"THE NEW ALADDIN”

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12434, 30 April 1926, Page 3

"THE NEW ALADDIN”

SPECTACULAR PANTOMIME AT OPERA HOUSE.

There is no undue waiting between scenes in the “Aladdin” pantomime at the Grand Opera House. And there are some seventeen changes in all. Indeed, some of the transformations are amazing. The mechanical side of the performance has been perfected until there is rapidity and regularity in all movements. All Wellington is delighting in the latest Williamson enterprise.

Miss Floie Allen carries a big burden on her shoulder 3 in the role of Aladdin, and bears all her natural sweetness on to the part. There is a naive archness about Miss Allen that suits the role admirably, and she sings all her songs with a witchery that is most appealing. She wears becoming costumes, and swaggers about, as delightful a boy as has been seen here for some time. Roma Phillipps is a winsome heroine, with a personality that is fragile and dainty. Another delightful boy is Dorothy Dewar, stalwart and well-built, who also wears th© traditional principal boy ensemble with distinction. Sadie Pepper, as lady-in-waiting to the princess, beloved by the Vizier’s son, is also full of feminine appeal. In dame clothes Mr Bruce Gieen presents the unique spectacle of a man wiring Paris clothes Tike a Frenchwoman. He also wears the Twanlcey weeds, with humorous results in the kitchen, and manufactures dough strong enough to be used as a cricket bat in a friendly ball game with the mad magician. Ho is a new kind of dame with a new kind of way. And the audience likes the novelty he brings to the role. Gus Bluett needs no introduction, and, garbed in smallhoy trousers, youthful jumpers, and diminutive socks that have a penchant for the ankles, frivols through all his scenes with’ just tTTat touch of the burlesque that makes a ridiculous part laughable. His antics with a piece of string (which he twiddles continually), his singing and dancing, and his undoubted comedy sense make him a delight to see and hear. The washing scene in the kitchen never fails to amuse. Then tbere is an old friend in Reg. Roberts, who wears a series of wonderful costumes as the mad magician. Jack Haslam and Leslie Donaghey are Chinese policemen, Grafton Williams is the Grand Vizier, Dave Loffman is Emperor in handsome robes, Harry Moles is the geni of the ring, and Lucille Lisle exhibits a charming 'figure as the slave of the lamp. Cutie, the widow’s cat,, as played by that sterling animal actor, Mr William Hassan, is a feline of human intelligence. The El Radiants present a novel speciality turn, in which grotesque luminous figures appear and disappear, owls blink from tree branches, and a moon rises and sinks against a black night. Then % rats, farmyard giants and liliputian storybook characters parade, and the act concludes with skeletons dancing back-to-back and head-on-head, luminous in outline and fantastic to see.. The twelve beautiful Williamson Girls, on stout ropes, use them as ladders, turn somersaults in unison, and finish up by swinging right out over the heads of the audience, performing acrobatics as tliey do so. The ballet is a particularly efficient one, and the fan, lotus, and ukelele ensembles stand out as something worth while.

The settings are magnificent, and the frocking in best taste. Mr Harry Burton controls a most efficient orchestra, and the mechanical staff and the stage direction leave nothing to be desired.