DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9325, 30 March 1889, Page 4 (Supplement)

DRAMATIC AND MUSICAL

The Vivian Dramatic Company produced a new and wonderful piece entitled " Missing at Lloyds" at.the -Opera on Saturday night.; , Thoy aro now* playing ' ®*East Lynne." \p. f _ 'J 1 The Fisk Jubilee SingerS have concluded their season in Auckland. ; ' •-.* v In Ballaift the Mfji&ahon-Leitch company have ' this'week tiedn playing with Results agreeable to themselves. '**' Recent news from South Africa conveys intelligence of tho con tinued J success t>£ IP the Luscombe - Searelle :■ Opera CpmpanyJ Mr. Searollo himself had:' left for Lohdon for the purpose of procuring fresh novelties, Cleaving Mr. Yornqn'Beid acting-manager. ■ Thus Melbourne Leader —" Mr. Geo. DaareU*^loar in New Zealjiud has so far .. #L proved""Satisfactory. - Business is, looking up, and' prosperity appears f to bo once mora; in sitoro for Maorilan|l, and no better' proof of gooditimos cSn be afforded than the largo sums spent by the general public in amusements. , \ A Melbourne friend sends me tho follow!*'' * * ing items of theatrical news: Frank Lin; | ' coin has caught on very big here and is doing tremendous business. his present success, ho will be able to hold " bis ground hero for another' month. Ho then doos tho small towns in Victoria, with, Adelaide and South Australia to follow, « then' New Zealand. • Things have been going with a big boom in Melbourne lately, but it's a case of»" Ichabod " now. The theatres have been doing; splendidly, but there's been nothing much doing the last two weeks. There were three new bilk last night; but none of the houses were crowded as they should have been for St. Patrick's night. Bland Halt opened at theßcfyal with " Tho Union Jack," Miln, an American tragedian, at the Opera House in "Richard III".," and "Erminie" was reproduced at I'rinces's. Frank Thornton is playing " Mamma " '."lit. the Bijou, and shortly goes on a tour for 'Adelaide'and New Zealand." Rignold and Allison havd dissolved partnership, and I think that's about the only thing that ia stirring "the theatrical mind, Charlie Arnold opened in Adelaide a few days ago. I saw him the other day and' was trying to persuade him to go to Now Zealand and postpone his departure for America. J think " Sweetheart", do a. big business in New Zealand, and lam sure 44 Harts?" could be revised successfully — especially in .<* Christchurch and Dunedni, where the only v ' people who s;-w it had to swim almost to the theatre. '* ? The will, dated July '2S ISS7, of tlia» late Mr. Alfred Peck Stevens, vocalist, known •as Alfred Glafiville Vance, of Sussex Housi* Vauxhall Bridge Road, formerly of Fullwood House, Gray's Inn, has been proved by Miss Eunice M'Lewee Vance, tlje sole -executrix, to whom the testator leaves all his" property, rea| 'and personal, and by whom tho value of the personalty has been returned for,probate 7s 3d. An ; American paper sftys 'til J. Iv. Emmett has grown fat and has lost much of his old-time grace and agility ; also that his voice has left him. Nevertheless, ho has „ plenty of money to solace himself with when :\v a the public desert him. j" The author of "Box and Cox" and so many other popular plays and farces, M?r . JamesMaddison Morton, is a Charter House at',2s per day. ifc. Although it is well known that Kate Vaughan is really married to tho Hon. Arthur JWellesley, she has always appeared on the stage as Miss Kate Vaughan, but at the theatrical performances which are about to take place at the Chelsea Barracks' she .."'will boldly throw off her. stage name and * "announce herself as the Hon. Mrsi'Arthur Wdlesley. Kate Vaughan's diamonds are .exquisite. I once saw them encircling her "waist, neck, and arms ; they blazed "in her hair, and flashed in the folds of her dress, sparkled on her fingers, and gleamed on the eraser, of the shoes which enveloped her tiny feet. „ * Miss Helen Faucit, the daughter of a Margate manager,"'made hertfirst appearance in London as Julia in The Hunchback." Her triumph onttiis,occasion was followed by her success as'Cleant he, in Serjeant Talfourd's' Ion." After Mr. Hammond's bankruptcy/Mr, Macready, in IS-il, became lessee -of IDriiry Lane, and Miss Helen Faucit leading lady. She played in Mr. Browning's . undramatic poem, <r -The Blot in and as Mabel in " Mr! W&tland&Marston's " Patrician's Dau ter, ""atvery 2 high -ton ed fc and admirable play,T~"The iJ critics of that period praised'the young actress for- following nature, and -carrying"the Spectators with her, whether she "was* gay onfgrave, artless or sublime. ' They said' .her 'form was graceful, and that her eyes* had ' a "beaming softness." They liked her best in fender and scenes, • but in Constance considered her artificial, and too evidently a disciple of Macready. In 1864 ... the accomplished lady reappeared at Drury Sf. Lane as Lady" Macbeth,R'osalind, and Imogen. It;.was 1 then : . t Mr. Henry Morley ■and-other?leMn?g that her voice failed when irym&to express very violent emotion. She' was 'delightful, however, as the tender, devotei Imogen, though not physically, strong enough for Lady ' Macbeth. Alf Miss f Fauci t had not left the stage when she married' Sir Theodore' Martin, she would have become, if not the-jcaosfe powerful and majestitf of English actresses certainly the molt-gra'ceful and -A& that most beautiful 'of 'Shak sperian'women, Imogen, Miss Faucit has never been surpassed. ' , . , The foibles of actresses have ever been a fascinating subject of speculation with the public, and none more so than ' those personal, harmless eccentricities which take tho form of what is ' commonly called"fads." If is a curious and- interesting study to note these peculiarities,-and'.oft-times surprised to find how little'the "art of the actress characterises"*her eccentricities.;, ? The great Siddons was a striking example of this. Her fad was the-simple prosaic one of cooking. It is recorded of; mortal.queen of the stage 1 that the night of' her 'first .triumph • the'* returned '-to her. humble and 3with her own hands prepared 'tho familyisupper; forgetting; in the enjoyment-'•of .that;;homely. meal,*, the mimic splendours and? enthusiastic plaudits of her triumphs. * Few indeed, if* any,' of the great ladies of -the'stage of to-day can be charged with so - simple and useful a

fad. Mr. Terriss, on the stage the most elegant in dress, is off a thorough Bohemian in attire. He may be often met in the Strand, wrapped in an immense Inverness cloak, a* soft-crowned hat drawn over his eye3';;j&iajndt nol|^n'e'Aih^a^hiw.dred; of his admn'^^ : Wou|dfretMgriise ; in him , the spruce anddfm£y^qkinJ.hero'6f.theAdelphi. Mri*''ife&neld&Was"ihtroduced' into his programme r at the' Globe Theatre a new feature. A quarter-of-an-hour before the rising of the curtain, and during the entr' acta, the orchestra, which has been augmented for the purpose, gives musical selections,, both classical and by modern drawn mainly from important new works, preference being given to tho English school.,• One of the most frequent visitors to Her Majesty when the Court is at Balmflral is Madame Albaj|i, the vocalis.t, who has of late years become a great favourite in the Court circle. Madame Albani was born in Montreal, of Ilrench parent?. It is nearly twenty years> singe she made her debut under her present nom de' -plume. — her correct /name being Emma la Jeunesse— and since that time she. has been one of the most hardworking members of the profession. " ' . A successful dramatic author, as a rule, makes more in a year than" the most popular novelist; with^a'poet^or^, two thrown in ; and' Mr. Haddon Chambers is .'finding out what" a nice thing it is'to'have written'a successful" play." "Captain Swift" brings 'iim in, we are!told, as much as ' £80 per week, and when, Mr.. Beerbohm , Tree sends the play on ; tour,"he will, we suppose, receive a considerable addition to this sum Mdsico-Dbamaticus,

All communications Intended for this column should he addressed " Musico-Dramaticus," Herald Office, Auckland, and should bo forwarded as early as possible. '