PLAYS AND PLAYERS.

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 31

PLAYS AND PLAYERS.

" The actors are coir.o hither, ray lord, Baz, Buz V’ —Hamlet. NOTES BY “LORGNETTES

. At. the Theatre Royal the programme lias been strengthened by the engagement of the Patterson Bros., wlioso clever bar feats are- ranch in evidence -this week. Th e exceptional daring and grace of their performance is happily relieved by the introduction of a considerable amount of humour Fullers’, who possess the secret of perennial popularity, have some potent new attractions to offer at the Choral Hall this week.

“When London Sleeps” drew a bumper audience t-o the Opera House oil Saturday night. Saturday night-, too, of all nights in the week. Mr Stanford, of course, is delighted at such a continuous run of good, houses and, when I heard -from him, was quite undecided when to change the bill. The next piece will be “'£looo Reward,” by Charles Rogers, and the season will finish on Saturday, February 23rd. Frank Harvey’s play- “ Shall We Forgive Her?” may be put on after “£IOOO Rewards,” but the latter drama may run the season out. The company leaves for Master ton on Monday, February 25th, opening there thatnight with “Power and the Glory,” and on Tuesday, February 26, “A Soldier and! a Man.” Palmerston North. — February 27 and 28 and March 1, “Power and the Glory, “Soldier and A Man,” and “Shall We Forgive Her.” Then to Wanganui, opening on March 4th with “When London"; Sleeps,” and playing all the repertoire till March 9th. Hawera, lltli, 12th, and 13th March; New Plymouth, 14th and 15th l March; return Wanganui, 18th and 19th March; return Palmerston North, March 20tli ; Hastings, March 22nd and 23rd; Napier, March 25tli to April Ist; Auckland, Easter Saturday,,April 6th to 27th.

The news has just been received from England of the death of Miss Marriott, an actress and vocalist, who will be remembered by old residents of Wellington as the daughter of Mr J. H. Marriott, who kept a stationery and book- . shop for many years on Lamb ton quay. Exchangee speak highly of Mr Snazeile’s entertainment “Our .Navy/’ now being played in Melbourne. < The dimensions of the large hall, in the first- premia ted design for the proposed Town Hall for Wellington, are 150 ft x 70ft. It is intended to furnish the hall with an organ. Opening on to

the orchestra are four retiring rooms for male and female chorus and solo sing'erte respectively. I am given to understand that we shall have an opportunity, at no distant date, of hearing the charming; “Ode - ’ written by Mr Maughan Barnett for the opening of the Christchurch exhibition. Of the charity of th e profession much might be written. Here are a few examples :—-Mrs Kendal’s Christmas recital attracted a large audience to St. James's Hall. A pretty sight was the platform filled with children from the Foundling, boy messengers, and other youngsters invited by Mrs Kendal. On the same evening she gave. an entertainment in aid of the poor of the parisa of St. Luke’s Church, Camberwell, at the Peckham Tabernacle. Sim had an enthusiastic reception. Mr William Lestocq, the well-known London actor, calls the attention of the editor of “The Stage” to a semi-charity that he thinks should be more widely known and supported.—The “Homes for ‘Motherless Children.” Mr Lestocq says of the institution: — !£ I know all about it, and have interested myself a little in it for some years. There is not, I think, anything that can command more sympathy from us all than the welfare of little children left without a mother, who are looked after whilst- the poor father earns his living.” In the same paper I notice an account of an act of charity on the part of some French actresses, for there I find it stated that Madame Rejane and Mdlle. du Mind, had promised their assistance at a concert being organised at Neuilly on behalf of the Anglo-American Orphan.age.

The recent re-election of Mr Alfred Hill to the oonduc-torship of the Sydney Lied&rtafel suggests to my mind' that it- would be a graceful and appropriate idea to revive his cantata- “Hinemoa” - during the approaching Royal visit. It is a long time since it was performed here, and nothing more characteristic of New Zealand, in the way of music, oouki be offered for the delectation of our Royal guests when they visit Wellington. Mr James C. Bain, the comic singer (who has been such a draw in the “Dix” combination in New Zealand for a long time past) having terminated his engagement, has formed a company of his own, and is now, a correspondent writes, playing to packed houses in the Auckland cou?itry towns. He has secured one of the latest marcels of Edison’s wonderful brain, the very latest improvement in phonographs. Records of the human voice are taken nightly on the stage and reproduced, every inflection and tone of the voice being given with marvellous accuracy.

Mr Phil. Newbury, the tenor signer, proposes to revisit New Zealand shortly. Many would be glad if the Choral Society would take advantage of his visit to engage him for a concert. “The Great Ruby,” Bland Holt’s latest production, has a .number of good acting parts for people built to fit them, says the “Bulletin/ 7 The people at the Royal don’t fit them as a rule, and the improvement in the performance since the first night is not very startling. Miss Ross, as the lady president of the Gang, can’t be congratulated on mairmg a hit, but she must beware of a tendency to lapse into her old, slow method. Baker’s brown Prince is a commendable change in all respects from the heroic white Baker of other dramas, Styan gives a birght character sketch, Miss Florence Seymour is satisfactory, Corlesse plays a robust burglar of the ancient Briton type with Corlesseian vigour, and Albert Norman is making an earnest endeavour to conquer bis troublesome grin. When that is subjugated he will be able to take severe- measures with his right hand, which has a trick of waving like the paw of a candidate at an election meeting. Meanwhile Norman is getting along nicely. None of the other people are quite at home in this drama. Miss Harrie Ireland and little Miss Athena Claudius should certainly exchange places. Each of them would be better than the other in the other one’s shoes. The incidental lords and captains and society girls want a little more mamiah all round. Chas. Brown is not a bit like a quiet, wealthy jeweller who thinks the aristocracy was made to receive love, honour, and long credit from shopkeepers, neither does Mrs Holt fill the bill as the fussy, dressy, expansive spouse of the man whom Brown isn’t. Mrs Holt gets many laughs, but she never identifies herself with the character, which complaint applies to Bland Holt’s detective in a less degree. _ Bland merely manages to. repress himself with difficulty in a part that would be a soft thing, and' effective withal, for a comedian like Brough, for instance.

Not so many years ago, says' the "Bulletin,’-’ a certain young songstress was lauded to the skies by the Australian press as a coming prima donna. Perhaps she. was never quite so promising as her admirers thought her, but anyhow her future looked bright enough. " A few nights back that same vocalist bad a painful experience in one of the cities where she was formerly a favourite. After singing one verse of a ballad in a weak, tuneless voice whilst the gallery boys "guyed” her, she got a, mysterious' managerial order to come off, and the poor woman slowly retired from the stage in a dazed condition. It is an awful thing for one who has known the rapture of glowing newspaper notices, and floral tributes from johnnies, to get ordered, and very properly ordered, to come off. Madame Cole started singing as a soprano originally, but, though her voice still maintains its extraordinary compass upwards, the contralto quality soon marked her out as a "star” in that sphere. Now that Sims Reeves is dead and Edward Lloyd retired from singing in public, Mr Bob Cunningham, Melbourne’s own tenor of the syrup voice, will no doubt fill the breach. It has ever been supposed that brains and beauty are never bestowed together by a beneficent Providence, as the combination is apt to tend to enlargement of the head. Now the Cunningham family, of whom there are five sons —big, . strapping men—are a distinct contradiction to this fallacy. They are fine men with plenty of brains, and have never acquired that fatal aptitude to strut through the world like foolish peacocks, which so often doss the footsteps of that elusive jade, Success.— Adelaide "Critic.”

Arthur Styan, of the Bland Holt eo., is a master in the art of making up. In the ‘“Ruby” he converts himself into a fine Dickensian figure that is itself a masterpiece. Everybody remembers his wonderfully good transformation into a grotesque hunchback in "Woman and Wine.” Haddon Chambers' new play is called "The Awakening,” which George Alexander will produce. Nance O’Neil opens at Melbourne Her Majesty’s at Easter. ' Mr Henry’s company, which played at the Opera House" some time ago. is now at Adelaide. The Adelaide "Critic” says or one of its productions : Mr Henry’s combination essayed a difficult task, and the result wr?s only what could be expected. Lire in Gay Paris would receive a rude shock if it only knew how it was depicted

on Monday evening. Finish'and polish of Parisian life were lamentably wanting, and there was a want of continuity which had rather a distressing effect, while the prompter showed too prominently. As Fanny Le Grand, Miss Billie Howarde had a difficult role, which she pourtrayedl indifferently. Mr Robert Henry, as Jack Gaussin, found favour with the audience, and Messrs J. R. Goodall, Ward, Lyons, J. Cosgrove, and O. W. Meade filled their various parts moderately. Miss Marian Willis appeared to advantage in her double role. Some New Zealanders may remember the late Rev. H. R. Haweis as a very passable lecturer who talked intelligently about the strong moral influence of music for good and evil, its patriotic uses and abuses, and its history, ancient and model’ll. He illustrated his discourse, says the “Bulletin,” with fiddle-scrapes of a peculiarly harsh character, for which he used to apologise, saying that his one-time skilful hand had lost its cunning. Haweis was very emphatic on the point that the art of music reached its zenith ten years ago, and certainly nothing has occurred since then to shatter the little parson’s theory. “We are living in the golden age of music—and we don’t know it,” he declared. Miss Jennie Opie, who used to sing the interpolated song, “Because I love you,” with such gusto in “The Geisha,'’ under Pollard’s management here, is at present appearing in Bland Holt’s production, “The Great Ruby.” She is' said to cut a great figure in the part of a big, manly, striding middy. Nance O’Neil, whom Melbourne people (women chiefly) raved about a little time ago, but who did not- altogether thrill the “Bulletin,” receives very unkind treatment from Stafford Ransome, who was “doing” Australia for the London “Sphere’’ and “Daily Express,” at the time. He writes in the former paper that the bulky lady has “a rudimentary knowledge of acting,” and that when she gets to London —if she ever does—“both she and her audiences will be disappointed by the results.” Among those who leave Sydney for New Zealand shortly tinder engagement to Mr P. R. Dix are Dainty Irene Franklin, Miss Daisy Harcourt, Mr Harry Gray, Professor Almond, and several other big favourites. Mr Macdonald has had a splendid season in Western Australia. lie delivered . 27 lectures to a total audience of 31,000 people. Madame Belle Cole, the vocalist, who has just returned to London from South Africa, is, like Madame Antoinette Sterling, a convert to Christian science, and thinks that she has even developed a certain amount of faith healing power herself. She claims to have restored to health a poor little child who had been kept in a bomb-proof cellar in Mafeking. Poor little Flora Graupner, a most promising Australian singer, lias come back from Germany completely shattered in health. Sh e arrived by the Arcadia attended by her father and bro-

ther, who went to Germany to bring her homq. WSith what awful suddenness has this young life been blighted which started on the trip towards Death with every promise of a rose-strewn pathway and many-: laurels of success. Of the brilliant quartette that charmed us so in the "Gondoliers” only Tapley is still facing the music. Violet Varley and! Ryley—gone, and poor little Flora, the merriest, brightest little sprit e withered as a. rosebud before full bloom. The Brough Company are to disband in Hongkong next month, according to a letter received from Mr Allan Hamilton. He writes:—“We remain in Calcutta until February 10, then Rangoon, Singapore, Shanghai, and Hongkong in the order named. The pour finishes in the latter city, and then the company disband.”

The Broughs have just booked dates for another tour of this colony, btgiu- - ning at Auckland on Boxing Night. They are due in Dunedin on February 25, having secured the race nights for 1902. A P'aris correspondent of one of the morning papers reports a. tragic occurrence from Bordeaux, which reads like a. new version of "Magda.” A Monsieur Dominique and his daughter quarrelled some time ago, because the latter insisted on going on the stage. She left home for years, and only returned the other day to see her mother, who was seriously ill. The father bore her* return patiently for a time, but- quite suddenly liis old antagonism to her revived: In a- fit of passion he fired at her with a. revolver:, wounding her mortand then shot himself through th e head. Both died within a few hours. How easy it is to imagine that this daughter was another Magda, and her father another Schwartze. The Pollard Opera Company were at latest playing the extravaganza- “DjinDjin” at Her Majesty’s, Sydney. The company appear to advantage in this piece. The company will probably visit Broken Hill, Queensland, and 'Western Australia before returning to New Zealand.

It is currently reported that Miss Henrietta Watson will shortly return to Australia and rejoin Bland Holt’s company. The "Bulletin,” speaking of Bland Holt, gives vent 5 ! 'e following piece of sound criticism: —Bland Holt’s health has been rather shaky of lute, and he would have done well to take a partial rest by standing out of. the cast of his recent show, "With Flying Colours,” in. which ho and Mrs Holt were not really important figures. . As. manager and actor he overworks himself. The strain is all the greater when he has to wrestle

with an uncongenial part—a part never intended for a low comedian, whose strength is in his pungent personality. The higher class of -modern tists don’t cater for the male low comedian of the company. He is expected to suit himself to a character, rather than suit the character to himself, as in the ease of “The White Heather,” where Bland Holt was only a. humorous caricature of the flash theatrical person, Edgar Trefusis. In “The Great Ruby,/ Bland Holt again needs to suppress some of liis easy mannerisms 1 and study the bearings of liis part, as well as his words.

An exchange reports that a child sustained serious injuires at Wirtlrs Circus in Pahiatua. The child approached close to the leopard’s cage, and the animal inflicted very severe wounds, necessitating the attendance of a surgeon, who had to put in several stitches in the child’s face and head. A claim of £SO damages has been. made. ........ With the close- of the Nance O’Neil season at'Christchurch, says the “Weekly Press,” there will be an interregnum in theatrical matters. At present there is not a single date booked until February of next year, Mien the Brough Company have taken the Theatre. Such a state cf things has not existed for many years. Bland Holt, who has generally paid a visit to Christchurch, in November in alternate years, will not be her© this year. . The New York “Herald” has started paying for the seats occupied by their critics at places of amhsement. • •’ Sir Arthur Sullivan has left the manuscript of the original scores of /The Martyr of Antioch” and “The Mikado” to his old school, the Royal Academy of Musi© The great Spanish violinist Senor Sarasate is going to undertake a series of forty concerts in Holland,. Germany, Austria and Belgium. - .. Those who take an interest in theatrical figirres will be glad to learn that the Com e-die Francaise receipts for the pastyear were £95,443. The expenses, which were heavier' than usual, amounted to £87,266. Ther e having been only about £8,676 profit left in hand, and something like £650 being wanted for each soeietaire, the manager has been obliged to take £6,500 from the reserve fund. . But, in spite of this, and the expenses incurred by the fire, there is still in hand £20,000, the amount left by M, Perrin when' M, Claretie assumed the directorial chair. ...

Charles Failing, of burnt-cork fame, has gone to Western Australia. _*■ Douglas Ancelon, who was with M' alter Bentley, is on his way to the States, there to join Bentley in his present tour.

Mrs Sims Reeves, who is fulfilling an engagement at the Alhambra, Brighten, will open in London shortly, says an English exchange. Kryle Bellow, who was here with Mrs Brown-Potter, has apparently given up the boards. His success in floating Queensland mines in Loudon and other company transactions is to be followed by m em-bershiy'bf an exploratory expedition into Abyssinia in search of precious •metal.

The Shaftesbury (London) has been in possession of Americans for the whole of the year. Mafoelle Gilman succeeded Edna May; and the Polite Lunatic returned last spring with the merry ‘"Casino Girl.” The part of Mariamiie, in Stephen Phillips’s great play.,."‘Herod,” is in the hands of an actress from the Southern States, Miss Maud Jeffries. Mr Robert Taber*, a very popular actor in America, played one of the biggest Shakesperian parts in ±ier Majesty’s last autumn. The early death, of Mr Franklin McLeay, whose Cassius was such a wonderful success in the first revival of "Julius Caesar,” deprived' the stage of a Canadian actcr of most brilliant promise. His appearance as lago (to Mr Tree’s Othello) in the big matinee he organised at Drury Lane last- summer, is one of the greatest, and at the same time the saddest, recollections of the playgoer’s year. And lastly Miss Gertrude Elliott, the most welcome invader of all, has married Mr Johnston Forbes Robertson, and so made England her. future home.

One pereieves (says a writer. .in "M.A.P.,”) in looking over the new and old names in the play bills of the year, that there are four London actresses whose triumphs far outshine the lesser popular successes—Julia Neilson as Oberon, Evelyn Millard as Madame Butterfly, Marie Tempest as Nell Gwyn, and Lena Ashwell as Mrs Dane. I have already spoken of "A Midsummer Night s Dream.” In recalling the lovely scene of the Athenian wood—tiie soft, changing colours from night to dawn, the melody, the beauty, and the. rich humour of it all—one’s most exquisite memory is of Miss Neilson’s voice, asnt melted and rose and fell. Miss M.illard s golden opportunity came in the best. Oheact piece of many a long day, Madame Butterfly/’ Miss Ashwell’s "great third act” with Wydnham in "Mrs Dane’s Defence” is still to be seen and wondered at. As for Miss Mane Tempests Nell Gwyn, it is just as fresh, captivating, and delightful us it was on the first night. Miss Florence Perry (who, by the way, is a sister-in-law of Mr Ben Davies, the tenor) has been cast for the part of the heroine in a new piece for, Mr Terry’s theatre, London. . Miss Perry will be remembered by /.Wellington playgoers as . the ‘ first Mimqsa. San in / ‘The Geisha,” whiph was produced, at the QperA House by Poliatd for the first time in ’New Zealand.' ' " ‘ • ' *£