NOTES BY LORGNETTE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1156, 27 April 1894, Page 27

NOTES BY LORGNETTE.

Mr R. A. Underwood, who is well known as a theatrical avant courier, who generally comes ahead of a good show, Is here in town as advance agent for the Percy St Johu Pantonine and Burlesque Company from the Brisbane Theatre Royal, where they recently played a ten weeks season. Mr Underwood informs me that the company, who number 30 strong, have also had successful seasons in Auckland and Gisborne and are now playing in Napier to good houses. 'I he company includes some artists wel known to the Colony, and others who bring in excellent reputation with them from the other side. The opening piece will be tho pantonine of "Sinbad the Sailor," the scenery and costumes for which were ipeciaUy made in Australia. My exchanges t-peak very well of the company, which opens at the Opera House on Mon day evening, and will, I have no doubt, be liberally patronised. . • i •

The Howe-Spong Company concluded their Wellington season last Friday, and opened at Palmerston on Monday l*ft in 44 As You Like It." On Wednesday the company wore duo at Wanganui.

The Wo'ld's Trio and Novelty Company, of which Charles Fanning is now a member, did fair biz at Napier last week, and have gone on to Gisborne.

The St. John Pantomime and Burlesque Company (Priscilla Verne, Johnny Parlatto, and others) opened at Napier last Monday in 44 Sinbad the Sailor."

A company called the Annie Brandt Ccmedy Company, which recently arrived from the South Island, is touring the Wairatapa this week.

The Dunbar Field Company were at Palmerston last week, when they product d a comedy drama 44 Deborah," and the evergreen V East Lynne," Miss Helen Feigus appearing to great advantage in the latter piece

The Hellers had a most successful teaaon at Dunedin, and will now work up North again.

The World's Fair Improved Phono graph is being exhibited in the Manawatu district by Mr J. W. Halcombe.

The Auckland amateurs' production of 44 Madame Favart," was, I hear, a great success.

The Payne Family have reached Dmiedin, where they gave their opening peiformance on Monday last

The Lyons Burlesque Company have been appealing at Oamaru and 1 innru, and will shortly be seen in Wellington. This compact litt'e company has done ▼cry good biz. wherever they have appeared.

The Blind Students have gone to the South Island, and will gradually work down to Invercargill, thence on to Tasmania and Melbourne and their home at Ballarat

Marian Willis Company in South Canterbury, working South.

The Saturday "pops," at the Opera House, bid fair -to be a success. Mr 11. P. Johnson is very energetic in securing good talent, and the "spec"ought to pay well. When the Opera House is engaged the concerts will be given at the Theatre Royal.

The Kennedy-Deering Company commenced a short season at Dunedin Princess on Monday last. The opening piece was "It's Never Too Late To Mend."

Sydney Shows (April 14th):-Her

Majesty's, * 4 The Lights o' London"; Lyceum (B and B.), "The Second Mrs Tanqueray " (this will be a big sensation) ; Bij u, "Hide and Seek" (revival of •• Charley's Aunt" bo fellow) ; and Fillis' Circus.

• t • • Melbourne mems. (April 14th) :—Princess', Bland Holt and company in 4C A Woman's Revenge" ; Theatre Royal, Maggie Moore still to the front in 44 Struck Oil"; Alexandra, Dan Barry's company in the 4l Octroon"—good old 44 Octoroon " ; and varieties at the Alhan.bra

The Bulletin says that 4t Walter Bentley's provincial reciting tour in South Austrnlia was hardly a success." I alrmld think not. The spectacle of a mild eyed, long-haired tragedian in evening dress, hurling assorted chunks of dramatic literature at his audience, was wever particularly inspiriting, and Bentley's show must have been as lively a* a cemetery on a rainy day. Poor Wattle, I wish him better luck.

Says Bulletin :—Courtnoidge and wife (Miss Rosie Nott) are taking homo with them a one-year-old Australian daughter, their firs', born. The little one was christened Cicely Esmeralda, after Cice'y Nott, the maternal grandmothor, and 44 Little Miss Em era Ida," the Gaiety burlesque.

Poor o'd J. E. Kitts, of tho original Lyster Opera Company, found dead in hi* bed l*st week, when asked by a manager from whom he sought employment at what academy of music he studied, calmly replied — 44 At the Conservatoire de Geelongo " The manager was perfectly satisfied. He knew the place wel 1 , and had of ; en been there when he was in Italy. —Bulletin.

• 4 ln T wn"and 4, A Gaiety Girl," the two pieces Williamson has engaged George Edwards' company to prod-mo in Australia (and I hope New Zealand) have both been big hits in London. They aro a mixture of comedy and burlesque. "In Town " depended a great deal on Arthur Roberts. Fill afraid the great Aithur is too expensive to bring out, but if ho does come he'll knock the memories of Elton, Lauri, at>d Lonnen, and every other imp rtod comedian, into the proverbial cocked hat. The most comically"mugged" mummer " Lorgnette " ever siw, though when I saw him he was on the music hall stage, and hadn't taken to burhtque then.

The acting profession is clearly overcrowded, remarks a London contemporary. The front page alone of our leading theatrical paper comprises advertisements of nearly fifty actors and actresses who find it expedient to seek for employment by announcing themselves i» this public manner as 44 disengaged," or' 4 at iiberty." Nor are these merely obscure performe s —as will be seen at once when it is known that the list includes Mr Lionel Brought, Mr Mackintosh, Mas Sophie Latkin, Mr E. W. Garden, Mrs Henry Leigh, Miss Amy Roselle, May Whitty, Miss Stella Brereton, Miss Helen Forsyth, Miss Carlotta Addison, Miss Marie Illington, Miss Edith Bruce, Miss Susie Vaughan, Mr and MrsCanninge, Mr und Mrs Nye Chart, Miss Cicely Richards, Mr Lionel Rignold, Mr E. M. Robson, Mr George Warde, Mr Yorke Stephens, and Mr Acton Bond.

Harry Furniss wri'es i'i his London Weekly Week: — So Peter Jackson, the pugilist, y arns to play Othello ! Jt is reported that this is iho greatest ambition of his life. Now, if ho can manage to meet Corbet soon, and knock him out in the same fair and magnificent style as that in which he vanquished Slavin, he has a golden chance to realise his dramatic dream, and appear as Oihello at the forthcoming revival at. the Lyceum this season, Mr Irving'* return fiom America. Mr Irving is to play lago and Mr Terriss Othello, but I have every reason to believe that our great tragedian has a more than ordinary Admiration for the famous pugilist, and that is why { imagine Peter has a chance to appear in the the same ring—l mean stage—as our leading actor. It S 3 happened that I met Mr Irving at supper on the night of the JaeksonSlavin encounter, and he was deeply interested in all that I told him about that great fight—l beg pardon, contest. As an artist I could not but admire the grand physique of tho ebonyskinned gladiator. "Yes," said Irving, 11 he must be a splendid fellow. You know, we actors have taken credit for a physique not our/ own—witness the pictures of the last generation and those before. Then the actor sat only for the head ; a prizefighter posed ior the figure, and, strange to say, the favourite model of the last generation was a coloured fighter." So here is a chance for Mr Irving to repay part of the borrowed greatness of men of his profession. Let Jackson play Othello, and let tho artist paint his portrait. Mr Irving could sit for the head.

The Auckland Amateur Opera Club gave its final performance of " Madame Favart w on the 19th. The season has been a satisfactory one.

Mr J. C. Williamson has engaged Edwards' London Company to open a season in Australia next Easter with M ln Town' and "The Gaiety Girl,"

Miss Violet Varley, who will be recollected as visiting New Zealand hist year with Williamson and Musgrove's Opera Company, was married to Mr Joseph Tapley, the opera tenor, at the Australian Church, Melbourne, on the morning of tho 11th inst. by the Itev Dr Strong. The wedding was a very quiet one. It is understood that Mr and Mrs Tapley will leave for England shortly.

A cable message from England announces the death of Madame Carandini. Madame Carandini, whose maiden name was Burge3S, was born in tho London suburb of Buxton in 1826, and was brought to Hcbart—then Hobart Town—in early childhood, her mother having, after her father's death, married a Mr Low, a Tasmanian settler. She very soon gave evidence of great musical talent, and developed at an early age a soprano voico of great range, power and sweet sympathetic quality. She of course received the best training the colony could afford, which was not a ° great deal, the consequence being that *in her early year 3 she owed more to nature than art, and a very good mistress nature proved to her, bringing her to the front at a time when some really good artists had appeared on the Australian boards. At the age of 17 she married the Marquis Carandini, an Italian refugee, who had taken to the stage as a dancer and violin player, and obtained some renown in the former capacity at the Theatre Royal in Sydney and the original theatre of the same name in Melbourne. His wife became a star singer in the early fifties, in the heyday of the goldfields, singing ballads at concerts, turning the heads of concert-goer 3, and soon established herself a prime favourite Sarah Flower, the great ; contralto, a magnificent singer, who would have made a first-class reputation in any country, was the first capable musician to distinguish Madamo's talent. Sarah Flower taught her style and voico production and brought her into the higher operatic roles, in which she was very successful, holding more than her own with tho "best imported talent. Her earlier contemporaries were Julia Harland (the first Mrs Hoskins), Mrs Tester, one of the purest singers ever heard in Australia, and up to the other day the best teacher of vocal music in Melbourne ; Farquharson the celebrated basso, Octavia Hamilton, Lucy Escott, Squires the famous tenor, Mr Walter Sherwin, a tenor in his day of rare power and style, and a most competent teacher and manager ; Madame Simonsan. *» .d. a host of others too numerous to i v ,cion. By common consent of her rivals, Madame Carandina was par excellence tho Prima Donna of her time. As a ballad singer she was for several decades absolutely unrivalled, her wonderful voico and simple feeling stylo in that music malther perfect. Who that has heard her sing " Auld Robin Gray " will ever forget tho charm of her splendid rendering ? In oratorio and on the lyric stage she was equally great, and the freshness of her voico remained beyond tho usual term by many years. After her husband's death Madame Carandini brought out her daughters Rosina and Fanny (about tho year 1864) on the concert stage, with a little company under the management of Mr Sherwin, herself being of course the leading singer. The ventnro was most successful, the company travelled over all the colonies, and was welcomed everywhere with full houses and marked attention. In New Zealand, where they appeared at various times between 1867 and 1878 (ab>ut), they were great favourites, leaving many pleasant memories, which were revived the other day when Mrs Palmer (Miss Rosina Carandini) came over with Mr Beaumont's Concert Company on its tour through the Colony. About the year 1880 Madame Carandini retired from the concert platform, since when she lias spent her declining years in comfort in Melbourne. The news of her death will be received with regret by a largo circle of friends in every colony of the Australasian Group. She has left a largo family, five of the daughters being married, two in India, one in Queensland, and Lady Campbell, so favourably known in Wellington. Her eldest son is an officer of dragoons, stationed in India.