Music, Mirth and Mystery

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 10, 11 December 1931, Page 5

Music, Mirth and Mystery

A packed house, an enthusiastic audience who expressed their pleasure in frequent and hearty applause, was the outcome of the first night of the Presbyterian Concert in the A. and P. Hall, Kaitaia, on Tuesday. The performers were largely drawn from the Sunday Schools and Bible Classes, and they must have been given very careful and skilful training to do so well as they did. The gem of the evening was a dozen bedtime stories told by Peter Pan in the traditional costume of the boy who declined to grow up and acted with spirit by a dozen and a quarter children who entered into their parts with such evident enjoyment that the audience took them to their hearts at once. They sang and danced and enacted the old nursery dramas with spirit and with considerable dramatic ability. A “fruit salad’ of selections from the ever popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas, solos, duets, trios, and quartettes in costume, with a chorus of Japanese girls from “The Mikado,” who made great' play with their parosols and fans, were well received while the sentry’s song from “lolanthe,” sung in a fearful and wonderful military costume, brought down the house. The various dances formed pretty pictures and were done daintily and well, while the totem pole dance was a weird performance, as it was intended to be. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the “mystery play” which was fathered by Edgar Wallace and the local colour was laid on with a shovel. In the unmasking of “The Snilfler” some prominent Kaitaia citizens had an opportunity of seeing themselves as others would have them believe they were seen, and in the ingenious defence of “The Sniffler” for his crimes he made very free with the names of other citizens, with the result that he was triumphantly acquitted and bade continue the good work. It was very excellent fooling, and amused the audience, including the victims, vastly. The whole programme showed that there is a considerable amount of both musical and dramatic talent among the young people of Kaitaia, and the public will welcome opportunities of seeing and hearing them again.