DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8962, 28 January 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

Things tbeatrioa! are likely to be quiet for B ome weeks in Auckland. Came Swam is the next novelty on the boards. She opens at Abbott's Opera House abont the end of next month. In the South she haa been '• eclipse" and the rest nowhere. Whereever she has appeared she has carried them by storm. Carrie is a wonderful and versatile creature. She has completely captiyated the Southern critics. This in itself is a great triumph. Critics are, as a rule, cynical creatures. They rarely gush. Carrie must, therefore, be passing wonderlul. The members of the Bland Holt Dramatic Company left for Sydney on Tueiday. Before laaving Mr. Holt presented his manager with a handsome gold pencil case, bearing the inscription, "To W.K.8., from Brand Holt, ISS7." It was specially made by Mr. Kohn, of Queen-street. I understand that the nightly receipts during the season averaged £SO. , „ , Mr. John Henninge, the well-known scenio aitist, is at present quite blind, owing to rheumatism of tho optic nerve, and he is now under treatment in a private

hospital. , . , . The Greenwood Family have been doing the Southern Lake districts with a fair amount of success. The Lynch Family are etill in the Southern townß doing good business. The Roea Towers Comedy and Dramatic Company are touring India. Mrs. Towers died at Ondrow (Central India) in the month »f December. Writing to the Melbourne Argus from Paris, Mr. R. S. Smytbe says that he visited the Theatre Porte St. Martin to witness a representation of M. Sardou's new play, with a view of purchasing the Australian rights. He says :—" Without the slightest hesitation, I say that 'La Tosca' (the name of a popular singer), even witb Sarah Bernhardt, for whom it was written, in the title role, will never be a favourite play with English audiences. Splendid as in the performance of the greatest living actress, to whom Mi?s Mary Anderson oould not hold a candle, even the Parisians do not like the play. They are spellbound by the wonderful acting ; they c»ll Bernhardt before the surtain ; but they do not go away delighted. The drama is in rive acts ; there coald not bo a sixth, for at the end of the fifth the four principal characters are all dead. Two ;ommit suicide, another is murdered, the other is shot. The drama is too dreadful. In the third act an appalling efleet ie produced by the agonised shrieks of La Tosca's lover undergoing torture in an adjoining chamber, and when the bruised and bleeding man, with eyes starting from their sockets, rushes into the presjuee of his mistress, She audience are absolutely overcome with borror. To English audiences, 'La Tosca' vould be as revolting as ' The Cenci.'" Charles Warner, "the English actor, will arrive in the Victoria about February 4th, and open at the Theatre Royal in " Drink" two weeks later. I have also beard from a private letter received that Maggie Kuight Is on her way back to Australia. Mr. Luscombe Searelle's Opera Company, after playing for the unprecedented period of one handled and sixty consecutive nights at Capetown, gave their farewell performance on December 17. Tho night before was made the occasion of a performance for the benefit of Mr. Searelle, when " Bobadil" was played to a very large audience. The Cape Argus gives the following account of a little ceremony highly gratifying to the manager of the company, which took place that evening:—Between the second and third acts, the curtain rose, and discovered Mr. Searelle sunourded by ail the members of the company. The Hon. Mr. Schermbrucker then stepped forward, and in a most felicitous style, presented Mr. Searelle, on behalf of every member of the opera company, with a handsomely illuminated address, accompanied by a purse of sovereign?, which had been subscribed by some personal friends, outside the precincts of the theatre, as a souvenir of the occasion ; after which, and on behalf of the orchestra, Mr. Searelle was presented with a richly silvermounted baton, suitably inscribed. Mr. who appeared deeply moved by the proceedings, and was, moreover, much exhausted by his recent attack of Mauritius fever, suitably responded, and in wellchosen terms, albeit his voice was very weak »nd sometimes almost inaudible. During the ceremony the Hon. Mr. Scherabrucker called upon the acting manager, Mr. Weston, to read an address from the members of the company, expressing their admiration of the talent, energy, and unvarying kindness of the proprietor, conductor, director, and itage-manager. hmilie Melville was at latest dates at Rockhampton, Queensland, playing in '• Kosfdale ;" the Buffalo Minstrels, with Miss Lowie St. George as principal lady, were at Brisbane. The " triumvirate's" " held By The Enemy" Company were still playing in Adelaide, an is Mr. T. Hudson, while Mr. St. Maur and Mrs. Digby WiU loughby were at L*unceston and Hobart respectively. With a persistent disregard for the financial aspects of the position, no less thin three managers are talking about an Italian Opera season in London this year —Mr. Lago at Covent Garden, Mr. Augustus Harris at Drury Lane, and Colonel Mapelbod at Her Majesty's, According to an American journal devoted to the interests of the drama, it is said that when Miss Ellen Terry is on the stage (technically) at rehearsals, neither Mr. Irving nor his tfficient stage-manager, Mr. Loveday, interferes. At these times she is jole director, and the powers dominant at all other periods of the play suffer an Bclipte, as does the sun during a transit of Venue.

bin. Hugh-Bell, the lady whose play, " LMndecis," was performed by the French actore at the Royalty with bo much success, bas adapted one of Scribe's comedies for the English Btage. Mies Genevieve Ward is to appear in it. The play first mentioned haa been produced by Miss Ward at Newcastle in English as " Between the Posts," the English vereion being also written by Mrs. Bell. Little Josef Hofman, the celebrated boy pianist, has arrived in New York, and his performances have won instant admiration. tie bas proved to be all that his managers claim for him, and he is much more than an infant prodigy. If we are to believe a Now York paper, he is a serious child, and music to him is a religion. When he was live years old, if he happened to be at a concert where a singer sang out ot tone, he would bury his face in his hands and groan aloud. If the nntuneful singing continued, he reprimanded the singer, and left the ball. Mrs. Langtry has beeu "coming the pathetic" at Toronto, Canada. When ehe made her last appearance there, at the close of the play the audience demanded! a speech. After hesitating for a moment, she said :— "1 thank you for your kind and cordial reception of me, and I asoure you that whatever corner of the earth I may be in I shall always retain a warm spot in my heart for Toronto. There is another reason why I am interested in your city : I have a dear brother buried in St. James' Cemetery, and I don't like to think of him ae being among strangers. I want you all as you pass to pat a flower on his grave for my sake." In the burst; of applause that followed, an rrepressible young man in the gallery cried, 'Bravo, my beauty," to which the Jereey jily replied with an impulsive gesture and a 'God bless you all! ae she disappeared. Musico Dkamatiocs.

%• AH communications intended for this column ould be addressed "Musico Draroaticus," Herald (He*, Auckland, and should be forwarded as early as ■alible.