THEATRICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 8 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES.

Miss Phyllis Massey, a young mezzosoprano from New .'= Zealand, has been meeting wiih conspicuous success on the concert platform in New South Wales and Queensland. Miss Massey went over to Sydney at the -beginningiast year to study with Mr. Roland Foster, the well-known professor of singing at the New South Wales State- ••Genservatcriura, on the recommendation of Dame Clara Butt. Her engagements have included appearances with • the-New- rr Sbiith . Wales State Orchestra, the Brisbane Apollo Club. the. Warwick (Q.) Philharmonic Society, a stage performance of " Faust at the Conscrvatorium, and a number of miscellaneous concerts. A Brisbane critic describes her voice as " a beautiful mezzosoprano of great range, purity and power, comparable to that of Madame Xirkby Lunn." Both the Brisbane and Warwick Societies paid her the compliment o* reengagement.

Not for many years has such a tremendous amount of interest been taken in a theatrical event as in the season of Oscar : Asche in " Cairo at Mel-bourne.-After one announcement regarding the! preliminary booking, application poured 'into the business manager's office at Her Majesty's. In three days, no fewer than 1400 applications were received, which constituted a record for the. theatrical business. On every side the principal topic of conversation litis been " Cairo.

An interesting arrival in Melbourne is Reginald Purddl, a well known London comedian, appearing at the Theatre' 1 Royal as Tonio in "The. Maid of the Mountains." Mr. Purdell was for 12 months understudy to the popular London comedian, Nelson... .Keys, and played '"'opposite *' Dorothy Brunton in the London production of "Bantam, V.C." He is a brother'; of Dorothy. Purdell, who for some time:was a member of the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., New -EnglishMusical; Comedy Company,- and £ also played the leading role ih-Jlve. firm comedy'.production of "Fair / and Warmer/* In the London production of " Yea; ■ Uncle," Mr. PurdeH played the role' enacted in the Australian pro-, duction by Alfred Frith.

When singing in Ottawa recently, Mme. Galli Courci, the .prima.donna, .had her share of the bos-office receipts, amounting to £400, seized for failure to pay income tax. It is claimed tbat'Bhfhas been singing" in different parts of Canada for two. vean without paying tax. The matter has now been arranged, Mme. GaJli Courc? having settled all outstanding claims with the income tax officials.

Two .well-known actors were playing golf, and every stroke proclaimed that they were novices at th& game. Several fair-sized divots of turf had been sent skywards, and- when one .unusually large piece departed "from ■" its - native soil,. one of the • accompanying : caddies ' turned to the other and whispered, " Did- yer tell me they were - actors, ; Bill V* Yes/' answered the other. " Well," was.; tne reply,"all I.can ; f say is, they ought to be scene shifters."

The record 'of "The Maid of the Mountains," which has. returned ■~ to. the Melbourne Theatre Royal, has not. been excelled bv any comic opera staged in Australia. When it reopened at the Theatre Royal it had achieved a run .of 746 performances throughout Australia and -New Zealand.

The sum of £900 a concert is Being paid "to Madame Tetrazzini during b.sr American tour: ? Later the famous singer win tour Australia and will receive £1000 for every concert. given .there* , ~: ■

" The Senlxmental Biota '♦ which has been dramatised with marked success lata "be staged in Auckland next month. The piece ran for ten weeks in Melbourne and then transferred to Sydney: on December £3.

One of the most interesting theatrical events of the near future is the production; of Robert Louis Stevenson's .':** Treasure Island "at the Strand Theatre, says'.', a London paper. The adaptation for the' stage has been done by Mr. James, Bernard Fagan, and Mr. Bourchler wfil-appear as Long John Silver—the sea cook, which, by the way, was the original titleKwhich SteWnsda*gaveXto' his' /book. :Xi.V "'. : .

From South Africa there comes the news that Ladv Forbes Robertson (Gertrude Elliott) and her company are playing to full houses and are being received with great enthusiasm. Lady Robertson is verv popular out there. In February next the African tour will coma to an end and the company then proceeds to Australia and afterwards to New Zealand.

According to the musical critic of a Soviet, paper the world's greatest music, is "sickening" to those who cherish revolutionary ideals. Bach. Havdn, and Slack, he says, are the ■:■ personification .of feudalises.; Tschaikovsky is the musician of the landed gentry; Schubert. Schumann, / and Chopin are dirty little bourgeois Wagner appeals only to Junkers fad capitalistaP; Mozart and Beethovsfh are tolerable, v though the* former is pronouncedly ' "'' Catholic* » '-■>.<>•;

Madame Melba had not/a few narrow escapes during her wanderings, but none nearer than that of which she tells the following story. I was singing Gilda in " Rigoletto " at Philadelphia, at the point wnere she passes up the high stair.way,, along a balcony, and enters a door singing as she goes, and finishing the scene with a long trill after having passed out of sight of. the audience. As I walked into the dark through the door which "was high above the stage, I started forward as I was always accustomed to do. One step mort" and I should have fallen from the height to the stage below, for only a narrow . platform ' without a railing had been put there; but I stopped myself in time, and fell backward against the scene. That trill was never finished!

During the performance of " Faust " at Covent Garden Melba's pluck-averted what "might have been a terrible tragedy. It was in the first act, before Marguerite's entry, that one of the wings in the study flcene caught fire, and was soon a sheet of flames. For a few moments the audience remained seated as. if unable to realise the danger. Then camo cries of " fire! " and, as one man, they rose to their feet and began to rush in wild confusion to the doors. At that instant Melba's glorious voice rose on the scene of tumult and terror; the panic-stricken crowd paused under its spell; and, looktag round, saw the great singer standing alone in the centre of the stage, as composed and smiling as if she were in her own drawing room. Then one by one, as if ashamed • they : returned'.to their seats; the fire was /soon extinguished; and what would have been a catastrophe aveited. ,;':-.-.. v. ,- Dame Genevieve Ward, the famous actress, who died on August 18, left estate of the'gross value ,of : £9354. with net pesaonality £8876, She left to the National Gallery, for the use of the nation, the portraits of herself by Hugh Riviere; the Royal Academy of Miisic, London, the portrait of herself as " Norma " ; the Garrick Club, London, the portrait of herself as " Ninon de Lenclos," and the illuminated testimonial album presented to her in connection with the Antigone performance at Melbourne, Australia, in 1884; to the Green Room Club, London, her eightieth, birthday testimonial to the museum of the theatre at Stratford-on-Ayon, a bnat of hereelf; and to the Royal Victoria Hall (described by. her as familiarly and affectionately known as the Old Vic.' ') the large photograph of herself as " Margaret- of Anjou." The will includes many keepsakes for personal friends, and £5000, her upright piano, her " ■wardrobe and sevring machine, and other IWDBeheldeffeots to her maid, Amy Brown.