Dramatic and Musical

Free Lance, Volume VIII, Issue 383, 2 November 1907, Page 14

Dramatic and Musical

By Footlight.

FULLERS' bill of fare, at the Theatre Royal this week, is assorted and rich. Ask what is the finest thing on the caid, and you can get your answer straaght away. Loxraine Tansley's contralto singing They say she's gone off. Writer heard her sing at Napier something oveo- two years ago>, and this week's record was well up to previous standard. It is a treat worth the double shilling every time. The Quealys are on the boards with a new comedy, "The Doctor's Boy." It is humorous without a suggestion of coarseness. The parody on "Waiting at the Church," introduced in,to this performance, takes with the crowd. ♦ • • Those marvellous jugglers, Walker and Hughes, keep one's eyes at a strain in following their # endlesslyvaried passings with the spinning tennis racquets. They are distinctly clever. Mr Alf. Verne is scoring heavily with his descriptive vocal numbers, and Miss Ida Ingersole is vociferously encored each night for _ her catchy songs. Victor the Great is on deck again with his ventriloquial witticisms, and Dave Warne makes his first, and very favourable, appearance in his comic singing varieties. • • • Master Rupert Christie, the " New South Wales gold medallist boy _ soprano, is a first favourite, and a ringing treat to hear. He sinss^ "Tatters" like a t>ast master. Miss Gertie Everett, a r>leasing character comedienne, appears for the first time in New Zealand, and suits the house admirably. The Racoons, two men and a dog. neither weary themselves nor the audience annarentlv in their marvellour "turn." The dog come" out on +.nr> all throueh Last of all come Frn Delavale and Will Gilbert, in their original sketch. "A Le^on in Boxing." The nerformanoe is clever with any amount of smart x>atter and humour. Anvnnp Wi^ want 5 ! more for his twotipv than Teller is showing this TToolr had hp+ter rwk un amd ]p.eivp Wpilinrtnn t/> search for it elsewhere • • • Thp 'WpiTrntrtoTi season nf tn° Mand TTiU^nrd rnmnnnv rinsed at tne (Vera H^nse «■" Wedripcdnv an^ the enmnan-^ has tiott r^nne to fThris^hnrrh for +bp PTn'+PTYiPTi+ and h\rr houses nf fbrmVoi wP^k T^^ +Vlird r^otr pnbTm'+tp'l +o th° Wpliinortnri public was "TW fjrpat AwiVp-ninrr." Thp "Inv cnn+iinc! abmit »s rnnoVi nf "HiP^nTUP excitement as <-mo ponlr? wf«;Ti fj-> «p" As rmp man said tt^pti Ipavinrr t^ 10 bnildiTig; nn +^^> nr»PTl?Tirr TiicrTi+ " WpTI Cbnrlip s» fpllow pxnect mu°b rnr>r<-> f}\r,-n pirrVif, TrmrdfTs; for bis trro <5b *TTin Ttj t " TTn^vfor +bpi"P I#c sotip sj-ni^nriTrl ttit-V Tn +b^ tmopp •'■nrl +^° v-tn'mi^ r>ortc W^P Tna-rVpr? Tiv vprV «-tr^rifT iri^ nnabia nrtin" 1 • * • Miss Maud Hildyard (Lola Selby) has done nothing finer in Wellington than the mad scene in, the closing act, and only an actress of the first class in histrionic skill could have sustained the unenviable part with such success. As usual with Meynell and Gunns plays, the scenic effects were magnificent, and the dresses in "The Great Awakening" were marvellous creations. • • • Mr. James Lindsay, as the convict, Selby, was consistently vicious, and Mr. Conway Wingfield, as Jack Merton, was artistic and efficient. In the mad scene, he was eminently successful. As Molly Merton, Miss Guildford Qum was admirable, whilst Mr. Boyd Irwin, as Harry Lambert, Molly's sweetheart, was somewhat stilted and stagey. The brightness of the piece depended on Mr. Willie Bo vis as Billy Brass, Miss Violet Dene as Selma Worts, and Mr. Tracey Barrow as Antoime, a French waiter, and these were all equal to the demands of the occasion. The orchestral numbers, which were under the direction of Mr. H. Dyson, were well rendered. • ♦ ♦ SJost all the great songsters of the world are the daughters of self-made men. Madame Melba's father started life without any silver spoon in his mouth. Miss Ada Crossley's father was a mighty smith down in Gippsland. Miss Amy Castles' father was

a compositor in the hand-setting days. Madame Clara Butt is proud ot her democratic "daddy," and Madame Albam's father was a backwoodsman. • • • The "Mother Goose" Pantomime Company, after more lecoid-breaking at Dunedin, aie about to pitch their teats at Christchmch, where the panto is to delight the people during Carnival week. Christchurch will be the last town but four m New Zealand to be visited by the pantomime before the company depart again for Australia, to take up the work of the preparations for "Humpty-Dumpty," in ie.adiness for next Christmas. • • • Mr. How aid Vernon and his dainty little operatic wife have tired of the simple life uhich they have lived on their farm out Liverpool (New South Wales) wav, and, instead of feeding the poddy calves, and raising champion pumpkins, during the summer months they will tour New Zealand with the "Robbery Under Arms" picture show, and during the intervals of "picture" will give selections in character from favourite operas. Mi. Charles Carter, the New Zealand tenor, took tie part of Tristan in the Moody-Manners Company's performance of "Wagner's great musicdrama, "Tristan and Isolde," in London quite recently. Of his performance the "Dailv Telegraph" says "Mr Cartei 's Tristan was not very touching dramatically, and his singing left a good deal to be desired. He mnst strive to extirpate the hateful tremolo before it injures his organ permanently. Mr. Carter displayed considerable earnestness, though there were occasions during the performance calling for higher judgment and taste "