THEATRICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18173, 19 August 1922, Page 8 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES.

Mm Ethel M. Dell has long passed the lKkiot at which praise or blame can effect her popularity. Now that she has entered .the aomain of the drama it will be interesting to'see how far her work stands the fierce light that plays upon tho stage. A few weeks ago, at the Ad el phi Theatra, London,' she undoubtedly had the public with her on the occasion of the first performance of The Way of aa Eagle, an adaptation she herself fiag. made of her own novel of that name. The <ilexaonstration after the fall of the curtain was as waim and as enthusiastic as any author could desire, a fact for which Mr. Godfrey Tearle, who took the part of Captain Niok Ratcliffe, in a briei speech, gave hearty thanks on his own and his comrades' behalf. Emelie Polini, who is playing in "My Lady's Dress" to crowded houses at the King's Theatre, Melbourne, suffered an unpleasant accident in Sydney prior to leaving for Melbourne. She slipped between the platform and the train at the Central Station and injured her leg, and there was a possibility that the opening of her season in Melbourne would have to be postponed. But she decided not to disappoint the public with whom she is so popular, and .though in considerable pain she went through the fj rs " night' 3 performance without flinching. Tiiis explanation seems necessary as attention has been drawn to the stiffness of her walk as Anita, the modern the scene at the dressmaker's. Mis® ronm has happily now recovered, but during the first week of the sho,w, the audience never guessod the pain She was undergoing in order to appear in an unusually exacting performance. From tho point of view of magnificent staging and sumptuous dressing, the J. C. Williamson production of ' The Naughty Princess," at Her Majesty s, Melbourne, is one of the most elaborate and notable musical productions the firm has ever staged. There are five scenes in the two acts. These take place in the , dining hall at the Abbaye de Theleme, at , the Bal de Quartz Arts, outside tho Mou- ; lin Rouge, the Ladislas Studio, and the Royal Palace at Novibazar. These scenes have been painted by Leslie Board, VV. R. Coleman, end.George Upward, Some, indication of the glorious dressing will be given by the mention of the fact that in the Egyptian s«me, there is a " diamond dress, worn by Miss Gladys Mon- ( crief, the train of which is nearly five ; yards long, and upon it aro sewn separately on the train alone over 4000 brilliants, j irrespective of those that adora the dress j itself. Nothing so magnificent has , seen in a musical play in Australia. The Naughty Princess" altogether is a reveia- i tion in dress niagnificance and splendour. A flippant, frolicsome farce-comedy trilio is "Parlour, Bedroom and Bath, in » which Phillips TeaiJ and Marjorie Bennett are to bo seen in Melbourne. It , has a whimsical motif—that of a young j wife who glories in tJi© fact that her hus- . band has a fatal fascination for women. ; He really hasn't, though, but he pre- ■ tends and the complications that ensus , as the result of his efforts to carry through - his deception are piquantly humorous and . keep the audience envelopedi in' laughter and thrills. • -Mr. Allan Wilkie and his permanent Shakespearean Company, it- is announced, ' are" returning to New Zealand, in tne course of their annual pilgrimage, after a phenomenally successful tour through the principal Australian ,v> cities. _ That this success is not counterfeit, but ia true metal, is erideivcedby Wilkie was accorded publico receptions in each of the capital cities visited, and * was the recipient of all sorts of civic honours and public presentations at the conclusion of his several seasons. Some new works of the great master—new in the sense that they have not been included in the repertoir»—will be presented by Mr. Wilkio during - his season here, and Miss Hunter-Watts, newly returned from a trip to England, will resume- her position as leading -la4y of the company- - " Madam D'AlvaJrefc. the famous central t-o, who has made such a sensational success in Australia, will, in all probability pay a brief visit to New Zealand, and provisional dates have been arranged by Messrs. J. and N. Tait. D'Alvarez completely swept the Sydney musical * people off their feet. One of the leading critics wrote:—"Her conquest was unmistakable. The Spanish contralto ap- • as an entirely new vocal sensa- < tion, a singer with a new message, an artist backed by ai singular powerful personality. Her listeners were caught tip time after time into a new realm of emotion." It is expected that she will give her first concerts in Auckland early J in October. 1 scenes were witnessed aft Queen's Hall one night a few Weeks ago, , when Titta Ruffo, the Italiah operatic baritone, whose popularity in America was second only ito that of Caruso, made his first appearance in England after an 1 'absence of close on twenty years. From the first the air -was chargea, electricity. Every Italian, domiciled Lon- 1 don seemed to have made a point of. being j present. The dinger's warm southern, temperament was not long in itself. He acknowledged the tornados of 1 applause by shaking hands with himself 1 and indulging in other perfervid gestures, while at the conclusion of one number he ( took the length of the Queen's Hall stage • 1 in two skips and a jump. Buffo is a i large man. be has a great -voice, and a ' mighty pair of lungs. He sang all sorts < of music. Pandemonium reigned at the * conclusion of the RoHsini excerpt, favour- 1 ite numbers were demanded hy the audi- < ence, and he was only allowed'to/leave » the stage on promising to sing the pro- 1 loguei from Pagliacci at at "future concert, t

"Dido and iEneas," a new play in blank verse, produced in the King ' George's Hall, london, is the work of j Miss Margery Alllingham, a girl who is not yet 18. Thtsr performance was by ' her fellows-students of the Polytechnic bchool of Speech-training. She has- herself produced the play, plays tha r leading part in it, and has made nearly all the costumes and properties. She earned the Tor?*llW* for them fe y writin g stories nwgatiPM. Another play, wntten when she was about 13, she sent tO ffi Mr. George Bernard Shaw, who was cafSr y ? i Dfc T ted to « e «d "or acS thfl So * ?nl (!fc^ rn - Miss Allingham at ber o? S 0 j? ll h ir alread * *« * applaud showed that the members ol the Royal party thoroughly enjoyed ° Th« Review of Revues," a medlSr »««. 5 \ &#• West End wrS ShaSr 8 g raise funds in answer to the comhinl?! appeal of the hospitals of London Al though a box had been reserved for his own ssb, the Prince decided that he would ,l W K h b « nwt h« i "«id then m* box can be sold again," he remarked to a St er + K°- f ihb ™*M°* committee. Evidently this was done, for presently Miss " Sum Md her fia^e - **«* Let pold Mountbatten, appeared in it. It is seldom that a new singer comes ZiZ* U \ Re 6F d ? 8 Mr - •» Charles Thomas the American baritone, who charmed the ear at Hall, London recently. Mr. Thomas simply stepped on to the platform and scored a success bv a beguiling voice used with almost fault-,-c less technique Two or three minutes were enough to show that one could depend on a thoroughly professional art. Ho sang It is Enough'* (" Elijah"), not as t h ß .usual exercise, but with a sense of real meditation and prayer that gave the ibaekjieyed music a fresh interest.