PLAYS AND PLAYERS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1200, 1 March 1895, Page 16

PLAYS AND PLAYERS.

'• Here come the actors, Buz, Buz." —Hamlht

The theatrical editor of the New Zealand Mail will be happy to receive and print route dates and any other information concerning the movements of companies. A post card giving l " route dates " for the week is recommended. Address all communications for this column to "Lorgnette," New Zealand Mail office, Lambton quay, \ Wellington.

NOTES BY LORGNETTE.

The Royal Comic Opera Company conpany continue to attract very large audiences to the Opera House. I confess that 1 , personally, I didn't care much for "Mam'zelle Nitouche:" In the first "place I always take strong objection to anything connected with religion being treated in a humorous way, on the stage, i and much of the " business "' with convent scenes in this piece strike one as being in very questionable - taste. The .dance in the second act, too, may serve as a draw to the "giddy old boy" element in the audience, but there is no grace about it, and the *'split" business partakes more of an acrobatic than a Terpsichorean performance. The Rainbow Ballet, on the other hand, was most graceful and beautiful. It is the prettiest stage effect we have seen , here for some time past. •" •."

Mr Wallace B.rownlow scored heavily in "Mam'zelle singing especially, and acting* too, with much spirit. Miss Nellie Stewart was the personification of vivacity, and Mr Lauri worked hard to keep the fun going. By the time the third act was reached, however, I for one felt inclined to cry quantum suff.y for the , Celeajtin cwm-Floridore fooling was beginning to; pall on one a little. '.'

On Thursday night, top late for notice here, ** The Mountebanks" succeeded " Nitouche." Other •peras to follow are *'La Maacotte," in which Miss Nellie Stewart is seen, so many of her Australian admirers consider, at'her best, and " The Mikado," the season terminating with "The Vicar of Biay." ?V

Mr Walter Bentley, who seems to have quite settled down to the role of lecturer, has arranged with some local gentleman to give a lecture on the ■•* Oberammergau Passion Play," which will be illustrated by limelight pictures, and will be varied by vocal selections. The lecture is due at the Opera House on Sunday, the 17th.

Pollard's Liliputians open at Wanganui on the 4th March in "The Tambour Major," following which will come "The Mikado," "Madame Favart," and '-," Olivette." The show did well down on the West Coast of the South Island. After the present tour is over it is probable that the company will make tracks for India. \, "' C : '

Mr Harry Stockwell, the colonial tenor, has signed a three years' engagement with Mr Daniel Mayer, the London concert entrepreneur, to whom he was introduced by Madame Melba, and has recently sung at Edinburgh, Belfast, Glasgow, Norwich, and other centres. Mr John Lemmone, the Australian flautist, has also succeeded well since he went Home, and has been engaged for some months in Mr Herschel'a Symphony Concerts in London and elsewhere.

Fillis must have good backers in his favourite South Africa, for I see that a company has been floated at Johannesberg the Golden, called Fillis' Amphitheatre Company, with a capital of £30,000. Fillis will soon be on his financial legs again with such an amount at his back. I wish him luck, for he is a good fellow, and, what is more, an honest man.- . ':'-* %■ '■'■, &

At the City Hall, Dunedin, the Kennedy's have been playing a variety of dramas, all of a more or leas sensational order.

There is some talk, I notice, of Mr Edward Terry, the English' comedian, paying another visit to these colonies, but I am inclined to doubt the truth of the rumour. On his last visit he only honoured Australia, with his presence, and did not think fit to come on to New Zealand. This time, however, it is stated that Mr Terry would cerbainly include Maoriland in his tour. Well, in any case he couldn't be a greater dis-

appointment than was that most dreary of mummers, the so called great comedian, "Johnny Toole."

Max Rinkle, once a circus clown, and afterwards a "convert" of the Salvation Army in Wanganui, i 3 now fulfilling a " starring " engagement with the same show in Melbourne.

The Fitzgeralds have been doing very well with their circus down ab Dunedin, at which place the great and only George Leitch has been appearing in a drama bearing the inspiring tide of "The Golden Days ; or, Wattle Blossoms."

Both the Dunedin papers give the piece "what for."

Charles Warner's clever daughter, Grace, was to have made a country tour with •.« The Prodigal Daughter," but the young lady has broken aown in health, and the engagement had to be cancelled.

Mr Albert Lucas, who, with Miss Lilla Wylde, has been with the Kennedy's ever since Oily Deering and Miss Raymond left the show, has now leased the Princess Theatre for a term, and is to try his luck with a comedy season, for which the services of Mr Alfred Greenaway have been secured.

Madame Camilla Urso, the veteran but charming violinist, is now in South Africa with a concert company of her own, and is reported to be doing very well, which is certaiuly more than she did in New Zealand.

! The Mostyn Dalziel Company are the latest arrivals in Auckland from Australia. B. C. Aspinall, one of the company, was for some years a favourite actor in the English provinces, and acted with Wilson Barret and J. L. Toole. The repertoire includes several more or less well-known dramas, principally of the heavy sort. After Auckland the company play the Thames, and then work South. The Company made its first appearance last Saturday night, when the sensational Australian drama, "Ransomed," was produced before a audience. The Auckland papers both give complimentary notices of the production, and the Company appear to have created a good all-round impression. The Company includes Misses Dora Mostyn, Nellie Raynham, Gwen. Dallas, Virginia Clayton, and Messrs H. Meynott, Orlando Daly, B. 0. Aspinall, D. L. Dalziell, and Charles Blake.

Heller's Bonanza Caterie is touring the western districts of Victoria.

Miss Henrietta Watson, so long with Bland Holt, has gone to London, and has accepted an engagement with Toole.

"The New Boy" Company have been fairly successful down South. The Christchurch season has closed, and the Company now proceed to Ihvercargill.

Miss Brenda Gibson, so lung with the Brough and Boucicault Company, has sailed for the Old Country, and Miss Romer, the best "old woman" I ever saw in the colonies, has also completed her engagement with the same company. Mr and Mrs Brough also leave for England this month, their places being taken by the new people engaged at Home by Mr Boucicault, and whose names have already been given in this column.

Lonnen and Lethbridge are doing well at London Alhambra. Lonnen, I see, tells his favourite, "Woman and the Child" story, and does some eccentric dancing. Johnny Sheridan and Gracie Whiteford score nightly at the Palace. Big screws both pairs get.

Lynch Family of Bellringers are in Victorian country districts.

When Thomas Keene was playing nigh stands in Kentucky several years ago he was approached one evening after a performance of Richard 111. by an old farmer who had seen the play, and who had waited for the tragedian at the stage door. "A re you Mr Keene—Mr Richard 111. Keene?" he asked. "I am," responded the actor. "Well," said the old fellow, "I thought if ye was in the same mind about wantin' that horse I could fix ye."

Says "Pasquin"in the Otago Witness: —Mr John D. Fitzgerald, ex-M.L.A. for New South Wales, who is at present on a visit to this city, is . a brother of the circus. This Mr Fitzgerald does not go into the ring. He was returned as a Labour member, and lost his seat because of his refusal to turn a (political) somersault and confirm his views to those of the masses in Sydney on the fiscal question.

Actress (angrily): "Didyou write that criticism which said my impersonation of * The Abandoned Wife ' was a miserable failure?" Critic: "Ye—yes, you see, you looked so irresistibly beautiful that it was impossible to fancy that any man could abandon you."

Who wouldn't manage for a "pug* actor"? An American paper nays : " A telegram from Terre Haute, Illinois, runs as follows ; The John L. Sullivan Company separated at Paris, Ills., to-day. The collapse was the result of a prolonged apree on the part of John L, Yesterday

J he cursed one of the actresses until she resigned her engagement and departed for her home in Chicago. Sullivan was escorted to the Opera Houae last night, but his condition on arriving there was such J hat his manager, John P. Ward, remonstrated with him, whereupon John L. promptly turned in and thrashed his friend Mr Ward was put to bed and was unable to assume control of the performance." Served the manager right for degrading his profession by having anything whatever to do with the brute.

Mr H. H. Roberts, round with Bentley on one occasion, and now leading man with Magsrie Moore, is only 27. Jle made his first appearance at the age of four with " General" Tom Thumb Roberts played Belisarius with "Bill" Holloway in " Cymbeline," at Melbourne Princess. His father, H. R. Roberts, made a speciality of Jefferson's p»rts. His mother, Miss Polly Leake, was a great favourite at one time. The foregoing particulars are supplied by a correspondent of the Otago Witness.

It is stated that Miss Minnie Palmer is contemplating another visit to Australia with " My Sweetheart," and some new pieces. It is to be hoped that the new pieces are better stuff than "My Sweetheart."

The London correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes as follows : —Not long ago, at the Yuletide dinner of the old Urban Club, I met the celebrated old actor, Clarence Holt, whose name will still dwell in the memory of old Dunedin playgoers, and whcse son, Mr Bland Holt, has succeeded to his New Zealand popularity. I had a long chat with him. He was pleased to meet a New Zealandery and to go back into " the moonlight of memory"—in other words, to talk over " old times." He spoke with enthusiasm | of the cordial and capable appreciation which New Zealand audiences always always exhibited towards good entertainments. He had much to say of his experiences with " Billy Hoskjns," and declared that after seeing every famous actor of several generations he held that in certain parts—notably that of Doctor, Pangloss in "The Heir at Law," uo one could touch Hoskina. It seemed quite like reading an old chapter of ancient history to hear him discourse of the early gold field days in Dunedin, of the starting of the Otago Daily Times, and the events of " the sixties."*

Dear Lorgnette,—Can you oblige with the date of the following " bill of the play ":

THEATRE ROYAL. Wellington Amateur Operatic Society. Les Cloches de Corneville. Serpolette Miss Parkes Germaine ... Miss Young Marquis Mr J. E. Reid Boy ... Mr Russell Grenicheux ... ... Mr E. J. Hill Gaspard ... Mr H. Nicholls Baillie ... Mr W. R. Bock Gobo ... .... ... Mr E. N. Campbell Manette ... ... ... Miss Watson Gertrude ... Miss A. Letham Jeanne ... ... ... Miss 0. Letham Suzanne ... ... ... Miss B. Smith The l?te Hautrie West was the' Society's conductor at that time, and Mr A. Hill leader of the orchestra.—Yours, Jiblet Gullivan, Esq. Crumby Corner, Maoriland, February 23, 1895. [The production alluded to by my correspondent took place in March, 1886 —the exact day or days of the month I do not know. The Amateur Operatic Society, ,so 1 am informed, did not then exist, but the opera was " run " mainly by Mr Hautrie West, assisted by a private combination of amateurs.—Ed. N.Z. Mail.] A valued correspondent in Melbourne writes as follows :—Dear Lorgnette,— The enclosed items will be of interest to readers of your excellent "Plays and Players" column: "Madame Marian Burton, once the principal contralto of the Carl Rosa Corapauy, and who brought a concert company through New Zealand, now resides permanently in Brussels, where she will shortly appear in opera. "Ovide* Musin, the violinist, contributes to the Musical Courier a description of the Liege Conservatoire, of which he is one of the moat distinguished pupils. " Paderewski will not visit the colonies while the depression lasts. Being used to high prices in Europe and America, he would not care to play at low prices in Australia. "George Coppin has tried unsuccessfully to form a variety company for the Melbourne Theatre Royal until Bland Holt opens there at Easter. "Dion Bouccicault, who went to Europe to gee new blood for the BronghBouccicault Company, has returned by the Austral. "The Rev. H. R. Haweis, of St. James's Chapel, Marylebone, who is conducting special services in San Fran* cisco under the auspices of the Bishop and clergy, and who is coming to Australia on a lecturing tour under R. S. Smythe's management, i 3 expected in Sydney early in April.

11 The 914 Albjon, Hot?! in Beurke street

I Melbourne, whence Cobb's coaches used to start for the goldfields, has been pulled (down, and the brothers Sutton, the musicsellers of Ballarat, are having a palatial warehouse built on the site.

" Mis=i Lydia von Finkelsteui has found a splendid field in Canada for her tableau lectures on 'Life in thfe Holy Land.' , i

"All the variety companies in Melbourne give entertainments on Sunday night, and the authorities make no sign. Payment at the doors is compulsory and one of the items in a recent sacred programme was * Gilligan's Black Cab.'

"The Rev Haskett Smith, B A., editor of ■'.*. Murray's Handbook to Syria and Palestine,' who probably knows more about thnse countries and Egypt than any other living man, and who is a favourite lecturer at all the great English public schools, will commence in Melbourne, in May, a series of illustrated lectures on Bible lands, in which recent discoveries in Syria and Egypt testify to the truth of the Scripture narrative will be described.

Frances Saville, whose successful debut as Virginie at the Opera Comique has been recorded, has a very handsome flat in Paris and lives in grand style. The lady also plays propriety. The baritones who sing with her must be robust and the tenors perfect.

" Madame "Vandeveer Green, who was here with Kowalski, has improved wonderfully under Marchesi (who also taught Melba and Francis Saville), and was enthusiastically received at a concert in St. James 1 Hall, London, and louks forward to a grand future in her native city, New York.

"No lecturer is more sought after in England at the present time than the RevJ Charles Clark, who, like Jefferson the comedian, made his first success in Australia. He will shortly start on a pleasure tour in Italy.

"Amongst recent visitors from the Old Country to Australia are the Rev Dr Momerie, formerly preacher at the Foundling Hospital Chapel, and Mr Laurence Gane, M.P. for East Leeds. Both these gentlemen are well-known lecturers in England ; but they arrived arrived at the wrong time, midsummer, and wisely were not tempted Co air their sweet voices.

"There is no worse place at the present time for musical artists than Melbourne. Philip Newbury and his wife are there, but no engagements offer, and they are thinking of leaving for the Cape.

"Dr G'Hara, the fashionable doctor who gave' a very creditable rendering of "Elijah" in the Melbourne To mi Hall, will shortly deliver a lecture, with diagrams, on the human voice.

" Fred Villiers, who has been making sketches of the Chino Japanese war for Black and White, will come to Australia when peace is concluded, under engagement to Mr R. S. Smythe. Villiers was here a few years ago, when he was on the staff of the Graphic.

" The difficulty in securing Melba for the colonies arises from her stipulating that she must be supported by artists too expensive to pay. , „,

" Falk, the Sydney photographer whom celebrities delight to honour, has opened a branch studio in Melbourne, where the competition amongst photographers in these dull times is already very severe."

Our London correspondent writes : The connection of Cissie Loftus,a£wts Mrs Justin Huntly McCarthy with Daly's Company has been, as I predicted, short, and not particularly sweet. The young lady, apart from her imitative talents, has little hiatrionic capacity, and Mr Daly soon found it wouldn't do to give her good parts. As for understudying Ada Rehah—well, the Yankee critics politely scoffed. On her side, Ci3sie didn't relish singing small. High art was very "fine and large," but, on the whole, being "the idol of the 'alls" seemed to her better. So, by mutual consent, the three years' contract between Daly's and Justin Huntly's "budding genius " was torn up, and Cissie reverted to her imitations. The lady is now at a big New York variety theatre called the Casino, where she mimics Sarah Bernhardt and Ada Rehan, and earns a thumping a performance she told a reporter.

Our London correspondent, writing under date January 12th, sends the following interesting account of Mr Henry James' new play " Guy Domville " :—The "literary play," e.g., the play which possesses literary merit alone, won't go down with London audiences, as was conclusively demonstrated, in rather unmannerly fashion, at the St. James' Theatre when the curtain fell on Saturday night upon Mr Henry James' " Guy Domville." The novelist and the dramatist work with different tools, and Mr Henry James' first attempt at playmaking may best be likened to an endeavour on the part of Sir Frederick Leighton to paint scenery with the same brushes he uses for his Royal Academy pictures. That Mr George Alexander should have put on such a mildly sentimental piece as "Guy Domville" is a matter for surprise, After the " Second

Mrs Tanqueray" and the " Masqueraders," it was like attempting to satisfy the public with pap after a diet of strong meat. The period chosen by the author for his story was aho unfortunate. The hideous dress of ladies in the middle of George the Third's reign is calculated to axcite derision nowadays, and really Guy Domville" could have worked out, his destiny in any decade. The story, however, is the thing. " Guy Domville,". the last of the Domvilles, is a young man \ with a hankering for the Roman Catholic Church. He is tutor to the son of a young widow, Mrs Peverell, whose admiration for his mental attiremerits is but a thin cloak for her admiration of his physical attributes. But Gay of course is blind, so blind that he pleads with Mrs Peverell on behalf „f his old schoolfellow Frank Humber. At last, however his thoughts are diverted into a worldly channel. Lord Devenißh, an elderly intriguing roue, comes as messenger to Guy from his kinswoman, Mrs Domville, a rich old widow, informing him that the death of a relative has left him head of his house and heir to a large inheritance. In such case, urges Devenish, it is Guy'a duty to abjure the church and perpetuate the Domville race. After due consideration and influenced considerably by Mrs Peverill, Guy decides upon the worldly course. The widow gives Frank Humber his conge straight away, seeing at la«t a chance of happiness in Guy's love. But Devenish disposes. He has already arranged that Guy is to marry Mary Brasier, Mrs Domville's daughter by an earlier marriage. Guy strangely,enough seems to fall in at once with Devenish's proposals, and hurries off crying, " Long live the Domvilles." In the second act Guy is discovered preparing for his marriage. His bride, however, loves another, as the bridegroom discovers by simu- '; lating drunkenness. It is at this point Lord Devenish's motives are revealed. He is Mary's father, and his erstwhile mistress has promised to marry him and to endow him with her ample fortune the* moment Mary and Guy become one." But George Round, Mary's sweetheart, has other plans. He tries to make Guy drunk, so that his scheme of abduction may be the more easily carried out. intended victim, however, ** spots a snake," aud plays George with his own weapon. In fine he learns enough to make him renounce his claim to JVfary's hand, and to help George to successfully carry out hi 3 elopement with her. Then to Mrs Domville Guy confesses his - share in the plot, and with words of stern rebuke bids her farewell. In the final act Frank Humber is on the point of success in his suit with Mrs Peverill when the malignant Deveni3h is announced. . He has stolen a march on Guy, .whom he is sure will make for his reafloye. Mrs • Domville,, it seems, has promised to marry Dimmish after all, if he can but prevent Guy going into the churchy He cunningly decides to make Mrs Peverill his accomplice for his own benefit, and when Guy appears they have reasoned out several schemes. But DomvilleV though evidently quite prepared! to offer his hand and heart to Mrs Peverill, suddenly takes a notion into Hi* head that Devenish has had a finger in the pie.? He therefore renounces the world, Mrs i Peverill and the D 1, and proposes to devote himself to the '* Mother Church." The widow chastely accepts the muleheaded decision of her lover, and bids Frank Humber, who renews his suit as '-.■ the curtain is falling, "not despair, but wait." Admirably acted and staged throughout, the p'ay failed utterly to please, and it is not likely to run to the end of the month. * v