THEATRICAL NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19382, 17 July 1926, Page 8 (Supplement)

THEATRICAL NOTES.

Puccini's Last Opera. Great excitement reigned in Italy over the production at La Scala, Milan, o Pi ccini's last opera, " Turandot. the theatre was packed to its utmost, and there were artists and journalists present from all parts of the world. Italy honours its dead. „ , As""is known, Puccini was cut oil before he had Quite finished the work, in a ,„,te to his librettists G. Adanu and 11 Simon,, he wrote " I have fimshed the instrumentation of the thud at , can assure you it will be a success. an at the last duet- . . This sore throat torments me, more by morals ■ a \ y cal pain. I will go to Brussels. 1 cannot. go on with it .. • and Imandot is here . . . on my return I will go on with it at once." . . , The unfinished duet was taken in land by Signor Franco Alfano, and from fragments left by Puccini he was enabled to complete it in a manner that would doubtless have pleased the maestro. Alfano is himself a composer of distinction, whose fourth opera, "The Legend of Sakuntala, was performed at La about two

years ago. , The denouement of the opera is oi extreme importance, since up to this, point the character of Princess Turandot is an enigma, and it is only in the love duet at the close that she reveals her true feelings toward Prince Kalaff. Puccini aspired to music of exalted poetic beauty and psychological significance for this duet. Unfortunately, his fatal illness overtook him before he could write it; but the recital of these facts is sufficient to show the difficulty of tho task with which Alfano was confronted. On the opening night the opera was given just as Puccini wrote it —that is, up to the concluding part of the third act. At that point, Toscanini, the famous Italian conductor, turned and said to the audience, " Here the opera terminates through the death of poor Puccini. On the second night and thereafter the added duet was sung. Rosa Raisa, who was the original prima donna in " Nerorne " (Boito) over a year ago, was Princess Turandot to the life. The critics have hailed " Turandot " as a great work. It has already been translated into German, and it is understood that Jeritza is to appear in it at the Metropolitan in New York. Plays and Players. Allan Wilkie will take a flying visit to London before lie reorganises his Shakespearean company. Since the fire which destroyed all his property, Mr. Wilkie has received many offers of help, including £IOO and the offer of a wardrobe from J. C. Williamson. George Lupino, famous English clown and father of Barry and Stanley Lupino, made his farewell appearance at- the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, last month. In that same theatre, 73 years ago, Lupino was born in- a dressing-room, and his ■whole life almost has been spent on the stage. Success continues to follow Muriel Starr in her Australian tour. She has switched on to comedy, and she is appearing as Juliettfi in " French Leave," in Hobart. Her company includes Harvey Adams, Kenneth Brampton and Augustus Neville, for many years with Allan Wijkie's Shakespearean Company. Miss Starr will commence her NeW Zealand tour at Wellington, on August 4, when " The House oi Glass." "The Outcast," and "The Goldfish " will probably "be staged. Toti Dal Monte will commence her New. Zealand tour at .Auckland instead of giving her first concert at the Sown Hall next Saturday- The famous Italian singer is visiting Australia and iNew Zealand during the " off" season in America, and while it will not be possible to hear her in an actual grand opera season. such as brought her fame in the older countries of tho world, she will, nevertheless, sing many of the great arias from Italian grand opera with which her name has become associated. John Drinkwater is dramatising Thomas Hardy's novel, " The Life and Death of , the Mayor of Casterbridge." This novel was published by Hardy in 1884-5, and ranks among his best productions, although it is by no means one of the best known. The Mayor of Casterbridge enters the story as a nomadic labourer who sells his wife, under an ancient English right, at a fair. He wanders through the (wuntryside, and eventually is reunited with his wife and becomes the mayor.

As an example of the cost of modern theatrical productions, it is stated that the expenses of "Rose Marie," since that musical play was first produced on March 20, 1925, at Drury Lane Theatre, London, have exceeded £250,000, some of th 3 principal items of expenditure being 4

Artists . . . . • • • • 66,000 Authors and Composers .. 29,000 Orchestra • ■ *3ißoo Dress, property and scenery 25,000 Lighting and warming . . 10,800 Advertising ■ • - • • • Js'RRR Entertainment Tax . . . . 48,000 ,The play has continuously attracted large audiences and the receips are between £650 and £7OO for each performance.

Scenes of enthusiasm occurred at Sydney's Grand Opera House at the conclusion of the short season of " Sweet Nell cf Old Drury," with Miss Nellie Stewart back in the title role. A large audience crowded the theatre, and enjoyed every minute of the old play. " Sweet Nell made a speech from the centre of a beautiful mass of flowers. You have been so good to me," Miss Stewart told ±he audience, <f and I appreciate it more than I can tell you. I want to say, too, laow much I appreciate the work of my company and the orchestra, and, above all, the managership of Mr. William RusEell. Mark my words, Mr. Russell is a coming man; I have never had a better manager since the days of Mr. Musgrove."

The latest development in a dispute between the Birmingham authorities and George Robey, the famous comedian, was the confiscation by the police of a poster outside the theatre at which Robey was appearing. The poster displayed portion of a Treasury note, including the King's head, facing a portrait of Robey. The inscription read: "Two G.R.'s. We'd like to see more of them." The dispute began last November, when, in addition to portion of a sketch which Robev produced. the Birmingham play-licensing jvs.ices censored one of his songs, " I s,topped, I looked, I listened." Robey protested that he had sung the song all over the country for ten years. The sketch, he said, had run for six months in London without interference.

" People agitate for a brighter London, but so long as Miss Marie Tempest is there to brighten it, why worry ? " Thus the Times critic, writing of this charming actress' performance in a new piece at the London Criterion, the curicmslynamed " Cat's Cradle," a play concerning two sisters who cordially hate each fjtlier. Miss Tempest fills the role of the lively woman of the world, who encounters and dominates the opposite type, the sour Puritan (impersonated by Miss Louise Hampton) ; and Miss Tempest, the critic says, transforms a slight part, into ft rich piece of human nature, " full of colour and alive with energy of a kind •which, from want of a better adjective, We roust be excused for calling tempestu"S 18- " P 3 * I ' B Cradle" succeeded "Hay Fever," in which Miss Tempest was a leading figure for a run of ten months.