PRINCESS THEATRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19135, 1 April 1924, Page 4

PRINCESS THEATRE

_ With tio motto “ Get Your Man ” the Nqrth-West Mounted. Police have a reinitiation for fearlessness that is world- • wide. Mr Oon Moreni and the Musical ' Comedy. Company at ,th© Princess Theatre last night, presented a very humorous burlesque oh the famous force in a revue of \ that name. Without a connected plot, the revue *ia nevertheless carried on from incident to, incident in an interesting manner and there is not a dull moment in it. It abound* in boisterous but clean comedy. The scene is laid in a chinking, saloon in a gold-mining town, and the , characters-are typical of the novels and , movies dealing with the wild west and, f north-west. Mr Con Moreni is seen- as ; r Police-sergeant Clancy, and his droll interE pretations of the bribe-taking minion of the i law, who had adopted as ais slogan the ■> letters Y.M.C.A. (You must come across), is ? cute of the best characters he has porv. trayed here. In the Card-playing scene he ir Was exceptionally comical, and in the revolver • duel with the “ bold, bad man ”he aroused - 1 shrieks of delight. His singing of ‘‘O’Reilly,’’ embellished with the Brunette Beauties, who .. demonstrated their versatility individually, ft merited much applause. Tlie Brunettes, i who were seen in a number of new songs, ■ are a noteworthy 'feature of the ' revue. |, . Flash Mag is the significant name of the [ character which Miss Ida Loggat impersonates. She is a saloon singer, but one can scarcely imagine a saloon, having a 1 singer of the . .quality of Miss Leggat, .judging by the; way in which i she sang Sometimes You’ll Remember.” Miss Topsy Kay was the salbon-keepCr g wife, and she added to, her reputation .as an actress hy her tuneful singing of ‘‘ All . Day Long.” A general• useless is the description of Mary Kirdney, whom Miss Dolly Vami impersonates* in a highly capable manner. She was most amusing, in the duet with Mr Harry Moreni, I’ve Got if You.” Mr Harry Moreni had an oppor- , 1 tunity of demonstrating his ability to act in the part of “ Handsome Horry,” the bad man. Dan Weldon, Will Kenny, Alex. ■ M'Allister, and Les Austin played minor parts effectively. In the vaudeville portion of the prof gramme there are five turns, all of which were good, The newcomers are the Devinna ‘ brothers and Cestrio. The latter is not a stronger to Princess patrons, but nevertheless he is always welcome, and his -. acrobatic and juggling feats are performed with a pronounced atmosphere of comedy which invests the turn with sufficient ot the clown element to make it highly amusing. Cestria is a clever juggler, but it is in tumbling that he excels. The climax of bis turn comes when he runs about the stage -catching balls on a fork held in hjs mouth, the balls, haying been thrown to wid at him by members of the, audience. Needless to ‘ »ay h© was warmly applauded. The Devinna brothers, two lads in their teens, give quite an interesting exhibition of physical culture. They open by giving- a neat and - clever display of skipping and shadow sparring, after which they give impressions of past and present champions of the'ring, including Jamito, Bert Spargo. add finally. Lea. Darcy with his short, sharp arm jolts. k T?hs Concluding item' was three rounds ol i&iantttkv boxing, which showed both pexi formers ,to be expert exponents of . ringcraft. ■Victor ' the Great, who has hitherto been Steen in ventriloquial turns, gave a completo , (Change last night, and demonstrated his 'jjersEitifity as a stage artist. With the brim Of a soft felt hat he gave quite a scries of finpreelions of notable people which evoked the warmest of applause. He next indulged in sleight-of-hand tricks and illusions, all of which were most cleanly performed. The . final act is where one of hig partners is 5. Jecuyely nailed in a large paoking case which fe just as securely tied with rope. The case Is, pushed into a, cabinet, and in a few seconds the captive appears. When the case »9 undone the performer himself, accompanied by his daughter, emerge from the case. This is- a reasonably common trick, but when performed by victor the Great and his ass istants possesses all the elements of a nCw turn and evokes quite a furore of applause The jVTKinnon Boys, who are nothing if not popular with a Princess audience, gave an excellent entertainment, an U, attired ‘‘ in the garb of Old Gaul.” looked the part of Scottish entertainers. The sword dance, performed by the younger of the two brothers, was quit© a feature, as also was i the claying of the concertina by the other brother. “ Hats ” M'Kay discarded the “coloured” disguise on this occasion and appeared as a cowboy in several acceptable item* on the banjo—on which he was more than usually successful—and tne singing guitar. The whole performance was mur-h enhanced by Fullers’ Orchestra, under the able direction of Mr F. H. Stokes. The same programme will be given again this ewening.