MUSICAL and DRAMATIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17276, 27 September 1919, Page 3 (Supplement)

MUSICAL and DRAMATIC

The Gondoliers," or "The King of Barataria," was originally staged at the ijp.voy Theatre, London, on December 7, 1889, just thirty years ago. Mr. Frank W yatt then played the Duke, and Miss Dec Ima Moore, Casilda. "On the first night," said a contemporary critic, "a wild thunderstorm of applause raged throughout the theatre from rise to fail of curtain. Gilbert had provided the Savoyards both before and behind the footlights, with just- the very feast they were hungry for. The audience forgot ' ;'°y were on the banks of murkv. muddy Ihames. Gilbert, the magician, had transported them in a body to sunny Venice.. Plot! Who worried about a plot? It was jov enough to listen to delightfully irresponsible people indulging in the wittiest conversation the Savoyards had ever listened to." It was the tenth of the series, and it ran for 554 consecutive nights.

Miss tmelie Polini, who is to commence a season in Wellington on Wednesday next, comes of famous theatrical stock. Her father was Giovanni Maria Polini, of lurin, in Italy, who went to London as a youth, and was for twenty years manager lor the late Mr. Wilson Barrett. After se\ering his connection with Mr. Barrett he was for five years manager for Mdlle. Beatrice, then took over the management of the Adelphi and the Vaudeville Theatres, London, for the Gattis. He was also manager of the Grand Theatre at Leeds for some years, and was very well known to theatrical England for over a quarter of a century. His daughter has been accepted as one of the. brightest of .An.erica's younger actresses, though she is half French-Canadian and half Italian. She was not intended for the stage, and was educated in a convent. Miss Polini gradually mounted the ladder of fame in England, and was eventually encaged to go to New Pork with an "all star" caste playing ''Hindle Wakes. ' She was at once successful in America, and remain 1 there until the I'ait management secure:' her-services for the present tour.

The titles which Rossini applied to his piano pieces in "La Boutique Fantasque/' one of the most recent musical works to be interpreted by the Russian ballet in London, are happily made fun of in an English review. It states that the numbers were selected from the gay little pieces which Rossini used to write for bis own amusement during the period when he was entertaining all Paris to his celebrated Sunday luncheon parties. The titles sufficiently illustrate the spirit in which they were composed. There are for example: "Four Hors d'CEuvere— Radishes, Anchovies, Gherkins, and Butter." Here, too, are an "Anti-dancing Valse" ami "Abortive Polka, and a Petite vafle, "Castor Oil." Then there are an "Asthmatic Study," a "Convulsive Prelude," and a 'Capriccio Offenbachique." Undoubtedly, adds the review. "there was a certain liveliness about Rossini!''

"Antoine," an English opera by Reginald Somerville, was recently produced at Hammersmith by the Carl Rosa Company. The scene is laid in a Breton village, and the leading character is a handsome young fislerman blind through an accident at sea. The Westminster Gazette describes the new opera as "a work from a native pen with which it is a genuine pleasure to make acquaintance."

Miss Maude Fane, who is now on her way to Melbourne, will make her first reappearance under the J. C. Williamson management in "Theodore and C 0.," when that piece is staged on the conclusion of the run of "Maytime" at Her Majesty's Theatre. Melbourne.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore, famous poet, playwright, and novelist, has, it is stated, written to the Viceroy of India asking to be relieved of his knighthood as a protest against the means taken to quell recent disturbances in the Puniaub. The reason is .given in his own words : —"Knowing," he says, ''that the passion of vengeance is blinding the noble vision of statesmanship in our Government, the very least I can do for my country is to take all consequences upon myself in giving voice to the protest of millions of my countrymen who have been surprised into dumb anguish and terror. The time has come when badges of honour make our shame glaring in their incongruous context of humiliation, and I wish to stand shorn of all distinctions by the side of my countrymen who, for their so-called insignificance, are liable to suffer degradation not fit for human beings."

Sir Arthur Sullivan often used to repeat this amusing tale about himself: One evening while watching a performance of his "Gondoliers" from the back of the dress-circle, thoughtlessly, ''or in contemplative fashion," he commenced humming the song then being v en., Thereat a sensitive old mana musical enthusiast— turned angrily to the composer and said: "Look here, sir, I paid my money to hear Sullivan's muisc— yours."

The appearance of Mies Amy Castles with the J. C. Williamson Ltd. Grand Opera Company has added to the prima donna's brilliant reputation. During the Sydney season Miss Castles has so far enacted- the following roles:—Mimi in "La Boheme," Marguerite in "Faust," and Cho Cho San in "Madame Butterfly."

Mr. R. H. Sarsfield, the Irish-New Zealand light comedian, who recently returned from the front, has been unable to make his reappearance on the local stage owing to an injury received while on service.

'• Who's Hooper?" is the title of Sir Arthur Pinero's latest musical play. It is an adaptation of his early farce, "In Chancery. '

The late Mr. Wallace Brownlow, who recently committed suicide in Austria, played Luiz. in the original English production of "The Gondoliers."

Mdlle. Eva Lavalierre, the famous Parisian actress, has entered a convent at Marseilles as a Carmelite nun.

Mr. Fred Charlton, formerly of Wellington, played Alfio in the opening performance of "Cavalleria Rusticana'' in Sydney last month.

The next J. C. Williamson Christmas pantomime will be "The Sleeping Beauty."

Mr. George Welch has replaced Mr. Phil Smith in the cast of "Maytime," now being played in Melbourne.

A new operatic version in one act of Oscar Wilde's "Salome" has just been successfully staged by Mariotte in Paris. It is stated that the composer has given a setting which, "in its breadth, technical excellence, and purity of phrasing, is the most important musical offering Paris has heard since the outbreak of the war." Mariotte is not a young man. Paris has waited long for him to produce a work of supreme importance, ana it is the opinion of the majority of critics who heard his "Salome" on July 2 that he has at last succeeded and surpassed even Strauss in his handling of the theme. "Perhaps the most impressive thing about the work is that the composer has not lost sight of the underlying tragedy of Wilde's great drama, and 'Salome' has not- the vulgarity and barbarity of the Strau6s«)pera. The orchestra sweeps the audience from phase to phase of the poem with such clearness that one does not need to understand the work or know the story to sense the greatness the drama, the tragedy of it." So runs the criticism.

Misses Mae Marsh and Doris Kenyon have returned to the boards in New York.

Mr. William Fox, the governing director of the Fox Film Corporation, has left New York for London to make arrangements with the new company formed by Sir Oswald Stoll, with a capital of £1.000,000, for the purpose of producing moving pictures in England. In all probability Mr. William Fox will be managing director, in conjunction with Mr. Stoll. It is not generally known that Sir Oswald Stoll is an Australian. He was born in Melbourne in 1866. Ml'.-iLO Dr.AMAIiCUS.