HIGH STANDARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26608, 3 November 1947, Page 6

HIGH STANDARD

BURNS CLUB PRODUCTION DELIGHTFUL SINGING Some delightful singing, clever dancing and a dash of comedy assured the success of the Dunedin Burns Club’s production of “ Hallowe’en at Hazeldean,” which opened its threenight season at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday. As a production on musical comedy lines, the show was not convincing, lacking in cohesion and smoothness of passage, but viewed as a series of items the performance was of a generally high standard and reflected credit on those responsible for assembling the cast. The audience was appreciative throughout, and particularly so during the second half of the programme, which was most entertaining.

The theme of the production, the script for which was written by Messrs William Brown and James Paterson, was the traditional feud between the Campbells and the MacDonalds, and the manner of its ending because of a romance between Jean Campbell and Angus MacDonald. The_ principal vocalists. Vincente Major, as Jean, and James MacFarlane, as Angus, gave thoroughly competent performances. The former overplayed her part as an enthralled listener to Angus’s love songs, but made amends by some delightful singing, reaching a high standard in the semi-dramatic number, “Angus MacDonald,” in the second act. John Gordon and Isa Garden, as the Campbell parents, and William Brown and Lucy Paterson, as their MacDonald counterparts, gave solid performances.

The comedy was in the hands of George Currie and Jrmes Paterson, who took the parts of the village numbskull, George Kirk, and a ships engineer. Sandy McSporan, respectively. The antics of the lanky George Currie pleased the audience, but James Paterson was sometimes hard to hear. The apparently accidental interpolation of his own name instead of that of his character in one of his jokes convulsed ‘the audience, the cast and the speaker, providing one of the brightest moments in the production. Arthur Macdonald’s physique and robust baritone voice were in character for the part of Captain Hamish Mac Kay, and his antics when partnered by Harriet Hamer—Auld Meg. the village worthy—in the folk dance, Petronella, were appreciated. The Hazeldean choir, conducted by Nom Masters (Mary Kirk) sang several numbers, its pianissimo work being of a high standard." The singers were Winnie Dugdale, Yvonne Hill, Edna Thomson, Keith McKay, Lionel Powell and Charles Grant. Yvonne Hill was impressive in her brief solo. The Highland dancers, Norma Stewart, Daphne Baxter, Eileen Bevin, Helen Dalgety, Jack Miller, Douglas Peat, Colin Smith and Stan Smith were excellent, but the show was almost stolen by the performance of Lily Stevens’s juvenile ballet. Daintily dressed in red and white, and graceful and precise in their movements, these 11 small girls were enthusiastically* called upon for an encore. The excellent piano accompaniment of Jean Kirk-Burnnand made no small contribution to the success of the show, and she handled the widely-varied types of music in the production with competent ease. The chorus work was outstanding, ' the opening number in the second act being particularly good.

“ Hallowe’en at Hazeldean ” was produced by James MacFarlane and William Brown, the direction being in the hands of Arthur Macdonald.