DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL

Free Lance, Volume X, Issue 499, 22 January 1910, Page 10

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL

By Foot light.

CARTER, the magician.', opened his season to a very good audience at the Opera House last Monday evening. If he gives the quantity and quality right through that he turned on for the initial evening, big business is likely to result. _ There are a couple of very distinct points about Carter and 1 his work which would make his entertainment fresh and breezy if he appeared every week for six months on end.. The firs* point is his versatility. His running patter as alone worth going to hear. No. incident escapes him. and the merest circumstance transpiring "at the rear of the audience," as he terms it, becomes a peg on', which to hang some point of Teady, merry wit. * * .■ *' But his programme! : "Well, one must indeed be -greedy to desire more than Carter .gives in an; evening*© entertainment. Many of his tracks have been seen before. But Carter performs, them all. so cleanly and m such a imerry mood that they are a® good as new, at any rate, 'and the whole house shakes with applause when, each trick is performed. /, * » "'' * But Carter has one or two new -things" on! his bill, and they are well worth seeing. His "Night in China is a very entertaining half-an-hour, in which- he seems to become positively creative, and amid a clatter of Chinese pigeon-English, poultry, fruit, bowls of various sizes amd descriptions, am materialise apparently at his mere word of cormmand. Another excellent trick is "The/Magical Divorce. A lady is seatted in a luxuriously # upholstered chair, raised into the air bymeans of a windlass, a pistol is fared, and, presto! the lady has vanished as cleanly as the pistol shot, leaving tne chair suspended in mid-air. And .. these; axe.but a tithe of his programme. * * * The thought-reading act of La, Coriinne Carter, who. seated witn bound eyes, identifies articles, reads the names on cards held by persons in the audience, describes all manners o± 'strange trinkets,, .and divines the very thoughts of those in the house, all done with a quaint touch of comedy. . is a fascinating bit of. clever however it is accomplished. laken altogether, Carter is a sight for sore /eyes, and a balm for aching and distracted heads. a • • The change of programme at the Theatre Royal was made as usual on Monday eveninw last, and the new bill now running is full of all those attractive . elements which make for good business. FulleTS are not to be beaten easily in the matter of getting the right stuff for their patrons when it oomes to vaudeville, and this weeks bil-of-fare is right up to the puMaic order; Armstrong and Verne, that versatile pair of artists, appear in an absolutely new farce. . During the course of their produotdoiQ they dance im comedy style, sing, whistle, frivol—do everything, in fact, that yaudievillians can be expected to do. One of their songs—a parody, by the way, on "Asleep in the I>eep — is entitled, ""Whistle and I'll Wait for You " and it catches on right merrily. "The Land of the Southern Cross" is another venrv baooy hit. Those immature artists, the National Duo, are • rieiht on the wicket with their song ano! dance. "Hullo, Little Girl. Hullo!" * * * The Duckworths' acrobatic display 'is a very fine feature, acnd the Newcastle miners' singing is still one of the most popular things on the bill. The juggling and comedy acts of the Levartos seems to leave no room for improvement in this line. At least, to judge by the public approval, that is so. Fullers' appear, from, every comBideratio.n, to be .right oni for good business. : ■• * * * The J. C. Williamson company concluded an exceptionally successful season at the Opera House last Saturday !! with the performance of "The Silver King," in which Mr George Titheradge ■appeared as Wilfrid Denver. Tt wj* s "a masterly impersonation, marked .bygreat artistic power and realisticforce. - Throughout the perfonmanice the audience were held in the thrall of as fine a company of players as ever appeared in this

popular piece in Wellington. The season was a consistently prosperous one throughout. * * • * Amy Castles has one fear. It is that one day she may attain that generous embonpoint that seems to be the peculiar .gift of eminent songstresses. The Australian prima donna is by no means slight even now. but. on the other hand, she cannot be called stout. Still, she imagines that she is becoming an inconvenaent size, and is jokingly encouraged in that notion by the banter of parents and friends. While in England she declared pathetically to an interviewee she seemed, either by accident or design, to be a stone heavier than everybody else, and now that she is in Australia she is often, chaffed about the awful possibilities of her future. At any rate, she is taking every precaution to retain a normal weight as long.as she can. M * * * According to information recently made available by Messrs. J. and N. Tait. managers for the Besses o' th' Barn Baipd, that eminent combination is .to. inaugurate its second tour of Australasia, in Christchurch, on the Bth February. It appears that the "Besses" specially requested that they might be permitted to open in that New Zealand city on this occasion, as it was at Christchurch that they commenced their phenomenal season in this portion of the world some three or four years ago. ■ . * ■ . .* * - In .a recent letter received by a Melbourne friend from Mr. Henry Kolker, who will be remembered as the popular leading man in Margaret Amglin's company, are some interesting items of wws. In commenting on the productions foT the season in New York. Mr. Kolker .mention® , "Arseaie Lupin" and "The Third Degree" as having been received 'with special favour by playeroers in New York, while "Salvation Nell" and "The Lion and the Mouse" are playing to fine business on_ tour. It is worthy of notice that this successful quartette of dramatic works have all been secured for Australia by J. C. Williamson. Owing to the postponement of Eugene Walter's play, in which Mr. Kolker was to have taken the leading masculine role, he has joined Madame Nazinova. the Russian emotional actress, who has made such a success in New York during the last three years, and they are now playing to capacity buisiniass in a piece called "The Passion Flower." Madame Emma Calve, the eminent diva, -who ia to be heard in Australasia in _ a few months' time, possesses . a voice technically described as a rich soprano sfogata. This magnificent voice, which bas a range of two and ahalf octaves, from "C" below the staff to. high "C," is not less remarkable for the extraordinary .sweetness of the upper _ register than it is for the contralto-like fullness of the lower. What makes it especially fascinating, moreover, is that Madame Calve commands and controls it in a way that is peculiarly her own. » « e She uses it to sing as she feels, to pourtray moods and sensations with precisely the tone of voice that artistic-

ally expresses them. Hence she is known as a tone analyst, who depicts emotions by the subtlest vocal metamorphoses. Asked recently how she obtained such amazingly brilliant effests. she replied somewhat mystically: "One must seek it in nature, in' books, in one's fellow-beings,- in one's own soul." Truly, the answer of a woman who is not only a singer, but a poet. # * * We are to have Mr. J. O. Williamson's New Comic Opera Company at the Opera House on Saturday week, an organisation) of over 100 people, and with the new hit "The King of Cadonia." one of the most successful musical efforts of recent years. Cadonia is described as a ooraiic opera country ; into whose history humour has .been delightfully woven with romance. It is also a kinigdom of beau-. tiful women, beautifully gowned, who move in idyllic surroundings, to the pound of exquisite music. To hold securely the delightful illusion, Mr. Williamson has engaged a .number of artists new to New Zealand, including Mr. Herbert Clayton. Mr. Frank Greene. Miss Dorothy Court, and Miss Lottie Sargent, beside; Mr. Bert Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert will appear as the Regent Alexis, and heir-presumptive to the throne, an honour he little relishes, owing to the relentless activity of the Cadonian anarchists. ■» » * One of the features of "The King of Cadonia" is the famous "Danse des Apaches." In this speciality'the staige is darkened, and the artists, in the guise of a French workman and a bare-headed ouvriere. move in a searching focus of limelight. In the gestures aind poses of this pas de deoix, now darkly tragic, anon brightly smilinlg.. there is a tense commingling of - '"•<¥ ferocious and the weirdly "voluptuous that according to the critic of the "Sydney Morning Herald." is almost bloodcurdling in its Zolaesque realism. * » e Mr. Bert Gilbert and Miss Lottie Sargent, it is said, invest the remarkable series of evolutions with a certain undefinable hypnotic atmosphere that lasts after the dance is over and the curtain has fallen. The feature is essentially French. Mr. Gilbert anid Miss Sargent are both of French extraction, and speak the language perfectlv. This dance was lately the ;ilk of Sydney. One paper, whilst giving the "King" a particularly flattering notice, was most drastic m its criticism of the "Danse des Apaches." The Williamson management appealed to the public, and a. resultant ballot, extending over three weeks, showed ? t they desired the retention of the dance by a majority of considerably oyer 8000. The box plans for the entire season will he opened on Wednesday at the Dresdeni.