MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8664, 5 September 1891, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

The Buffalo Minstrels are in. Dunedin, and there, as elsewhere, burnt cork, combined with low prices, evidently hit the taste of the amusement-seekers. Miss Nellie Stewart, the Australian actress, has been engaged as prima donna ill the comic opera "Black-eyed Susan," which is to bo produced at the new Shaftesbury Theatre. Janet Achurch has left for Western Australia, en route for England. The McMahon Brothers lost over £600 by the " Falka" opera season in Melbourne, but that was a mere bagatelle compared with what they made out of the " Evangeline" season which followed. These two items from tho New York Dramatic Tin^-.—'' Advices from Australia say Ed. Rice is in clover. The McMahon Brothers pay all his expenses and a high salary, and Rico is living like a fighting cock. .Duncan Harrison writes from Melbourne, Australia, that the advance sale for his company with John L. Sullivan amounts to over $10,000. There is great excitement ia Melbourne over Sullivan arrival." Mr. Snazello is reverting to his monologue entertainment at tho Athcnieum Hall, Melbourne. A benefit to Mr. John Wallace, the comedian, is being organised in Melbourne. Mr, Wallaco is said to have incurred losses in connection with the Clara Merivalo Opera Company. A farcical comedy called " Husband and Wife," by Messrs. F. C. Phillips and Percy Feudal, has caught the London taste, and seems likely to rival tho remarkable prosperity attained by others of its class during the last three or four years. When the play was first tried at a Criterion matinee the last act was found to bo somewhat thin, and the authors re-wrote it. The idea originated in " The Barrister" of a number of innocent persons being locked up all night by tho police is elaborated, and the trial scene is presented. The varying experiences of Mr. Wilton Jones, the dramatist, have been the cause of a good deal of newspaper talk in London. I Mr. Jones was plaintiff the other day in an action against Mr. Arthur Roberts for the recovery of £105 for work done and railway fares." He wrote a burlesque called *' Guy Fawkes, M.P.," for Mr. Roberts, and the latter refused to pay the £100 agreed upon as the price, alleging, that many of the jokes were old. Admitting that "an occasional" old joke might pass unnoticed if the voice was dropped, he said this contained altogether too many "chestnuts." Several witnesses for the defence also said there wore a great many " chestnuts" in the piece, but tho jury awarded tho plaintiff tho full amount claimed. Mr. Jones' next appearance was as the author of " The Scapegoat," a dramatisation of a novel by his wife (Miss Gertrude Warden.) The play was well received, but a Mr. M. H. Spier is endeavouring to set up a claim to priority of the treatment. Daniel Frohman has a new play by Pinero and one by Robert Buchanan for presentation during tho new season in New \ork. Henry Guy Carleton, a New York newspaper man and author of " Victor Durand'' and "The Lion's Mouth," has written a purely American play, under contract, entitled "Ye Earlie Trouble, a Romance of '76," which will be produced by Manager Field at the opening of the Boston Museum's fifty-first season. Entirely new scenery and stage settings are being prepared for the production of tho play, an event that is looked forward to with more than ordinary interest. Tho German Emperor was besought not to put the statue of Wagner in front of the Berlin Opera House, for the reason that "Wagner was somewhat of a Republican. The" Emperor paid no heed to this petition. The centennial of Mozart's death occurs in December next. It has been decided, however, to celebrate the event in Salzburg (his birthplace) next month with a three days'festival. . Edward Rcmenyi, the celebrated violinist, is to make a tour of the United States some time this year. He is said to be the possessor of forty-seven famous violins. The Bavreuth festival took placo last month. Van Dyk and vary were the stars. "Tannhauscr," "Tristan,"' and Parsifal" were given, tho latter on Sunday ni"hto principally. Tho advance sale of tickets was larger by 100 per cent, than ib was last year. They had plenty of music at the third triennial festival in Peterborough Cathedral. Beethoven's "Mount of Olives," Sterndale Bennett's " Woman of Samaria," Schubert's unfinished symphony, a hymn, and Gounod's "Redemption" were given in one afternoon and evening. The expense was over £700. On Juno 9th the twenty-fifth anniversary of Strauss' writing of the " Beautiful Blue Danube," his first waltz, was celebrated in Vienna by a gigantic concert of eight military bands, including 500 players, under the leadership of Strauss himself. The Archduchess Stephanie, widow of the Crown Prince Rudolph, was present. La Reve," by Zola, as adapted by -himself and M. Brunea for the Opera Comique, does not come up to the novel from which it is extracted. On the stage the magic of Zola's style is lost. The music is Wagnerian. The famous German actor Ernest Po3sart will make a professional tour of the United States during the season of 1892-93, for which ho is to receive £15,000. In London flute-playing has been taken up by the ladies of society as a " fad," its technical difficulties being regarded as less than that of the violin, and outrivalling in estheticlsm many of the other solo instruments. In the United States many ladies have already begun its study, and some have achieved a wide and well-de3erved reputation. Mr. Beerbohm Tree, while playing Hartfeld in " Jim the Penman" ab tho Haymarket, was induced (a writer in an English contemporary tells us) to go to Oxford one afternoon and play " lago." The only way of avoiding very awkward consequences was to dress in tho train ; and this Mr. Tree had prepared to do, if, as he feared, Othello at Oxford was late ; and, as it was, he only just caught his train to London by throwing an ulster over his lago dress and bolting for the station. Arrived there, he tipped tho guard and got a compartment to himself. So far, good 1 By the first stoppage the lago beard was off, and Mr. Tree bore the appearance of an ordinary English gentleman, to the obviousmystification of the guard, who looked in as he passed along the platform, stared, grunted, but ended at that. But, when the time for taking tickets, another metamorphosis had taken place. The Ilartfeld wig, whiskers, and, above all, the Hartfeld nose had been assumed, and, when the hawk-like and forbidding face loomed out of the growing shadows in answer to the cry of "Tickets !"' the suspicion of the guard was thoroughly aroused. And now, to cap it all, Mr. Tree had lost his ticket! This was the last straw, and, with ominous severity, the guard said sharply," Lost it? I daresay? Come—take off that nose ! We know your sort !"— and it was only by the application of liberal largesse that the Haymarket audience was not kept waiting. Mr." Tree is convinced that in his secret conscience that guard fully believes to this day that he aided and abetted in the escape of some desperate criminal. Alexander Salvini sailed from New. York for Europe on the French liner La Gascoigne recently. He will remain abroad about six weeks, two of which will be spent with his illustrious father at the villa Salvini, near Florenco, Italy. Mr. Salvini will also visit Rome, Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London. In Paris he will be the guest of M. Coquelin, of the Comedio Francaise. Mr. Salvini will return to America well equipped with valuable material for future use. His manager, W. M. Wilkinson, manager F. F. Proctor, of Proctor's 23rd Street Theatre, and a large number of prominent theatrical people were at the pier to wish him bon voyage. The cabin of the handsome actor was filled with floral tributes from professional and nonprofessional friends. W. M. Wilkinson will in tho future manage Salvini, with whom he has made a contract for a number of years. He has been identified with a number of the leading attractions, having commenced his theatrical career with the C. D. Hess English Opera Company during the palmy days of that once excellent organisation. Mr. Wilkinson managed the recent successful 53 " -weeks' tour of Maude Granger, whom he will also continue to manage. The Emperor of Germany has just conferred on Rubinstein tho cross of the Order of Merit, the highest distinction a civilian can receive in that country. - Musico-Dramaticus. "* All communications intended for this column Should be addressed " Musico-Dramaticus," Herald office, Auckland, and should be forwarded as early <<jkß possible.