MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13235, 21 July 1906, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

';■'-:••'•■';:; : " : " BOOKINGS. HIS MAJESTY'S THEATEE. ■ JuneMS to August I—Anderson Dramatic Co. August 13 to August 18—" The Lady Typist." ■August; 20 to. August 24—Edison's: "America at Work" Pictures, „ ;, '. August ;25 to August 31—Allan Hamilton's English Entertainer, Mr. Leslie Harris. September 1 to MacMahon Dramatic Co. October 1 to 6—Westminster Glee Singers. October 8 to 17—Harry Eickards' Vaudeville ■^■■.v.'Co. '•■-'• , October 20 to; December West-Bresciaa; Co. December; 3 to December 15—"Man from Mexico,"; Mr. Edwin Geach's Co. . , -';'■"" December '26 to; January 15-Brough-Flem-ming Co. ' 1907. ■' February -18 to March 9-"The Squaw Man" ..;,-: and "The Virginian" (Mr. J. C. Williamson's Co). ;

OPERA HOUSE. ' i ;• ■ t,:', Nightly— Empire Vaudeville Co. October Bto October. 27— J. O. Williamson's *. Dramatic Company (Miss Tittel rune).

Miss Amy Murphy has had a splendid reception while in Auckland, and her visit has proved nil < too brief for musical people. She will sing at the Choral; Hall. for the last time this evening. The hope has been expressed that Miss Murphy might be heard m oratorio while in Auckland, but that is impossible, as she is leaving for the South on Tuesday. The most, striking feature of Miss; Amy Murphy's work is that she has had no tuition outside of New Zealand, and that to her mother she owes her marvellous technique and also no doubt in a very large measure her natural ability. One cannot help thinking that it' is often a costly mistake in some cases for young girls with ability to go Home to study, perhaps with the hope of dazzling a Lonon audience or. succeeding ''■', even Melba", when Miss Murphy has proved in herself what the genuine artist can do in New Zealand itself.

Mr. William, Anderson's Dramatic Co. has been doing ; excellent business at His Ma-; jesty's during the week. " The Mariners of England" was certainly ; a very fine production. ' No doubt the hypercritical could discover little tilings that were not •. maniacally, accurate in the scene of the ' deck of the Victory, but the • general effect was very fin i and after all the general effect is what the management strove for, and with which the audience 'as a whole was abundantly satisfied. This; evening "Thunderbolt," the bushranging story in dramatic form, will \be presented for the first time. • It is claimed to be an Australian play through and through. ' V A'; thoroughly good ;. bill ;is prepared for Opera House patrons this evening. The Fuller Proprietary secured the "Musical Gardeners," whose magnificent turn was such a strong feature ,in the "Sinbad pantomime. Percy Lodge, the ckvei- female impersonator/ too, makes his first appearance ; to-night, also Miss Ethel Leslie, an exceptionally v.fine ■■; contralto. ; The Driscoll Bros., genuine funmakers, reappear this evening, -and among the star turns arramgea for are the Lenton Bros., hat throwers and" spinners, who made a great hit in Auckland some years ago. On August 4 Madame Yea-tnans-Titus will appear. . Madame YeamansTitus is a great artist, :' and • withr the sup-" port given by her talented husband, Mr. , Frederick J. Titus,,they ; give the most pleasing and refined performance known to the stage. The BrwightFlemming Co. will pay a visit to Auckland at the end of the year, opening; at His Majesty's on Boxing Night. ' Macdermott's New Zealand Biograph Company have completed ai successful season of six weeks in Sydney—three of which were in the Centenary Hall and three; in the Lyceum: Very large audiences witnessed the performance and the press reported very favourably of ; the merits of the show. The company; is now in Newcastle. ;, Mr. A. 6. Mabee, business manager for " The Lady; Typist," informs me that everything is going strong. Mr. Fred Graham., who is to stage manage and produce; the play, is hardl ait work rehearsing both principals arid ; choruses, and is so tar.; delighted with the work done, : and feels assured the "Typist" will make a great hit. Mr.. Will ! Diamond has completed the scenery, which he says is the best he has. yet done. The time is now drawing near when Auckland ■will■ be able to show what it can do in the way of musical comedy. 0 It was during the performance of "The Mariners of England," at His Majesty's, the 'period was the eve of Trafalgar, ana the scene was the orlop deck of the Victory. The hero wats; writing "a possible last mesrsage to his lady"love, which precious script he : proposed to entrust to the comedian, whose chances of survival of the fray were 100 to 1. Beginning, the hero said :" My —dear—l—about—" and so on, while he laboriously wrote down, or. pretended to write down, a particularly long letter. The "gods" could stand it no longer, amd one of the lesser deities broke up the show completely by shouting" Foi' heaven's sake, Harry, put it in shorthand.' <; Bandsmen and, lovers of music generally will rejoice to bear that the famous "Besses ©* ;. the Barn"/-baud will probably play in Ctoistchurch during the Exhibition, opening their New. Zealand tour in that city'and afterwards touring ■ the colony' north and south. They are due here in January. It is not yet fixed whether the band will come to Australia by the San Francisco or the Vancouver route. ; At present the band have an engagement 'to tour the United States., They, have paid as return visit to France, where they had already established a great reputation. "La Marraine de Charley," performed at the Eden Theatre, Noumea, last month, is our old friend " Charley's Aunt" in French guise. La Caledonie in its announcement describes the farce as a " comedie-bouffe en actes," and refers to. the introduction of "Airs Nouveaiux de Mine. Van Carryll," which probably ; means; lyrics by Mr. Ivan Caryll, the musical director of the London Gaiety. The version of the Eden Theatre includes pome novelties certainly, for I notice,,"' Chanson d'Oxford/ chantee par Mme. Cassagne,"- also "La Chanson des houblons, chantee par Mme. Brisset." Mr. J. C. -Williamson has arranged with Miss-Tittel Brune for a special" four weeks season: in Sydney, commencing on August 4, in order that, she may be seen there in "Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall." The rearrangement of the tour will throw back the beginning of the New Zealand' visit until September 5, upon -which date Miss Brune will open in Wellington.: She will be in Auckland in October, and in Christchurch for the opening weeks of the Exhition.' - The Waldron-Humphries' combination, " The Squaw Man,'' plays overland from Melbourne to Adelaide, where they are due on September 1. . Sydney is next on the list and in all probability a New Zealand tour j commences about Christmas time. [ .Mr. Jno. A. Macdonaild, who has been , piloting the Black Family of Musicians through New Zealand , is in Auckland. .He states that the ' family ■'": leave on the 24th inst. -for the South Sea Islands, Tasmania and Australia.

I ..■:■ ? For Sydney's ■; Christmas attraction Mr. J/: C. Williamson intends to produce the Rev. T. Hillhouse Taylor's "Parsifal.",with Mies Tittel Brune in the part of Kundry. The drama' will be lavishly mounted, and the wonderful spectacular . effects will be I adequately presented. • \r, "i- When the box-plan ;of Miss Tittel Brune's j Perth season ' was opened no fewer than 2000 seats I were marked off. ' ~i Among the artists appearing at the Lon-don-National Sunday League concerts- at the V Albert and \ Queen's Hall : were Mr. Mark Harnbourg, Mr. Boris Hambourg, Violet ; Ludlow, Mr. Joseph'Blasckeck, and Miss Maud Dalrymple. ; Miss : Hollander's artistic ■■•■ and cultured renderings of "My Irish Lilv " and Mascher oni's "Ave Maria ''have' been a source' of unadulterated delight to London Tivoli audiences . nightly. ■'. The municipality of Antwerp has forbidden ladies' hats to be worn in the stalls and ■' dress circle at the theatres. Gentlemen are also forbidden to wear their bats,, even between the acts. ■;. A New-York paper' flays that Miss Vesta -Tilley: is receiving a salary at the rate of £2 i0s ; : a minute for each minute she %is on the stage. This, it. is calculated, represents a,salary of from £875 to £1250■ a. week, according to the encores she receives. If them is only, the smallest and' slightest basis of truth for this statement the lady is to be congratulated on her good luck. •, "■■"■'•" •■"--' '" ; MirSICO-DRAMATXCTJSi