producer will be Mr Julian Wylie, who produced “The Sleeping Beauty” at Drury Lane in 1929. The pantomime will be presented on Christmas Eve. At the annual meeting of the Dunedin Shakespeare Club the annual report stated that public readings of “King John,” “The Merchant of Venice,” and “King Lear” had been given during the year. The club had held its ordinary weekly meetings, of which ten had been devoted to the study of “King John,” eight to “King Lear,” and ten to “The Merchant of Venice.’ ’

“The Old Folks at Home,” at present being staged by J. C. Wililamson, Ltd., in Sydney, is a comedy which had an exceedingly successful season in London earlier in the year. In that presentation Miss Maine Tempest took the part of Lady Jane, which is played by Miss Lane ; and Mr W. Graham-Browne and Mr Ronald Ward appeared in the supporting cast. The central character is a sagacious woman of middle years who pits herself against the squalid younger generation, the members of which lead shiftless lives and look on their elders as innocents. When the play was taken to America it was feared that the title would suggest negro influence, and “The Old Folks at Home” therefore appeared on Broadway under the new label of “Lady Jane.” The principals in that production included Frances Starr (as Lady Jane) and Lila Lee. One of the features of the programmes of the Band of His Majesty’s Grenadier Guards is the variety of the programmes and their varied interest to make them appeal to all classes .of musical taste. They are so skilfully “balanced” that each one of them contains something that will appeal to someone, ranging from opera to musical comedy, Gilbert and Sullivan to “humorous” items, Wagner to-modern British composers. Amongst the items one notes “La Boheme,” “William Tell” overture, “Carmen,” the sextette from “Lucia,” “The Desert Song,” “Aida,” “The Guards’ Patrol,” “Waltzes from Vienna,” “Has Aanybody Here Seen Kelly,” the “1812 Overture.”

Mr Alec Wilson, who has been more than 30 years in the theatrical business in Australia and New Zealand, has resigned his position with the J■ C. Williamson firm. He began his career as a call-boy, and rose successively to the positions of prompter, assistant stage manager and stage manager. In the last capacity he was for several years with Julius Knight and Maud Jefferies. Later he joined the managerial staff of the company, where he remained for 25 years, the last eight and a-half years having been spent in New Zealand. Mr Wilson states that he has many regrets at leaving New Zealand, but that continued work during the last 10 years had made it necessary that he should take a rest. He will return shortly to Melbourne with the Dubarry Company. A riot of colour, beauty, and wonderful music makes up the entertainment presented by the Russian Ballet, which has come to Australia under the management of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., and which, after a season in Brisbane, which has proved a tremendous success, will open in the various capital cities of Australia and in New Zealand. The company comprises 48 artists, headed by the famous Olga Spessiva, the successor to Pavlova, who comes direct from the Grand Opera House. Paris, where she is the principal ballerina. The _ principal male dancer is Anatole Vilzak, from the Imperial Theatre, Petrograd. Other prominent artists are Mile. Natasha Dojkovich, principal ballerina from the Grand Opera House, Belgrade; Elvia Rone, M. Algeranoff, and many others, including Juliana Enakieff, the famous 14 years old ballerina who is already one of the outstanding classic dancers of Europe. The new London theatrical season —the busiest for years—has started in a golden manner (writes a London correspondent on September 12). A conservative estimate given by one in a position to know puts the present total weekly takings in the West End theatres at the approximate sum of £BO,000—and this does not include the variety shows. This wave of prosperity is affecting both the new and the old productions. Among the new shows, “The Shining Hour,” at the St. James’s is taking even more money than “Christopher Bean” took in the first two weeks at the same theatre. The new Novello play at the Globe, “Murder in Mayfair, has begun with a better deal from the theatre ticket agencies than was effected for his last piece, “Proscenium.” “Family Affairs,” at the Ambassadors, is booked ahead for months. The all-coloured revue at the Coliseum, “Blackbirds of 1934,” is playing to full houses at every night performance and looks like remaining there right over Christmas. The lan Hay-King Hall comedy at the Shaftesbury, “Admirals All,” is proving increasingly popular . The revival of “Merrie England” at the Princes looks like beating the original run of 120 performances in 1902 . An unusually interesting theatrical event in Melbourne will be the gala opening of the all-Australian musical piay, “Blue Mountain Melody,” at His Majesty’s Theatre to-night. Written by J. C. Bancks, of “Ginger Meggs” fame, with music and lyrics by Charles Zwar, the young 'Melbourne composer, “Blue Mountain Melody” has achieved tremendous success in Sydney, and could have run for many more weeks but for the fact that arrangements had been made long ahead for its production at His Majesty’s Theatre, Melbourne, as the Centenary attraction. It introduced the biggest aggregation of popular stars ever brought together in the one production on the Australian stage, headed by Madge Elliott and Cyril Riteliard, with Gus Bluett in his best role to date, and including Leo Franklyn, Agnes Doyle, Frank Leighton, Marie Le Varre, Charles Zoli, Don Nicol, Eric Bush, Mona Zeppel, George Moon, Arthur Clarke, and many others. The ballets and dances have been arranged by Ruby Morriss (from “White Horse Inn”), the musical director is William Quintrell, and the whole production is staged by Frederick Blackman.