NOTES BY PASQUIN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1787, 20 February 1886, Page 23

NOTES BY PASQUIN.

The Rotomahana was a day late in bringing the " Private Secretary" Company to our shores, but this will be the Invercargill people's losb, not ours. They will only see one instead of two performances of Hawtrey's laughable farce, and the opening date in Dunedin (Thursday aext) will not be altered. The novelty and zest of this production has been detracted from by the fact of it having been played here in an incomplete disguise some months ago by Messrs M'Mahon and Leitch, under the title of " The Librarian." However, the original should still be able to draw good houses, especially as Mr Frank Thornton, upon whom all the fun of the piece devolves, is remarkably • good. Mr Harwood, another of the original cast, is also with the company, and plays old Cattermole. Mr George Rignold, who opens here next month, brings a company of 40 with him, besides about 150 tons of scenery and luggage falore. This looks like business. Sims and 'ettitt's " In the Ranks " will be the opening piece* and will at the outset make heavy demands upon the stage carpenter and mechanist. Most of the company are new to New Zealand, and are likely to become popular here by all accounts. Miss Kate Bishop is at all events a clover leading lady. " The indefatigable Liddy, as soon as he has finished with the Rignold tour, will be ready to commence with Mr Harry Rickards, and immediately after that will start with Leon and Cushman's Minstrels, He has his hands full just now. Miss Ada Ward has returned to the Colonies by the John Elder for another Australian tour. The pantomimic ballet, " Speranza," now delighting the Parisians at the Eden Theatre, is said to be the most magnificent of the many magnificent spectacles presented at that house. Cornallia, the famous dancer, is the star, a handsome woman, agile, graceful, and charming in every step, beautiful in every pose. She is now the prima ballerina assoluta of Paris, and Mauri and Bubra, ballet celebrities of the Grand Opera, are ranked as second to her.

That old familiar piece, "The Danites," is •nee more drawing good business at*the Baldwin Theatre, San Francisco. The play, depicting as it does the worst incidents of Mormon massacres, is stated to be doing for Mormonism what " Unolo Tom's Cabin " has done for slavery. Miss Minnie Palmer is back again in London, playing "My Sweetheart " to big audiences at the Strand Theatre. It would seem that she has decided not to abandon the almost certain prospect of a second London season for even the extraordinarily tempting offer made her lately for an Australian tour.

The following is about a true statement of the case as regards Italian opera, and it is from the pen of a reliable musical writer : — The dechettnee of Italian opera is now almost complete. In America and in nearly every capital in Europe Italian opera has' during the past year either failed or has been carried on under depressing and often ludicrous conditions. In Italy itself the opera is at its lowest. Instead of an average of about forty-five operas produced annually, the total product of the Peninsula amounted last year to a miserable record of fourteen works, none of them of the first class, and many of them mere musical melodramas. The prima donna bubble has burst, and except Mdme Patti, who is alternating concerts with Bbage representations in the barbarous districts of Southern Russia, all the great stars seem_ to have been divorced from the operatic stage. Meantime the world of music goes merrily on, and nobody — save of course the overpaid artist — seriously misses Italian opera.

The Duke of Edinburgh is said to be so much distressed at the adverse comments of critics that he has decided to play no more violin solos In public after the next royal amateur concert.

Signor De Vivo has left the Emma Nevada Company '(in which he still retains an interest), and is to manage Salvini in the States.

An American paper gives a characteristic Anecdote of the manners and habits of that qnite too-too young actor, Mr Kyrle Bellew : — "This very •English' actor," says the writer, "was introduced to young John Chatterton, whore stage name is Perugini. The two gentleshook hands as though they had never met, and Perugini courteously asked Mr Bellew how he liked the country. Mr Wallack's leading man replied that he had not been here long enough to know.

"'lndeed?' asked Perugini, with a slight elevation of his eyebrows ; * I thought you had travelled in America before.'

" • Oh, dear, no,' responded the very English Mr Bellew, 'I never was here but once until now, and then I remained only a few days. I had come over to take a leading position at the Union square Theatre, but Mr Palmer could not employ my services to advantage, and so I went home immediately. That is my only experience of this country up to the present time.'

° * What on earth i t' .n t<o of telling such stuff aa that?' rejoined Perugini, with considerable indignation. ' When you were a boy you and I travelled together all over this country in the Holman Opera Company, and old Mrs Holman used to give you your bath, and spank you, and put you to bed just as she did the rest of us. If you would cultivate a better remembrance of old acquaintances these embarrassing situations would not arise.' Mr Bellevr flushed and bit his lip, and Perugini turned on his heel and walked away." The production of H Faust " at the Lyceum V»s * great event in the London theatrical Trorld, and fabulous sums were offered in Bond sfereet for first night seats. As muchjis £5 was Kd for a drees circle stall. The first pitite arrived at the doors of the Lyceum at 8 o'clock in the morning, duly provided with provisions, and was content to wait 12 hours on a raw December day, to ceeure the best chance of a place. Host searching dress rehearsals werejheld, to the final one of which nobody was admitted. One «f the leading actors strolled into the Green Room Club at 2 a,m. on the day of the production and announced that rehearsal of the fourth act had not yet been finished But, in »pite of all these efforts, some or the elaborate machinery would not work on the first night. Mr Irving vainly tried to conjure up the vision •f Margaret before the aged Faust, and the poctor wa« compelled to undergo rejuvenescence and puss through the first two hours of the play without that spectacle of female loveliness which is the keynote to the whole Lypeum drum*. Mr Irvine, in his subsequent speech, made reference to these shortcomings- remarking that even the Devil himself could not get the M«nerj to work properly on the "first night.

Th« pl%y itself, in Goethe's original feu b«ei» pretty closely followed, is full of re9tarkabl» scenes, but one of the finest is that ■Whiph oeeuTß alter Margaret's, deception at the binds pf fjujst, when tjie girl comes out of her

house to draw water at the well. The damsels are talking of another good woman gone wrong, and as they depart the heart-broken heroine prays fervently to the Mater Dolorosa. Her mother has been poisoned by the potion. Soon her brother returns from the wars, and he, too, falls in the duel with Faust. As the demon parries each of the soldier's strokes electric fire sparkles from the blade. The scene of Valentine's death is of the most heart-rending character. When the guilt of her lover is proclaimed, and the populace recoil in horror from her, Miss Ellen Terry stands pale and motionless clinging to the statue of the Mater Dolorosa. The girls jeer at her, but she takes no notice. It is not ' until another sinner, in womanly pity, approaches furtively and kisses the cheek of . disgraced womanhood that the full extent of her fall seems to strike her. She then turns to the Madonna and pours out her heart in prayer. She passes into the church, and the wall being removed, we find Mephistopheles tempting her. Her mother and brother are murdered, and the demon urges her to kill the child that is yet to be born. With a cry s.he sinks in a swoon, and Faust and his tempter are oft' to the Walpurgis Night revels on the Brocken. In the scene in the dungeon Miss Ellen Terry again rises to the very height of her genius. Margaret of courso triumphs finally over the spirit of evil. Clinging to the cross she sinks 10 the earth in death, ami the scene at the back opening, a ladder of silverwinged angels, extending from over the Nuremberg housetops to heaven, is waiting with outstretched arms to carry the redeemed soul to Paradise.

Mr Irving has at least one magnificent speech as Mephistopheles, when Faust rebels against his dictation and wishes to act honourably by Margaret and marry her. The demon answers him : I am a spirit, and I know thy thought. You think you may be fenced round by-and-bye With sprinkled holy water, lifted cro»s — "While you and your pale saint might hold a siege Against the scapegoat — 'gainst the devil here. Kre that should be I'd tear thee limb from'limb, Thy blood I'd dash upon the wind like rain. And all the gobbets of thy mangled flesh I'd scatter to the dogs, that none should say This carrion was Faust ! Yon cottage would I snatch up in a whirlwind At dead midnight like pebble in a sling, And hurl it leagues away, a crumbled mass With its crushed quivering tenant under it. Dost know me now ?

There *s an amateur dramatic club in New York where party feeling runs particularly high. The custom of the members is to allow each in turn to play his favourite part, and, unfortuntunately for peace and harmony, there is a tremendous run on Richard 111. Everyone thinks he can play the crook-backed tyrant, and mortal jealousies are the result. At a recent performance an unpopular member undergoing the universal ordeal, was met throughout by derisive demonstrations by both the audience and his colleagues. He suffered in silence until the combat, wherein Richard is expected to be slain, and at this point the maltreated amateur, recognising Richmond as the ringleader of his tormentors, deliberately cast aside his baskethilted broadsword and challenged his antagonist to fight it ou f in fisticuffs. This new reading of Shakespeare's intentions was received with rapturous applause by the audience, and both contestants for the English throne " went in " straight away. Tho initial round was of short duration, for Richard, boiling with rage and brimful of science, led off with a one two from his left upon the astounded Richmond's nose, and followed with a vicious righthander upon his eye, which sent the recipient sprawling among the wings, whence he did not re-appear during the remainder of the night's performance. The crook-backed tyrant, flushed with victory, then announced that nothing would afford him more pleasure than the disposal of the remainder of the crowd in a similar style, an invitation kindly accepted by the two amateur supernumaries composing Richmond's army, who forthwith instituted a simultaneous assault upoji the challenger. "No double banking," shouted a gentleman in the body of the house, wearing a remarkably red flanuel shirt as coat and waiscoat, " or I'm in." " Come in an' try your hand," responded the bugleman of the soldiery, shaking his fist vindictively at the interlocutor. " Just as you say," coolly retorted the man in red, who, turning to the audience announced in a loud tone of voice, — " Gentlemen, the fight's free ; I'm in." This ooservation was prophetic, as within a few minutes the entire company upon the stage and a considerable contingent of the spectators were engaged in a general and indiscriminate fracas, during the course of which the footlights were overturned, inundating the stage with streams of burning fluid gas, and rapidly communicating the flames to the scenery. The place was burnt, down, and with so much inflammable spirit among the members it was felt that it would be dangerous to reconstitute the club.

A complete Parsee dramatic company from Bombay is now playing in London.

M. Gounod has commenced the composition of a new oratorio on the subject of St Francis d'Assissi, the thirteenth pentury priest who preached to the birds.

Ralph Modjeska, son of the celebrated Polish actress, has just been married in New York to the latter's niece, Miss Felicie Benda, by special dispensation of the Pope.

A version of " The Mikado "' in German, is to be produced in New York.

Sims and Pettitt's " Harbour Lights " is a fair success at the Adelphi. It is not strikingly original in its materials, but the sensation is paralysing. Thirteen hundred cabinet pictures of Margaret Mather, each beariiig the autograph of the actress, were given away at the 76th performance of " Romeo and Juliet " at the Union square Theatre, New York.

Irving Bishop, the mind reader, has set up a claim to a royalty on every performance of Dumas' play, " Camille," which he alleges was vested in him by Matilda Heron. There is a law suit pending between him and Madame Modjeski on the subject. A new farcical comedy, entitled " My Friend," has been played at the Vaudeville Theatre, after causing the keenest anxiety to the Lord Cham? berlain and Examiner of Plays. This will be understood when it is explained that the author, Mr Joseph Tabrar, has hitherto been only known to fame as the writer of that kind of music-hall ditty so clear to a large section of the London public It is to this gentleman the world owes such delightful lyrics as " Don't be so particular, dear," " Ting, ting, I'll buy the ring," " I cried copper," "Oh you little darling," " Out on the fuddle," " Squeeze her gently at the door," &c. &c. &c. Mr Tabrar has utilised the same kind of talent in the production of his comedy, and the result is dialogue and situations which are not only broad but unmitigatedly vulgar. A wealthy young cad, Augustus Simpleton, discovers a couple of young unmarried ladies nursing babies, the property of their respective brothers. " Oh," cries Augustus, " you are nice girls — and so innocent ! " This is a sample of the manners of the drawing-room as expounded in Mr Tabrar's play.

Dion Boucioault \ refused to be interviewed on his domestic concerns in San Francisco, but he spoke affectionately of Mr Dion, jun, and Miss Nina, who, he said, were under engagement to Mr Williamson for sifc months.

Mr Kyrle Bellew is taken to task in America for the general " be-damuedness " of his deportment. He came before the curtain in response to a call twice in one evening with his right hand in his pocket. Mr Maurice Barryrnore's play "Najezda " has been cruelly sat upon in Loudon. A gallery of shouting, whistling lunatics defied the decent people in the house, and the heroine, Miss Emily Duncan, dissplved into tears and hysterics.