MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8360, 13 September 1890, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

The Opera House is to bo re-opened this evening' by a company organised by Mr. D'Arcy Ogden, who will give a series of performances for the benefit of the strike relief fund. The title of the play is very appropriate. It is "Tempted, or the Prodigal's Return."

I notice from ft Liverpool paper that Mr. Charles Arnold is playing in that city in "Hans tho Boatman." The Post says :— " Mr. Arnold has a tuneful and tender voice, and ho sings the old songs, including a pretty lullaby, with the baby Hans on his knee, with a grace and feeling that commanded the emotions of his audience. Ho is superb in the character of the bashful German lover (or Swiss boy, according to the text), and his comedy in the proposal scene is as charming as it is elaborate." When last heard from tho Majeronis wero in Japan, where they will probably terminate their tour through the East. Artistically it appears to have been a success, but as Madame Majeroni was laid up for some weeks in the season with a harassing illness, this enforced idleness on her part, added to the delicate health of her husband, has militated against the financial prosperity of tho enterprise. Mr. G. C. Miln is playing Shakesperian parts at Ballarat, where Harmston's Circus has also given entertainments during the week.

Mr. J. L. Toolo and his company are at Adelaide.

Fred Maccabo was last heard of at St. Arnaud and Donald. .

The Prahran Amateur Dramatic Club gave a very successful performance of " London After Dark" in the local town hall.

Mr. Hubert O'Grady, the Irish comedian, and his wife have arrived in Melbourne.

In Sydney " Paul Jones," at the Theatre Royal, after a very successful run of seven weeks, has been withdrawn in favour of *' Boccacio." Mr. Rignold has been playing "Nowadays" at Her Majesty's, whore Mr. Georgo Rignold has revived "Macbeth," with Miss Janet Achurch as Lady Macbeth and Mr. Charles Charrington as Macduff. At the Criterion, Sydney Grundy's play, "A Fool's Paradise," has been produced, with Mr. and Mrs. R. Brough, Miss Fanny Enson, Mr. C. Ward, and other members of tho Brough and Boucicaulb Company in the cast. Harry Rickards is still at the School of Arts, and Frank Smith's Variety Troupe occupy the Alhambra Music Hall. The attractions in Brisbane aro the "Little Lord Fauntleroy'' Company, a performance of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," and the Rev. C. Clark's lectures.

Mr. J. C. Williamson has been employing some of his time in London in endeavouring to effect an arrangement with .Mr. and Mrs. Kendal to come out to Australia for the purpose of giving a series of representations. He offered them a sum of over £6000 for a tour to extend over 13 weeks, following on after their nsxb American tour, bub unfortunately for the Australians, who would doubtless have been charmed with the performances of the so justly famed couple, the latter have not seen their way to accepting the proposal. " I have considered your offer for Australia very carefully,'' wrote Mr. Kendal to Mr. Williamson on July "23, "from all points of view, with the result that, what with loss of very valuable time and my expenses of a manager and servants, who would of necessity have to accompany us, I rind I am unable to entertain it. It does not hold out anything like the prospects of a provincial tour here after our long absence, and so for the present, and for theVeasons I gave you at our interview, we must abandon our visit to the antipodes, much as we should have liked to accomplish it. If we should go to America a third time, I shall be pleased to re-open negotiations with you if you are so inclined.'' Miss Minna Fischer, who was long associated with Miss Amy Sherwin here, and who afterwards left with that lady for a tour through Batavia, Hongkong, and the Straits Settlements, has secured some important concert engagements in England. Writing of a popular concert at the Crystal Palace "under Mr. Mann's direction, the London Musical Times remarks that the chief event was " the singing of Miss Minna Fischer, a finished artist, who hails from Australia." She sang Weber's " Unci ob die Walke" in the most delightful manner, her phrasing being perfect. Her voice is pure soprano, but the middle register, which is 80 often neglected, has been carefully cultivated, and there is that peculiar colour and carrying power in her tone which enables the faintest pianissimo to be heard all overthe hall. " A Million of Money, the Drury Lane play in which Mr. Charles Warner has made a great success, is by Messrs. Pettitt and Harris. The plot is not to hand yet, but a pictorial poster reveals the village of Virtue, with the spire in the background, a gentleman in evening dress being horsewhipped in a fashionable drawing-room, the interior of a convict prison, and a huge boat tossing on the troubled seas. Mes«rs. Sims and Buchanan's new Adelphi drama bears some resemblance to the Haymarket piece " A Village Priest," though the young Irish pastor instead of avowing a hopeless passion describes his victory over self. Mr. Ernest Pauer has been teaching and composing music in England for 38 years. His son Max has just been appointed a pianoforte professor at Cologne Conservatoire. ~ „ , At the Bijou Theatre, Isew York, a farcical trifle called " The City Directory" has had a success said to equal that of "Adonis." The piece is described as devoid of plot, sequence, or coherence, but— the actors are clever. Mr. Clement Scott, in the Whitehall Review, states that his translation of Sardou's " Dora" was named by lot. " The Mouse Trap" and other suggestive titles were shaken up in a hat and Mrs. Bancroft drew "Diplomacy." A new play at the Strand Theatre, Illusions," by Pierre Leclercq, has proved only a mere* d'atime, though the author sister, Miss Rose Leclercq, acted the chief character with great skill. Mr. Wni. Winter, the famous American dramatic critic, is spending a holiday in England. In London the combination in one person—not a rare one—of parson and organist of a church is now known as the " P. and O. Company." As an example of the doing3of the Lord s Day Observance Society in London, it may be stated that a letter has been addressed by it to the Queen requesting the discontinuance of the Sunday afternoon performances by a military band on the terraces at Windsor Castle, overlooking the fact that these performances have not only been a healthful recreation to hundreds of weary hard-workers, but have also doubtless been the means of keeping many out of mischief. It must be remembered that the publichouses are opened on Sunday afternoons. The society alleges that " the arranging of attractive pleasures on the Lord's Day cannot bub hinder the efforts of Christian persons to instruct the young and to win to holiness multitudes who are ignorant of the Gospel." Was there ever more contemptible shortsightedness? As a London contemporary observes —" The Pharisees of to-day, like their prototype, thank God that they are nob as other men. The ' other men' are nob less devout in their gratitude.''

MusiCO-DIiAMATICPS.

** All communications intended for this column should be addressed " Musico-Dramaticus," Herald Office, Auckland, and should be forwarded as early as possible. „_____________„.