MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14841, 18 November 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

BOOKINGS. BIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. November 18 to 25- The Gay Gordon*." November '<it to Ijeoember Auckland Competitions Society. December 26 to 29—" The Speckled Bona." December 30 to Jauuary 13H. B. Irving.

January 26 to February New Domic Opera Company. •. •: . .. - April 6 to 20—" Evcrywoman" Company, ' May 6 to 25—" Chocolate Soldier." ,Tiine £4 to July 6—Pantomime. July 22 to August 3—" The Blue Bird." heptemlxT 30 to October laOscar Aiohe-lilly my ton. . . .

I I ,! Sergeant Brae " will be produced at r Hie Majesty's on. Wednesday and three 1 following nights, It is a delightful little ! musical play in three acts (live scenes), i Liza Lehman boing responsible lor . the i music, Owen Hall for the book, and J. ' Hickory Wood for the lyrics. Alt tho i members of; the company aro well suited ~for the parts allotted to them. , \ The Auckland Orchestral Society V fourth | concert Of , the season will bo given in the ; Choral Hall on Wednesday and Thursday ! next. The soloists on this 1 occasion will I be Madame Dora Hunt and Mr. Ernest i Parkes. Mr. 0. A. Paque 'will conduct, i and a very attractive programme has been 1 arranged.-; . j " The competitors for the Auckland Comi petitions Society's festival, which opens in ! His Majesty's ~ Theatre on Monday week, I have started to arrive from tho South, and ! many of the successful contestants at'the i recent festival in Wellington are expected | within the next few days. Tho time-table, I which has just been, published, shows proj mise of many fine programmes, and the ! public will have little to complain of. in | tho matter of quantity- and quality. The J elocution section this year provides excellent scope for those with dramatic in- ! stincts. J. H. M minder's latest cantata, entitled " Bethlehem," will be performed for the I first timo .in Auckland at St. Jamos's I Presbyterian Church next Friday evening, i The new work is full of many interesting ! features, and embodies much picturesque . Eastern colouring. . Tho solos aro in tho | capable hands of Miss L. Walker . (so- ; piano), Mr. J. Fish (tenor), Mr. Ernest i Parkes (baritone), and Mr. A. Gow (bass), j The entire work will bo produced under ( the direction of Mr. Walter Impett, and i a finished production is promised. j Wirths' Circus,, "the greatest show on • earth," will pay another visit to Auckland •in the near future. Mr. George Wirth, , who has just returned from a tour round- ! tho world, has secured a number of fresh I attractions from New York and Paris. i

(• Mkmumevt still' reigns at His Majesty's j still reigns at His Majesty's i where J. 0, Williamson's " Gay Gordons ' are playing to big business. The piece is | elaborately staged, and well acted, while j the music throughout is bright and tune--1 ■ till," "The Gay Gordons" will be' staged ! again this evening and on Monday and j Tuesday next.

Miss Maggie Knight, one of the principals ill' the " Gay Gordons" Company, now in Auckland, was born in this city. I She has boon acting since she was seven 1 or eight years old, principally in Australia, I where ehe is well and favourably known. : Miss Knight declares that she scarcely ! knows her birthplace, all the old landj marks having disappeared. She grows eni thusinstic, however, over tho warm hearts who have greeted her since she returned, and thinks the city more beautiful than ever it was. Miss Knight informs me that _to her mind the managers of to-day are ill advance of those of the old days. Their ideas ajo broader and their catering for the public is done on more generous lines. She retains still, however, a lively recollection, of the valuable training received by artists under the old regimes, though, in her opinion the stage managers t of to-day are every bit as helpful to aspir- | ants who show real promise. Miss Knight J would-like to see the days of the stock j company return, but fears that we shall j never see them again in Australasia. ,

A quarter of a century ago Miss Maggie Knight was playing' leading parts in her father's company at the old Duke of Edinburgh Theatre in Auckland. As a child she appeared as Prince Arthur in " King John," and when her family in due course went to America she was " starred" as an " infant phenomenon" actress, and drew £20 per week. Miss Knight returned to Now Zealand with her parents, and was then engaged by Fred Marshall to play Little Nell and the Marchioness in " Quilp." Later she played Desdemonato the Othello of a visiting tragedian, and during that season Mr. J. C. Williamson engaged her for Australia. There she was given her first good chance as the heroine in Burnand's " Turn of the, Tide." Miss Knight is the last of the Australian girls who played leading parts under the Williamson , management in tho 80's. Her career has been an interesting one, and many of her stag© associates of the old days were famous, notably Mr. Titheradge and the late Dion Boucicault, Herbert Flemraing, and Robert Brough.

Miss Florence. Quinn, the talented Auckland actress, who was hero with "The Arcadians" Company, has been meeting with much . success in Australia since her last visit to this. city. t A Perth paper, in referring to a recent performance of " The Belle of Brittany" says that it was a pity the management had not thought fit •to allow Miss Quinn to give' Perth another cample of her superb voice. "Itis a beautifully toney mezzo" says the writer, " and was a feature of the nights on which she played Soinbra in " The Arcadians." Another critic in the same - town referring to the same play • and the: same - actress writes as follows: "Miss Quinn, as the aristocratic Mdlle. Deniso do la Vire, has little to do but I look handsome, dignified and stately, .and , she filled-the role well One song, Country Alice,' fell to her lot and so charmingly and artisticallv was it given , that the audience insisted on a repetition, v

Dr. Joseph Bell, the eminent Scottish surgeon , who was the original of tho character of Sherlock Holmes, died in London on October 4.

Lewis Waller, the well-known English actor arrived in New York last month. He will play the part of Androvsky, the monk, in "The Garden of Allah" at the Century Theatre. This is Mr. Waller's first visit to America.

Mr. F. W. McLeod, at one time master of the Masterton Band, has accepted a similar position in the Vice-Regal Band at Ipswich, Queensland, in place of Mr. C. Trussel, the well-known* New Zealand bandsmaster and composer, who resigned.

Miss Madge Titheradge will be the leading lady with Mr. Lewis Waller's Company, which is to tour Australia and New Zealand shortly. Miss Titheradge 'is the daughter of Mr. George S. Titheradge, well known in New Zealand. She made her first appearanco at the Garrick Theatre, London, in December, 1902.

The late Kyrle Belew, who died recentj at Salt Lake City, started his dramatic carcer in Australia. Later he went to London, where his early trials were of a particularly heartbreaking character. Eventually he triumphed, however, and at the end of ten years was able to take his place among the greatest actors in the world. In 1895 he returned to Australia with ; Mrs. Brown Potter and Miss Ida Hamil- ; ton, afterwards the wife of the ill-fated i Scott Inglis, who, with the exception of j Oscar Asche, was probably the greatest ! actor that Australia has yet produced, t That season was a remarkable one, both from an artistic and from a financial standpoint. So highly did Bellow think of .Scott Inglis that he took him with the company on tour to America, where the Australian subsequently killed himself. A year or two later Bellew broke away from Mrs. Brown Potter, and for the past few years had, been living in comparative retirement. Probably his greatest part was that of Scawia in. " La Tosca." I Alvsico -Dsiiuxicus.