DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8082, 24 September 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

There is very little to record in **?. a ° amusements. The Mammoth opera been occupying the q{ their House to the «MjJStog tbe d.pr.«.d audience. No bfl twu& fof amn<e> . times, moneyj* POP" 1 " The meats 111 „, rm i na ted their season here on £BK. They pay ■ return visit to the Sfbih, and go to the West Coast, Great preparations have been made for the benefit to Mrs. Lachlan McGowan, which baa been fixed for Monday and Tuesday next. The play to be produoed is "Guy Manneriog." The musical selections will be * special and attractive feature of the performances*

On Thursday night the Auckland Dramatic Society produced "She Stoops to Conquer," for the benefit of the funds of the Kindergarten school recently established by the zeal and perseverance of a number of ladies. It was repeated again last evening. A newspaper controversy has been raging daring the week aa to whether the Opera House is defectively constructed in view of fire or panio occurring within its walls. The best of the argument has been on Mr. Abbott's aide. He simply smashes and pulverises his adversary, shows that he knows nothing about the Opera House, and that he has rushed into print without first informing himself of what every small boy in the town knows. When « theatre is burned down, there is immediately an outcry to turn all those standing topsy-turvey. Doors must be made here, staircases abolished there, this done and that done. By-and-by the reforming zeal, stimulated by a dreadful disaster, dies away. The theatres remain pretty much as they were, and things go on as usual until there is another panic or a fire or both, when we have the whole thing over again. As far as the Opera House Is concerned, I do not think there is much to find fault with on the score of defective exits. The staircase—there is only one— wide, short, and straight. Nothing of course is impossible, but I do not see how a block could take place at this point. The exit from the orchestra stalls could be improved, and this, I understand, is to be done. The pit entrance, about which a great deal has been said, is large and roomy. Even in the event of a panio—such panics as do occur at times in theatres—l do not think the result would be very serious. The house can be emptied so quickly and so easilythere being no narrow passages or winding staircases— seems almost an impossibility for any block to happen. And, as we all know, blocks mean death. In the case of the City Hall it is different. That is a pre-eminently faulty building. How it can be improved it is not for me to say. Something, however, should be done. The young man who does the theatres for the lively Hawke's Bay Advertiser is nothing if not critical. In his notice of "The Corsican Brothers," which was performed iu Napier by the Majeroni Company, he thus refers to the local supers who figured in the piece:—" The ladies of the corps de ballet were all very properif anything too proper. We make no pretensions to any knowledge of the characteratics of such ladies as the language of the play and the situation indicates, but if the fastness of the fair ensnsrers fa only to be gathered from the fact that one of them was indiscreet enough to sit nonchalantly on the arm of a sofa, they _ can scarcely be held to be dangerously giddy young things. From what we have heard of auoh society, particularly in regard to their behaviour about three or four in the morning, we should judge that a little more abandon would be desirable. Of course, if young ladies are not distinctly told what their parts are under such circumstances, it is not to be expected that they should know." Mr. Thomas Bracken, ex M.H.R., ex editor, and 1 had almost said ex poet, has been lebturing in Christchurch. Charles Harding and Miss Gracie Plaisted nave been playing in " lolanthe" at Brisbane. It iB said that they go to South Africa shortly. It is said that Nat Douglass is the only Australian actor playing any leading part in any of our theatres. The word Australian actor is now a thing of the past, so many from the old oountry having stepped in their place of late years. I hear that Billy Jenkins, who will be remembered as manager for Harry Rickards when "'Arry played through New Zealand, is to sue Brongh and Boacicaalt for wrongful dismissal. In spite of the fact that the Hugo Minstrels were anticipated in the South by their Mammoth rivals, they have been doing enormous business everywhere. While in Wellington Mr. Hugo received a cable message announcing the sudden death of his sister Agios, who was a member of the company on their former visit to New Zealand. She was a clever danseuse and a great favourite with all who knew her. Miss wynne Herrick is now playing with the Grattan Riggs' Company, at the Gaiety ] Theatre, Brisbane, in the comedy, " First i Class." The Australian Patti, Amy Sherwin, is said to be meditating a tour through New Zealand. A good story is told about about Salvini's attempt to learn the English language. He took lessons in English ; but when he found that it was necessary to say that a person went "on foot," he objected. "We do not go to a place on foot," said he, " we go on feet. When a language is so absurd and extravagant as to say that a person goes on foot, what is the use of learning it ?" And thereupon he abandoned the English tongue. The French Government voted £20,000 the other day for a temporary home for the Opera Comique. The Gaiete is now the house spoken of as likely to be chosen. Edwin Booth, the American tragedian, is about to invest the greater part of his fortune in a magnificent residence for his daughter in New York city. A dramatised version of Rider Haggard's romance of "She" was recently announced for production in San Francisco. An adaptation from that writer's novel of " Dawn," entitled " Devil Caresfoot," has been given in London. In connection with new plays, II; may be mentioned that Mr. Dion Boucicault has written a piece which he has christened 41 Phryne." A 'Frisco audience was to have the honor of witnessing the first performance of it. Mdle. Ro6lia Rousseil, a Parisian tress, will shortly take the veil, but before bidding adieu to the world she will play once more «'Pl)6dre," and the performance will take plaoe shortly at the Eden Theatre, with the support of the artistes of the Frangaise. It is explained thstt the motive whioh has impelled the prospective nun to tread the stage again is the laudable one of paying her debts. The Imperial Review has made out a list of what it considers the best hundred plays. It allows each author only one selection. When it is stated that the first play mentioned is " King Lear," and that the last is Darrell'a " Forlorn Hope," it will be understood that the list in question is comprehensive enough at all events. / The summer in New York has been exceptionally not, but at least one theatrical manager has risen to the occasion. The Standard Theatre was recently fitted up with a 10,000 dollars maohine whioh suoks in air from the outside, keeps it a while in an icy chamber, fans the moisture out of it, and finally sends it into the anditorium through twenty apertures in various parts of the house. The centenary of Mozart's " Don Giovanni" (* otober 27) is to be celebrated by special performances in all the chief German opera houses. "The Bel's of Haslemere," a new piece by Messrs. Pettitt and Grundy, has been produced in the Adelphi, and bids fair to jival the popularity of its predecessor, " Harbour Lights." A forged mortgage has, It seems, a good deal to do with the misfortunes of the hero. The forgery is one of those which are only heard of in melodramas. It has been remarked, however, that, if the authors of "Haslemere" are shaky in their law; they are sound in their sentiments and Jo their mechanical effects. "Rigoletto" is delighting Melbourne at resent, but on one occaioa at La Scala, in Milan, it had a rather stormy experience. Patti and Nicolini were in the caste, but the latter, having a cold, would not sing the high tenor song in the second act. An Italian audience knows every bar of an opera, and it refused to allow the opera to nroceed unless the song were sung. N icolini wouldn't, and the audience began to hiss and 1 hoot until at last the curtain was lowered amid a perfeot uproar. The manger came on to the stage and said that if the "dience would leave quietly their money r l4 'Si NiooiinHor damages, and 8»« '» m allowed »lbs tone of 30,000 francs, i—-£;->/■. •

r*" Id the private performance of " A Midsummer Night's Dream," by which Mrs. Laboucbere's garden party at Twickenham waa recently enlivened, the Bottom the Weaver of Mr. G. A. Sala excited moat cariosity. It was Mr. Sala'a whim to make the immortal woaver speak with a quaint atammer.

Daring the New Zealand journey of Miss Carrie Swain, " Fuc-on-the-Briatol," Peter Hughes will pilot the show. Mr. Bland Holt has opened successfully with " A Run of Luck" in Adelaide. The Other attractions in Adelaide are Mr. Hudson's Surprise Party and Mr. Locke Richardson's recitals.

The death of Mrs. Wilson Barrett recalls to the elderly playgoer memories of five-and-thirty years ago, when, as Miss Heath, she was (In company with Miss Agnes Robertson and Miss Carlotta Leclercq) one of the attractions of the Princess' Theatre, then nnder the management of Mr. Charles Kean. More staid in style than either of her companions, Miss Heath was a good specimen of the youthful serious actress. She was, perhaps, a little monotonous, and had a slight tendency to drawling intonation, the result of Mr. Kean's tuition; bat she was earnest and intelligent, perfectly ladylike, and in every sense a credit to her profession. The yearly list of receipts at the Paris theatres has just been published, and it shows an increase on last year of £70,532 on the total amount, which this year is £169,392. The Opera House has taken £125,739, the Theatre Francais £75,140, the Opera Comique £62,942, the Eden £51,062, the Varieies £46,639, the Porte-St-Martin £42,604. the Vaudeville £31,642, the Gyranase £29,698, the Palais Royal £26,240, and the 0(1 ean £12,499. Authors' fees have amounted to £79,628, or £5000 more than the preceding year. Musioo Dramatioos. »*» All communications intended for this column should be addressed " Musico Dramatlcua," Herald Office, Auckland, and should be forwarded as early aa possible, mm—mm