BROADWAY MELODY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23221, 19 June 1937, Page 18

BROADWAY MELODY

THE MARCUS SHOW Introducing super-vaudeville entertainment from all over the world —from Broadway, London, Paris; Mexico, the East, in fact, everywhere where there are new, striking and entertaining acts to be found—the celebrated Marcus Show will open its Dunedin season at his Majesty’s Theatre this afternoon. A strange and colourful new world is presented when the curtain rises on each revue, and until it falls on the final number, the audience revels in a riot of colourful beauty, spectacle and glamour. As each presentation is unfolded it seems to open new gateways to Hollywood. It is the atmosphere of the musical extravaganzas grown familiar to filmgoers in recent years. There is the same spontaneous gaiety, the beautiful precision of chorus and ballet, and the artistry of the principals. For stage spectacles the Marcus Show sets a high and expensive standard for entertainment of its kind. One episode succeeds another with astounding rapidity. The full resources of the theatre are used, and every form of art, dressing, painting and music, is employed to the full. Although the first spectacle in ‘La Vie Paree ” —“ Black and White ” is really beautiful, it is surpassed by “Fantasie Parisienne,” _ a gorgeous spectacle full of surprises and bewildering in its beauty of gold and silver, colour and glitter—and girls, some wearing enormous headdresses in feathers and filagree. Rough-house in a low-down cabaret gives scope for clever and lively movement with a tragic sequel, and a Mexican festive scene affords opportunity for some clever dancing, including the national dance on the broad brim of a sombrero. In this scene Sofia Alvarez plays a distinguished part. The opinion of a northexm critic that “ there are no individual artists in the Marcus Show —it is one composite whole, every member of the cast doing his or her best to make the performance the great success it is.” will, it is claimed, be borne out by all who see the show.

During the Dunedin season of a fortnight, the Marcus Show will present three revues. As well as “La Vie Paree,” both “ Broadway Vanities” and “Varieties Continental” will also be staged. The box plans for the season are now open at the D.I.C. The tour is under the auspices of Sir Benjamin Fuller, in association with. Messrs L. S. Snider and G. B. Dean.