ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1804, 21 December 1912, Page 6

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS.

By " Student." OPERA HOUSE BOOKINGS 1913. January 28, 24 J. C. Williamson. February 3, 4 —Connor Opera Co. February 18, 19— J. C. Williamson. February 26—Harry Eickards. March 3,4, 5, 6, and 7-Great McEwen j Company. j March 24—Caledonian Society. j April 17, 18 —J. C. Williamson. May 16— J. C. Williamson, May 26, 27—'Geon?e Marlow Jane 20— J. Ck'Williamson. T PERMANENT PICTURE BHOWS. Opera House, His Majesty's, Fullers. New York and London knew Miss tNella Webb, the charming singer, -who is to tour New Zealand, early next year with Mr Hugh D. Mcintosh's All-Star Vaudeville Co., in opera and drama before she achieved an astonishing success in vaudeville. She was playing Shakespeare with Julian Marlowe, and was a star sou"brette for some years before she attacked and conquered the vaudeville stage. The tone which Mr Temple-White gets from his Feilding choir is full and round and has a considerably rich quality. This is the result largely of the practice the voices have had but it is evident also that a certain amount of instruction in how to produce the voice correctly to avoid unpleasant sounds has been given. Yet it was strange when the quartette came before the audience that not one of the four produced the voice correctly. Combined, the effect was very pleasant indeed. Once or twice in the heavier choruses there was evidence of a hard tone among the sopranos, but it was the exception rather than the rule. Mr Temple-White is an excellent accompanist, though a little lifeless at times. The question whether Sydney is musical was discussed before the Musical Association -of New South "Wales by Mr Arthur Mason, who expressed the view that while the love of music was widespread in Sydney, the standard of musical culture was poor, and the number of people able to discriminate -between good and lad art exceedingly small. The sup- j port of opera in the city was a mat- j ter quite outside musical culture. He enumerated, amongst the causes for this state of things, the isolation of Australia, the extraordinary satisfaction of the people with themselves, and the lack of standards. There ■was a vast amount of bad teaching j in Sydney, and the musical examina- 1 tion system required censoring far more than the picture shows. (Ap-1 plause)..

Owing W the success which has attended the concerts given by Madame Kirkby Lunn in Auckland And Wellington, together with Madame's desire to visit Rotorua, the

-New Zealand tour lias been extended Ito include places not contemplated |in the original entourage. After completing her southern tour, Madame Lunn will proceed to Rotorua via Auckland, for three days, and will conclude her tour of the Dominion by giving farewell concerts at Auckland on December 16 j and 18. "The Dancing Mistress" is the latest George Edwardes production at the Adelphi. The plot seems to be i confusing in the rapid flight of the 1 characters from Brighton to Switzer- | land, where the heroine enjoys some toboganning, but in the music Leonard Monckton, it appears, has reached "his very best," for the score is described as possessing great variety of ideas, treated daintily. The piece has been acquired by the J. C. Williamson management. Mr Lewis Waller, who is to come to Australia next year, is to appear jin "Henry V.," "Bardsleys the j Magnificent," and "A Butterfly on | the Wheel.'' ! The picture business of John Fuller ! and Sons is a very large one, and the ! means taken to safeguard against i objectionable films being screened are most elaborate. The pictures are, before being purchased, privately shown before the firm's London 1 buyer. If suitable, they are mailed , at once to New Zealand. Before they reach the Dominion, however, copies 1 that arrived by the same mail are 1 being shown in Melbourne and Sydney, and in those cities represental tives, well up in the tastes of New 1 j Zealand audiences, see the pictures screened in public, and reports are 1 , cabled to the head office in Welling--1 ton, and when the English mail arrives at Auckland on Sunday any 1 film about which any doubts are held is immediately "put through" 1 in private. So careful has the London buyer been that not once has a 1 film bought been rejected on arrival ' ( in the Dominion. i The new opera of Dr. Richard Strauss, "Ariadne auf Naxos," is I reported to have met with an enormous success at its first performance at the Court Theatre Stuttgart, last month. It is based largely i upon Moliere's well-known comedy, j "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," and j adapted by Hugo von Kefmaunsthal. It is stated that Strauss, in the new score, continues along the path which i he struck with "The Rose Cavalier," j and in so doing has achieved a rej markable simplicity. He has only 37 musicians in his orchestra, but the music makes great demands upon the singers. All-Star Vaudeville companies are j unusual in New Zealand. That is j why Mr Hugh D. Mcintosh, who recently took control of the Rick- • ards' Circuit in Australians sending a company of such exceptional merit to tour the Dominion, early next year. He has chosen all the leading stars of his Australian Circuit to i compose the company, and is sending it through New Zealand on a most comprehensive tour, in charge of Mr George Portus and Mr E. Covell.