DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL.

I HEAR that Messrs. Hiscock's and Friedman's Federal Minstrels, and New English Specialty Company, contemplate an early risit to New Zealand. There is some talk of Ouda, the French gymnast., and Mdme. Garetta, the pigeon charmer, paying New Zealand a visit. Miss Amy Vaughan, manageress of the Jubilee Company, after taking a rest in Auckland, leaves here for the South with her cljver little company on Monday next. It is stated upon very good authority that Mr. Charles Warner and his daughter will visit New Zealand at the close of his next Melbourne season. About Christmas time he will produce his new piece, "Advance Australia." since changed to "Hands Across the Sea." I Mr. George Leitch, after a complete and j successful tour of the colonies, will make , his re-appearance before Sydney playgoers in the Criterion this month with Messrs. ; Brough and Boucicault's company. Mr. | Leitch (says a contemporary) who nas been seen too little in Sydney, but whose versatility as a brilliant comedian and character actor is so widely known, will create the principal parts in the novelties to be pi induced during the season by Messrs. Brough and Boueicault. It. is probable that some of the plays with which Mr. Leitch's name has been so intimately associated in the old country may also be performed. Dr. Sampson Greville, the eldest son of the well-known comedian, Mr. J. R. Greville, is now on his way to the colonies, havin o, secured medical honours in Edinburgh and in the Royal College of Surgeons, London. Mr. G rattan Riggs is with his company at Broken Hill, playing his well-known pieces. In Brisbane, at the Opera House, Mr. Holt continues to attract with his " Run of Luck." . u Signer and Signora Majeroni are about to appear in "Mr. Barnes of New \ork, at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. _ These accomplished artists have been a sufficiently long time absent to give their appearance on °the Melbourne stage the charm of novelty, in addition to their merits. The "two most accomplished men singers of the day in opera are the brothers de Keszke. M. Jean de Resze, when singing for the Grand Opera in Paris, gets £'240 a month. In London he receives about that per week. In the course of an interview with Madame Minnie Hank, the prima donna, she said " Since my debut in '09 as a girl of seventeen with high-soprano parts, I have sung about seventy different parts, and a dozen in London only ; and I am very happy to see that public and press have no® forgotten my Mignon, Elsa. Marguerite, and above all' Kate in Goetz's ' Taming of the Shrew.' I think Kate was my greatest London success, greater even than Carmen. But Mr. Carl Rosa was unfortunately ill at Nice at the time ; and in the absence of the manager and owing to the shortness of the season, combined with the frightful fog, we only played it about six times. Why, I remember well, I could not see the audience, and the gallery people could not see me, owing to the dense fog in the theatre. My carriage the first night of J' The Taming' ran into a lamp-post, and Jafter the artistic triumph of Kate it took me some hours to get home. The coachman had to lead the horses, walking by their side with a torch. Under such circumstances nothing could succeed.'' The Carlton branch of the Australian Natives' Association has decided to open communications with their Board of Directors with a view of organising a subscription fund in the society for assisting Miss Amy Sherwin in her present financial difficulties, and subscriptions will be limited to one shilling. Apropos of the school of acting which has been formed in New York, Mr. Boucicault writes as follows on genius and instruction :—"The actor and orator can be taught what is graceful and elective in gesture and in movement. For in each of these there is a right and a wrong. There are, nevertheless, many who insist they can trust to the effusion of the moment and p-efer to allow their genius untutored sway. Those who have watched the greatest orators will observe how one will thrust his hand in his breast and flourish the other, or tuck it,behind his back. A second will wave his arms like the sails of a windmill in a cyclone, or thump down his fist, hammerwise, to nail his arguments. Another will stretch out his arm and hold it extended stiSy, as though fixed there by a mesmeric influence. They all have tricks of gesture, and bad tricks. There is no persuasion in any of these senseless gesticulations. Gesture and movement are very important parts of acting and of oratory, and it is the part which can be taught; it is not a matter of conventionality ; it is a language for the eye. For example, the gesture which accompanies a thought should precede its utterance. Why ? Becase the eye is keener, quicker to apprehend than the ear; the gesture that is intended to illustrate or impress conveys a vague idea of what is coming; the words that follow complete and fulfil the thought. Thus, we appeal to God. Let the arms first, be raised, and then, after pausing slightly, let the words follow. The result is solemn and impressive. Now reverse the process. Speak the appeal, pause, and then lift the arms. The effect is weak, if not ridiculous." At the supper given to Mr. Clement Scott at the Arts Club, on the occasion of the completion of his twenty-fifth year's experience as dramatic critic, the managers present gave him a handsome silver casket for cigarettes, inscribed with their names as follows :—J. L. Toole, Henry Irving, S. B. Bancroft, Wilson Barrett, Augustus Harris, Charles Wyndham, John Hare, Agostino Gatti, Stefano Gatti, H. Beerbohm Tree, Thomas Thorne, Edward Terry, Charles Htwtrey, and R. D'Oyly Carte. An extraordinary instance of the rash way in which young men about town spend their money came to the ears of a London correspondent the other day. The gentleman in question gave £120 for a row of stalls on the occasion of a certain benefit to an actor. He made use of six of them !

Mr. Barry Sullivan, the well - known actor, who is reported by the cable messages to be dying, was lying dangerously ill at Brighton when the mail left. Evidently but little hope at that time was entertained ohat he would soon be fit for work, for it lad been arranged that his place should be aken by his son, Mr. John Amory Sullivan, n the autumn tour for which he was cgaged. Sirs. Langtry's next tour (says the Era) ommences at Omaha on October 13. She mil not visit England this summer, as she will be engaged in showing America to her mother arid her brother and his wife, who are at present her guests at her farm in California.

A CHAT WITH THE YOUNGEST ACTRESS ON THE STAGE.

Juvenile precocity is sometimes dangerous o its possessor, although it is always of intense interest to the public. One of the nost remarkable instances of a clever child 6 to be seen nightly at the Globe Theatre, London, in Mr. Hugh Moss' dramatised ersion of that popular military story, Booties' Baby," by which John Strange Winter (Mrs. Stannard) has made such an enviable reputation as an authoress. The child in question is Miss Minnie Terry, daughter of Mr. Charles Terry and his amiable and accomplished wife, and therefore a niece of the great Lyceum favourite, Miss Ellen Terry. A representative of the Evening News who called on the young lady in question, and had a chat with her on matters theatrical, gives the following account of that interesting occurrence : — It was a little after six o'clock one evening this week when I was privileged to make my first personal acquaintance with the youngest and (making due allowance for age) cleverest actress on the English stage. Little Minnie Terry resides—l need hardly say with her parents, as she is not yet seven years old— Great Russell-street, Bloomsbury, well within the proverbial " stone's-throw" of the British Museum. It was here that I called to interview her, and on my arrival I was shown into a handsomely famished and very cosy drawing - room, where there were unmistakable evidences of the theatrical tastes of its owners and occupiers. In conversation -with Mrs. Charles Terry I found that the life and soul of the Globe Theatre had not yet awoke from the two hours' sleep which her proud and watchful mother insists on her taking every evening before setting out for the theatre, where she is such an immense favourite.

" Yes, she is really no more than six and ik-half old," was Mrs. Terry's oQswer

to my question. " She was born on New Year's Day, 1882. Of course there are a number of people who, having only seen my little daughter on the stage, declare that she is much older than this. As they must ' necessarily know very much better than 1 do, I have never thought it worth while to make a public statement on the subject. " Do you find that the amount of work she has to go through, night after night, affects her health or spirits at all inU " Not in the least, or Mr. Terry and I would never allow her to go on with it. She is rarely tired, even after the perform- ! ance ; .she sleeps soundly, eats well, plays ; as heartily as any other child would do, and I doesn't worry in the least about, her work. 1 As to whether she enjoys it or not, you shall i get her own opinion on that point in her own words. Here she comes !' SHE NEVER FEELS TIRED. As Mrs. Terry spoke 1 heard the sounds of a light footstep skipping along the corridor, and the tones of a childish voice carolling a little song. The door flew open and " Miss. Mignon* sprang gaily into the room, as light-hearted and us free from affectation as though there were no such thing in existence as a crowded theatre whose applause she was sure to win within the next few hours. "So you have been taking an afternoon nap, Miss Mignon. Does the acting at nights make you feel very tired ?" I asked. " Oh, no ; not at all. I never feel tired. Mamma lets me have just as much sleep as ever I want!" was the little one's reply. " Do you like acting ?" " Why, I love it !" she exclaimed, with a look of astonishment that any sane person could cherish a moment's doubt upon that point. It is so nice to play ' Miss Mignon' that I am always glad when it is time for mamma and me to go to the thaatre." " I suppose you enjoy being called before the curtain best of all, don't you ?" With a roguish little laugh and a nod of the pretty head came the answer, " Yes, I think I like that better than anything else. It is so nice when people are pleased with you, isn't it ?" Not being able at the moment to recall any instance in which I had experienced that emotion, I parried the awkward question with another. BEGINNING EARLY. "Were you frightened when you came on the stage to play that important part first, and when you saw all those faces in the theatre looking at you ?" " What a very silly question, to be sure !" was the pitying rejoinder under which I collapsed. "I didn't mind the people a bit. Why, don't you know that this is the third p'art I've played continued this veteran actress. " And what were the other two ?" " Oh, let me think"—resting her pretty face on one hand. "It was Georgie in ' Frou-Frou.' How old was I then, mamma ?" "Just three years, dear," was Mrs. Terry's answer. " Isn't that a long time ago?" asked Miss Mignon, with a sage look into my face. " I must have been a very little girl then. Quite as young as Auntie Nellie was when she began to act. Afterwards I played in ' Partners' at the Hay market Theatre." "And now you are 'leading lady' at the Globe !" There was an acquiescent nod of the head, more eloquent than words. "Ah, I mustn't forget to tell you that mamma and I are going to play in ' FrouFrou' for Miss Woodworth's Daisy and Buttercup Fund, about the end of this month. I am going to play in boy's clothes this time. Won't that be fun ? I know I shall look nice ! And, oh ! I am so glad that my dear mamma is in the piece, too. We have never played together yet," concluded this sage and experienced actress with a wise shake of the head. "Which of these characters that you've played do you like best ?" " Miss Mignon of course." And why, may I ask ?" " Well, because it's a much bigger part, you know. You've seen 'Booties' Baby,' "haven't you ? Well, now, don't you think Miss Mignon is a very important part I hastened to assure its clever exponent that I was quite sure it was the part in the play, and thereby established my reputation as a critic on a very satisfactory basis. A WONDERFUL LITTLE PUPIL. " How did you manage to learn all the business and words which fall to the lot of Miss Mignon ?" "Ah, mamma and Auntie Pollie can tell you all about that. Auntie Pollie taught me. Oh, you don't know how nice she is, or how very fond lam of her. I can't read a bit, you know, although I know all my letters and can write my name. So I had to learn it all by heart. Shall I tell you how I remember a thing? Well, when any one tells me something that I don't want to forget, I think, and think, and think about it, and then I can always remember it afterwards. That's just as good as reading, isn't it? Mamma says I am not to learn to read until I am seven years old, and she knows best." Mrs. Terry here interposed with the astounding information that all the stage " business in the part of Miss Mignon had actually been invented by her little daughter, and that the pretty ways which have never failed to win the sympathy of the audiences were due to natural, childish, buoyant spirits. I could not but express my wonder at the child genius which had " created" such a perfect part without help or instruction (save in the veriest technicalities) from older and wiser heads, a wonder which I am sure will be shared by those of my readers who have seen the I play. MISS ELLEN TERRY IS TO BE ECLIPSED. Miss Mignon, in the meantime, had unearthed some chocolate' from a secret and favourite drawer, and insisted on my regaling myself therewith before we continued our conversation. "I suppose you have seen your aunt, Miss Ellen Terry, play very often ?" I obKArvp.ri

" Oh, yes; many times. Auntie Nellie came to see me play in 'Booties' Baby,' and so I got mamma to take me to see Aunt Nellie play in the piece where she wears a very long thin dress." "You mean in the 'Amber Heart,' I suppose ?" " Yes, that was it." " I wonder will you ever be a greater actress than the lady you call 'Auntie Nellie.' "

"I am afraid I shall," was the naive reply in a tone which expressed to an indescribable degree sincere regret and a conviction of the inevitable at one and the same time. There was not an atom of boastfulness or chic about the child, either in manner or speech, as she pronounced this solemn sentence upon the genius and fame of her distinguished relative.

THE SILLINESS OF SHAKSPERE ! "I suppose your great ambition, Miss Mignon, is to play some of Shakspere's great characters Juliet, for instance?" The child looked puzzled for a moment, then, turning to her mother, asked, "Was that the part I saw Auntie Nellie play, oh, ever so long ago, mamma, and Mrs. Stirling played the nurse ?" "Yes, dear, that was the part." Then did " Booties' Baby" turn her sweet, expressive little face full upon me, and with a scornful toss of her head, make answer in tones that should have made Shakspere (or Bacon) turn in his grave. " What! do you think I'd care to play such a silly part as that? No, indeed, I wouldn't. Why, Juliet is too silly." As soon as I had sufficiently recovere from this crushing criticism on the Divine William I rose, and took my departure with new light breaking in upon me as to the various standpoints from which the great master's genius may be viewed. Miss Mignon insisted on seeing me to the door, and as I bent my steps towards FleetStreet, I bore in my hand a beautifully executed photograph of the child-genius I had just left, and in my memory the pretty little one standing upon the doorstep, blowing farewell kisses from its tiny finger-tips. Musico-Dramaticus.

*»* All communications intended for tnis column should be addressed " Musico-Draniaticus," HERALD Office, Auckland, and sholudbe forwarded as early as possible.