“VIRGINIA.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20586, 8 December 1928, Page 22

“VIRGINIA.”

HUGE DEAL IN SEATS. • ALL-BBITISH MUSICAL COMEDY. ' (Feom Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON. November 2. A library deal of approximately £20,000 worth of seats/ in advance of production was made for the .all-British musical comedy "Virginia," which is now iat the Palace Theatre. The' play was tried out at Cardiff and Southaea with great success. On Saturday it played to more than £IOOO, the evening receipts exceeding by some pounds the largest" amount ever taken by " No, No, Nanette" at the same theatre. This new Clayton and Waller musical comedv is more than their " production," for Mr Clayton is revealed on the programme as part author, of the book and his partner as part composer. Mr Clayton states that he had watted 15 years for his play to be produced. " I thought I should never see the name ' Virginia' on a play bill," he said. " Manager after manager here and in the United States read the play and refused to stage it because they objected to the colour element in it. Years ago Mr Frederick Norton wrote music for ' Virginia/ but lost faith in the chances of the piece, and when he got an opportunity to write the music for ' Chu Chin Chow ' he took his music away and transferred it to that play. The ' Robbers' Song,' one of th e hits of ' Chu' Chin Chow,' Belonged to ' Virginia.' " As there is a fashion just now for coloured folk in musical shows, it is no surprise to find the second let laid in Virginia, with picturesque darkies to add to the frolics of the white chorus, and to provide with them the equivalent—in a somewhat mixed musical style—of the kind of pseudo-Spiritual popular in other similar^ plays. Mr Walter' Richardson, a negro singer with a powerful and vibrant voice, made a great success of this " Roll Away Clouds," a song with a magnificent tune which brought the house down more times than could be counted. " Virginia " has been received 'as a " good show " ; in every way a worthy successor to "The Girl Friend." The company ' includes Miss Emma Haig {in the name part) and Mr George Uee, and it gives them even more to do than they had before. More serious are Miss Marjorie Gordon (Lady Hampton) and Mr Harold French (Lord Hampton). Much fun is serve,d out by Mr John Kirby, the very successful New Zealand comedian who is now so popular with theatre audiences in London. Mr Kirby! plays the rather conventional American multi-mil-lionaire of musical comedy ; his name is Silas B. Hock, and he is described in turn as Still Hock and Sparkling Hock. " Mr Kirby," says one of the critics, " is one who can obtain a laugh out of a gesture. His chin alone might be his fortune. His personality is such that when he is being comically determined that chin appears to stand out a yard. The name part is played by Miss Emma Haig, a little girl with an American accent pitched in the highest register, something of an acrobat, always a personality. Mr George Gee, Mr Jimmie Fergusson, and Mr A. Bromley Davenport aTe others who add to the fun of tho fair. The story deals largely with the efforts of Hock to marry his daughter, Virginia, into the British aristocracy. The victim chosen is Lord Hampton, a pleasant fellow with a serge suit as blue as the Mediterranean and with as many debts as those waves have sparkles. The hog merchant makes his proposition in..a sentence, and one feels that his lordship would not be averse to or from the idea but for one thing—he is married. Fortunately, Lady Hampton is one of those dewy wanderwits who are always ready to apply to the minor ills 'of existence the' most heroical of remedies. To rid her husband of a grocer, a bootmaker, and a tailor she will consent to eternal separation from the one and only object of existence. Why suffer the o'dinm of the Bankruptcy Court when the Divorce Court offers so elegant a way out? There are, of course, many beautiful scenes, and the lighting effects are quite remarkable. An admirable chorus adds immensely to a capital evening's enjoyment. The press,has been quite favourable, and general is the anticipation that " Virginia " is her© to etay, for it is * ehow thlt will disperse all cloud's