MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15263, 29 March 1913, Page 4 (Supplement)

MUSICAL AND DRAMATIC.

BOOKINGS. %■. " , HIS MAJESTY'S THKATRE. . March 29 to , April 12— C. Williamson, LtdMay 9 to 2i-.Braascombe Co M*y 22 to Jun* J. O. U'illlamton, l«td. June 9 to Juris 25—Geo Marlow, Ltd. June 26 to July 5— C. Williamson, Ltd. July 7 to 19—Allen Dooms' August 4 to, 16--J .0. . WillUmion, Ltd. August M to September 27— Bran»coirib« Or OctoS<>r Ito U—J. C wniiam«on, • Ltd- "■ ■ TOWN HALL. To-night—The Butterflies: ?;$> 1 C , OPERA HOUSE. Vaudeville. . .»■; A one-act play by Mr. W. W. Jacobs and Mr. Herbert C. Sergeant is in preparation at the London Opera. House and will be produced under the direction of Mr. Arthur Bourcliier. It is entitled "In the Library," and the five parts are for men. .■ v - • ;',' . '; . . . "'J' ; ; '• ■' 1 i '. ' i V * Discussing theatre-going in America and England, ; Mr Jerome , K. , Jerome says amusingly: "In America'a* man 'will go quite cheerfully from his office to the play with only a sandwich or a hasty dinner to tide him over the period before he can indulge in. a . leisurely supper. The Englishman goes home, takes off his boots, and; 'refuses- to . stir from the house. ; The theatre is .a nuisance, - and no entreaties on the part of . wife or family ; can, ts«e him away from his ; fireside."

; The late Auguste van Biene had a- liking practical;, jokes, and- it was perhaps only . poetic justice, that he came into the orbit -of .that prince of practical jokers— j J., L.t Tool©. The actor had apparently conceived an extraordinary craze for distributing safety razors broadcast among his:,-friends,' , and, meeting the 'cellist, promptly begged his acceptance of one. ' Van Bierie acknowledged the gift with thanks; but when he next met Toole the lacerated- condition of his chin was poor ! testimony to the "safety" of the razor. Toole gravely asked to see the razor. " Dear me," he then said, " and you actually tried to shave yourself with that! Why, ! I forgot to send you the blades

The boy/actor's success at the Criterion Theatre reminds a London journal that there are many living persons who knew, if they had not seen him act, the most famous boy actor of all —'William Henry "' Betty, the " Young Roscius." Betty started acting when 11 years old, and when he appeared at Covent Garden the military had to be called out to preserve order among the crowd that crushed into' the theatre, to see him. He was paid from £50 to ■ £100 -a night,- and in seven years he • accumulated. a; fortune for life. When grown up he .returned to the stage, but he had .the sense,to see. that :he was not. a great actor, and he retired finally at,; ths early age .of 32. He died in 1874, in his eighty-third year., . _ ,

. There was a great scene after the first performance of we new play " Servir,", by M, Henri .Lavedan, at the Theatre Sarah Bernhardt, Paris. M. Guitry, the famous actor, snapped, vup the play while , the Comedie Francaise was" doubting whether it ; could produce & The black-headed author of the play was t embraced by men and women ; alike after the performance, and tears'were running down many cheeks. "Servir" gives violent expression to. the new spirit of patriotic fervour that has been growing in France for several years, especially in the younger generation, and which revealed-itself dramatically at the time of the Agadir incident. It shows in the form of a parable the overcoming of the anti-militarism which was rife in France a few years ago by love of la patrie.'

The management of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, has announced , the engagement of Signor Caruso for the forth- ; coming opera season, after an. absence from London of five years. Caruso, whose right to the title of the greatest living tenor is undisputed, sang first at Covent Garden in 1901 (his debut having been made' at Nice in 1900). He appeared again in 1903, and from,,then onward his singing creating greater enthusiasm each season. At the height of his fame, , Caruso has not been heard of in England since 1907, save for a concert tour in the autumn of 1908, when he sang at the >Albert Hall, London, and in the chief provincial cities. ,He 'has continued to sing in America and on the Continent to vast audiences and at fees varying from £500 to £1000 a night. He is at. the present : moment at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. He is reputed to have already made an enormous fortune- Caruso's favourite; roles are those of the Duke ; (" Bigoletto"), Rhadames (" Aida"), Rodolfo ("Boheme"), Des Grieux ("Manon"), Pinkerton (" Madama Butterfly"), and Johnson ("The Girl of the Golden West"). 1 J

The theatrical section of London's community is much interested in the coming new- drama at the Lyceum" Nell Gwynne! The King's Favourite." New Zealanders and Australians there are displaying a considerable degree of interest too, for the heroine is to d© Miss Tittell Brune. Nell wynne makes a splendid character for drama, and great things are expected from • her; although in ~ a chat with a> press representative Miss Tittell Brune agreed that it would be quite impossible, and proportionately undesirable, dramatically and morally, for Nell to be presented on the stage in her true colours. " It is with her bright and witty and generous points that the Lyceum play deals," she continued, " and, after all, I am not disposed to look • too believingly upon contemporary allusions to her and her character. Samuel Pepys, who began by gushing over her, and even kissing, her though this certainly appears to have been. dime in the presence of his wife— cools off at the finish, and calls her a bold, merry . slut and a jade, speaking, too, of her gift for cursing. It would not surprise me to learn that this sudden change in his attitude towards the orange girl was due to his having received some sort of rebuff from her. Referring to this eleven actress, the Daily Chronicle remarks :—" London's. latest ' Nell Gwynne, or the actress who is to impersonate her in the Melville production of her romance, is an artist of greater experience than her English career reveals her to be. Before making that memorable success in Miss Violet Vanbrugh's part of Claire Forster in ' The Woman in the Cose.' Miss Tittell Bruno had played in America." Then follows a list of the parts she has played in America and Australasia.

In the Glasgow weekly Forward, Mr. Hugh S. Roberton, conductor of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir, . remarks that going over the list of musical geniuses . we find their fathers occupying • such stations as upholsterer, forester, wheelwright, soldier, schoolmaster, boardinghouse keeper, bookseller, country innkeeper, surgeon, violinist, clerk. In the days of Haydn and Mozart there were aristocratic patrons of music. They .paid, for roses; they, could not grow them. Musical roses can only be produced from natural soil, from living, seething life. The patronage period is. over. In concerts it is the shilling patron who matters, and whose sense is the keenest. His stock-in-trade is intuitive, but his intuitions are in the long run true because natural. The spirit that will conserve a. deer forest is not that which will .conserve the roses of music that the world may feel their fragrance. Commercial slavery has killed the souls and bodies of potentially great men. The wonder is that the hewers of wood and drawers of water should be able to - show a single flower. , Music demands leisure and environment. The reason why democracy is kept out of due share in the 'heritage of music is purelv one of economics. Wherever the facut ties of men are at their fullest they must express themselves in art. A good choir is an ideal democracy. No room for drones or idlers; no class distinctions; the best singer the best man. The sweetest songs have yet to be written, the greatest symphonies to be penned, the grandest tone poems to be conceived. Sorrow has been the prevailing note in the world. But sorrow is preventable. The new age is being born. When , the nation is as careful of her children as of her property, when a starving child, is unknown, when homes are .homes, when luxury is .abolished, when' inert ara helpful, not hurtful to their brothers, when self-seeking ceases to be applauded, then will be the golden age ..of democracy and of music. "'Give us bread, but give us roses." /. ~ Mumco-Dbamakctts,