"MIDNIGHT FROLICS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20256, 16 May 1929, Page 12

"MIDNIGHT FROLICS."

NOTABLE PERFORMANCE.

SUCCESS OF MISS MONA MAGNET.

The "Midnight Frolics" are always welcome in Auckland. It is only a few months ago that they played a most successful season at His Majesty's Theatre, and they were welcomed back last evening by a large audience, so enthusiastically appreciative that the performance had to he prolonged. It was a merry evening's entertainment—it could not have been otherwise.

Judging from the programme submitted last evening, this is riot to be a season for tho serving up of sketches, songs and dances classed as* old favourites. The programme was refreshingly new in material. Mr. Dawe, with his sibilant speech, is still a prime favourite. He has reached that stage when people look to him for his old tricks and gags, but he frequently ventures forth into new branches of comedy. He is no mere slapstick comedian. One always thinks of Clem Dawe with his famous boots and impo.ssiblo make-up; yet he can be equally funny in clothes which could bo worn with perfect propriety in Queen Street during a lunch hour promenade. Miss Mona Magnet, remembered for her work in "The Peep Show" some years ago, is an artist of unquestioned ability, and her work both individually and with Mr. Dawe places her in the front rank. She sings, dances, makes Cockney love to a voracious boarder, and is charming and vivacious even in the broadest comedy. She and Mr. Dawe make a combination worth going a long way to sec. It would be next door to impossible to refer to every item in the programme. There are 23 "frolics," ranging from comedy to drama, and all of a high standard. Mr. Dawe and Miss Magnet, with the assistance of Miss Dorothy White, show how, in the space of a few generations, humanity has progressed—or receded—in the matter of honeymoons. This i 3 a typical "Midnight Frolics" sketch with the loudest and longest laugh in the last line. Mr. Dawe also introduces what he terms the " Waihook operatic society" in a burlesque cantata. This is a most clever arrangement of grand opera airs to a popular song and screamingly funny, even without Mr. Dawo's comic posturing as conductor. Then there is a dramatic sketch, "Dope," in which the work of Miss Magnet is none the less powerful after her previous comic interludes. The violinist, Mr. Gregory Ivanoff, plays several solos in masterly fashion and witli genuine sympathy of expression. Then, from grave to gay, comes the jazz band, a combination which, judging by last evening's reception, has lost not one jot of its popularity. The most popular of all Maori airs are arranged in one selection, the work of Mr. Arthur Frost, who, at the head of a large orchestra, gives the artists every assistance throughout the evening. Mention must also be made of Mr. William Perryman's singing. He is as successful in Italian love songs as in light ballads, and his voice is most pleasing. Miss Dorothy White partners him in one or two duets, arid finds time to show comedy talents in a solo number. Mr. Edgely, Mr. Les. White, Mr. Oscar Beck, Mr. John Robertson and Miss Gertie Cremer work throughout the programme and dance as if this was their sole mission in life. The entertainment goes with a swing from start to finish, and the season, which is limited, should bo most successful.