THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 28

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Contributions from the Profession chronicling thoir movement 1 ) tii\i doings arc invited. All communications to bo addressed to " P»squlu," Otngo Witness Office.

BY PASQUIN.

Mr G C. Miln, who began a brief season ia this city on Monday night, though styled "an Ameti-can actor," is j only such by adoption. He was born j August Bth, 1851, in London. His father, as the name indicates, was a Scotchman ; his mother English. Mr Miln was educated as a lad at the famous Blue-coat School in London, where he aver 3he won more fame in the play- j ground than in the schoolroom. He crossed the Atlantic at the age of 15, and in due course entered and graduated at Princeton University. H ying been intended for the church, ho devoted some eight or nine years of his early manhood to the pulpit, in which he won a high reputation as a broad-minded preacher of the extreme liberal type, and was noted for his eloquence. After spending some eight years in the pulpit, Mr Miln became convinced that his ideas wore too radical on many theological points to justify him in retaining his position, and he voluntarily and in the face of many protests resigned his position, His withdrawal from the ministry occasioned regret, and his adoption of the calling of a tShakesperian actor was the cause of great surprise and curiosity. Mr Miln has, however, succeeded in maintaining the reputation which he enjoyed in the ministry since his adoption of the stage, and is regarded with respect as a man and admiration as an actor of great versatility and power. Adhering closely to the classical drama he has in eight years placed his name in the front rank of the living exponents of Shakespeare. The absence of " Soalfax's " chatty letters during the past week or two has no doubt been a matter of regret to many readers of this page, and visions of a lively correspondent with the stiffening knocked out of him by an at back of the grip do not appear to be far aßtray judging from the following extracts from a letter received by this week's mail : — " I expect you are wondering what under the starry canopy has happened to me, now are you not 1 The fact is, I have been the most miserable parson about for the past fortnight and more. I had a relapse and got an a-vful cold, and had to go into retirement and hot baths and other articles of virtue, I made one effort to write the usual mush, but I bad to give it up in disgust. I shall, however, recommence thißjweek and do my rounds of the shows again. I have not Been the Brough and Bouoicault company in their new theatre yet, and only gazed on Toole once 1 lam awfully sorry I oould not keep up the running, as it is only within this year that I have ever be compelled to let go my grip of current events, but it was a modified " grippe " that had me inladdition to my balance of my former malady. Have you had it? I can assure you that when it gets a hold on your back it keeps you down. I ate nothing for close on three days except soup, and I usually have an appetite like a whale — very like a whale.— 'Yours, Soalfax." i .^lfc'tPmffipß&6ratoo& that Sir Charles and .'.LaiTy SaiieTOa%|fc visit New Zealand, as they ' are under engagements to a syndicate to give only 40 concerts in Aqgt^&ui. The annual report of ''WitWelungton Opera House Company shows the receipts to have been £1377, and the expenditure £1373, leaving a surplus of £104. As the theatre is Jet for more nights this year than last there is every probability of its showing a considerable surplus at the next balance. Mr H, Stentiford, a brother of the wellknown Dunedin actress, Miss Hetty Howard, and who is himself favourably known to most patrons of the Princ9ss Theatre, has in active preparation a variety entertainment on the lines of " The Only Leon," so favourably received throughout the colony some years ago. Most of the songs and impersonations are quite new, and as showing the versatility of the new claimant for publio favour, it may be mentioned that cot only are many of the former Mr Stentiford'e own compositions, but he has also speoially arranged the music for the greater number. A beginning will be made at the Princess Theatre at the conclusion of Mr Miln's season, and I trust Dunedin people will give Mr Stentiford a good send off. Mr Henry Hoyte, well known on Australian boards, is about to make his debut in London as a dramatics author. He has written for Miss Olga Brandon a new play in four acts, called " Oorisande," and the same was to be produced at the Comedy Theatre last month. Miss Brandon herself will play the leading emotional part, but the chief comedy roh will be assigned to Miss Agnes Thomas, who has just returned from Australia, Mr Hoyte four years since was a member of the late Mr J. L Hall's company. He is married to Miss Emily i "Fitzroy, who a short time ago was leading ' lady in the Holloway-Howe Dramatic Com pany« He is a native of Ohristohurcb, where Ms family are well known. Sir G. Grove, in a letter in a Home paper Bays : — " It will touch the hearts of many older readers to be told that Mdme. Arabella Goddard. who in years gone by so often charmed them with her brilliant performances on the piano, has been for months confined to her bed,, and is now lying ill and in pain, and disabled sot only from playing in public, but from the exercise of teaching, on which her subsistence depends. It is, alas ! the fact. This lady, who, in our recollections is associated with one of the liveliest pleasures the mind can receive, with, youtb, light, and brightness, and the pnrest and strongest emotion, will probably never again rise from her bed of suffering. Her husband, the distinguished musical critic, died some years ago, and his widow is now all but destitute, dependent solely on the interest of the small sum of £200 just granted to her by the First Lord of the Treasury." A concert for her benefit was being organised by a sister artist, Miss Janotha. Mibb Kate Field is publishing a new American journal called Washington. In it she addaoeß some vocal statistics from Sir Morefl Mackenzie. The celebrated throat doctor Bays: "I have noticed that the proportionate number of sopranos in a given number of Americans is above the average, while in Germany and Hungary contraltos seem to predominate—that is to say, in most European countries in 50 people the two claaaeß of voice would be equally divided; in America the number of Bopranoß would be greater in perhaps the proportion of 30 to 20 ; and in Germany or Hungary the contraltos might be 35 out of the 50." A young French actor named Pougaud, who has been playing at the Ambigu in Paris, fell a victim to his owa imprudence under very peculiar circumstances. He had come into the possession of a shell, which he believed to be quite empty, and be conceived the idea of converting it into a " dumbell " by filling it with molten lead. M. Pougaud had nearly finished bis task when suddenly the shell burst into fragments, the molten lead flying about in al' directions. The unfortunate actor was badly hurt in the head and the body, and when bis

I neighbours, alarmed by the noise of the explosion, ran into his room, they found him lying | on the floor in a pool of blood and quite uncon1 cciouß. He lies in a very precarious Bfcato. The Oarl Rosa Company determined what operas should be produced at Chester by means of a plebiscite. About 10,000 replies were received to the voting papers which were distributed. The operas selected were "Oarmen," "L'Etoile dv Nord," "Robert the Devil," " The Rose of Oastille," " Romeo and Juliet," "Faust," and "The Bohemian Girl." This year's Oberammergau Passion Play promises to be an enormous buccbbb, as far as attendance goes, many of the seats having already been transferred by the first holders at a heavy premium. A very handsome young carpenter haß been selected to sustain the part of our Saviour. Her Majesty's Theatre in London was closed on January 29, and it would appear to have been all on account of Miss Minnie Palmer, who was playing the principal part in the pantomime at that house. Her terms were £75 a week and 2\ per cent, on the gross takings— an arrangement which is unspeakably great evidence of her husband's sagacity and smartneaa. For the first two weeks, it is alleged, she received £554, but when her third week's proportion (£207) was not paid up to time she struck, and the other principals followed suit, the result being the sudden closing of the theatre. An English critio discussing the matter goes into figures and proves that it was impossible for Mies Palmer to have received the amount stated, and asserts upon authority that her income for the fortnight was only £260. However, that is of little consequence. It only amazes one that an artiste of Minnie Palmer's calibre could get paid at the rate of £130 a week in London. It was a curious, and certainly a pleasant, experience at the London Criterion when <l Our Boys " was once more revived. The piece went with wonderful spirit, and the audience laughed at every point as if they had never heard it before. Possibly many of them had not, for new playgoers are always coming forward in the world's metropolis, and it is nearly a dozen years since the phenomenal run at the Vaudeville came to an end. Since that time Byron's perennial piece has never been so well given as at present. So far from having deteriorated, Mr David James' impersonation of the dear old butterman has ripened, He is more natural and tender, and just as humorous as when he first played the part, and there is a telling amount of pathoß in the situation in the second act, when the fond father struggles with his feeling of love for his son and his own innate obstinacy. The Paris correspondent of an American papor states that Miss Sybil Sanderson has received an offer from the Paris Grand Opera to appear for two months in the roles of Gounod's Juliette and Marguerite. The offer is very flattering from an artißtic standpoint, but the pay is proportionately small, and as Miss Sanderson is not Bulging for fame alone she will probably remain at the Opera Comique, where one night's salary exceeds the entire week's earnings at the Grand, If anyone pictures the life of a successful prima donna as a round of pleasures, or a mad whirl of gaieties, the reality of her monotonous existence will be something of a surprise. In order to preserve beauty as well as the health upon which the voice depends, a quiet, regular life is imperative, The dear delights of shopping, lunching, and driving with friends must be for sworn — for vitality must be treasured, and the strictest self-denial exercised in the matter of food, Miss Sanderson (says the paper in question) lives by the stroke of the clock, works constantly at her voice, and has only five minute glimpses of her dearest friends. She writes the hardest thing in her regime is to drink a oup of beef's blood every morning. This is not a pleasing potion, but it has produced a superb oolour, and developed the Blonder girl into a magnificent, beautiful woman. He was a deaf mute who had learned to talk by imitation. His wife oould both hear and talk, but at the theatre they preferred to converse by means of the sign manual. The couple that sat behind them, thinking that neither of them could bear, took ocoaaion to comment freely and speculate on their relations to each other ad lib., greatly to the discomfort of the lady, who, of course, heard everything. She communicated every word to her husband until he could stand it no longer. Then, turning to the gentleman, he mildly asked : " Will you allow me to see your programme ? " Tho chagrin and discomfort of the pair were apparent. Hastily handing over their programme the two hustled out of the theatre jußt as the ourtain went up on the seoond act. Mr Henry Edwards, a member of the Little Lord Fauntleroy Company, now playing in Auckland, is an old Auckland actor, having played there over a quarter of a century ago. He took a farewell of the Auckland stage in 1866, and since that time has been engaged in different theatres in Amerioa. The death of the proprietor caused a severance of his connection with Wallaok's theatre, New York, after 10 years' service, and an opportunity being afforded him of coming out with the Little Lord Fauntleroy Company to the colonies, he is now in New Zealand once more, on his way through the colony, and thence on to the Australian colonies. Of Myra Kemble, a Home critic has this to say :—": — " I am afraid ordinary audiences would be bored rather than interested in • Man and the Woman,' thoueh it were played even better than at the Criterion, on Wednesday, The Australian actress, Miss Myra Kemble, fairly justified advance reports concerning her. She is not beautiful, but her face is pleasant, her figure and carriage are graceful and feminine, and her voice is musical, Id short, she is just such a woman as a blase roue like Philip O'Mara would like to settle down with after sowing the last of bis wild oats," Of the play itself he saya :— Plays written with a purpose must, of course, deal with characters written with a purpose, and such characters are seldom human, or at any rate consistent. We know how Ibsen's husband and wife in "A Doll's House" say and do things in the third act, which they would certainly not either say gr do if they were the sort of people sketched in fchp first and second. At the commencement of ''Man and Woman " matters stand thus, Sir George Venables, Bart., is on the eve of marrying Mrs Dartmouth, an agreeable widow of means, who has taken up her residence in the neighbourhood. She has waited until now to acquaint him with her past history. It seems that early in life she wedded Philip O'Mara, who before the world was an admirable Chrichton, but to his wife a thorough -paced scoundrel. When her money has all gone he deserts her, goea to America, and according to information received, is killed by another woman whom he has Beduced and abandoned. Of course the news of his death is untrue, and he turns up and calmly takes possession of his wife's elegant home— she has been left another fortuna m the interim— and also declares himself no longer insensible to her personal charms. She revolts at his sight and his touch, but though there iB the amplest evidence of adultery and cruelty she will not take the legal i remedy open to her, for the shame of it. There-

fore the husband of yet a third female whom O'.Vlara has betrayed is brought on, and kills him just at the finish. The reader will naturally ask where the , | moral of all this comes in. Well, there are I two parsons— the vicar of the parish, whose views on the permanence of the marriage contract are Romish in their uncompromising I nature ; and his curate, who is radical in his opinions, and who fights those of his superior with the utmost vehemence. Nothing comes of it all, except oceans of talk, in which the I balance of common sense and morality inclines !to neither side. Mr Buohanan is a clever man, but he cannot settle the ethics of the married state in a three act play. On Saturday, February 1, a son, a grandson, and a granddaughter of Charles Dickens took part in a performance given in St. George's j Hall in aid of the parochial charities of St. \ Mark's, Regent's Park. The first of the two pieces selected for performance was "A Wonderful Woman," and in this Mr Charles Dickens, jun., sustained with considerable success the part of Marquis de Frontignao. Miss Mary Diokena, a clever young lady, Bhowed ability and intelligence as Madame Hortense Bertrand ; and Miss Ethel Dicfcens was a pert and pleasing Oecile. Tom Taylor's one-act drama, " ASbeepin Wolf'fl Clothing," followed, and the Diokens family were all eminently successful. Mrs Mary Livermore is said to bo the moat successful woman lecturer, from a financial point of view, in the United Statea. She has often cleared £2000 in a single lecture season. Mrs Scott-Siddons has also been giving dramatic recitals there lately to good audiences. In reply to an interviewer, the melodious Johann Strauss has communicated the remarkable < faot that, though the family have been writing dance music fcr three generations, not one of them could dance a step, and if he himself were put on the floor he would " cut a shocking figure," This Btory is told in the United States conoerning Florenoe, the well-known New York comedian, and the Duke of Manchester: — " Florence, who has a singular fondness for rare books, was one day visiting the Duke's library. The Duke watohed him as he saw him lovingly handling the store of stage classics, and noted the deep Bigh as he reluctantly laid baok the volumes on the shelves. Thereupon his Grace begged him to accept an armful. In vain the actor protested. The Duke insisted, and thus Mr Florenoe possesses to-day a most remarkable two score or more of those books. Concerning the excellence of the leading antipodean theatres, Mr Auaton Brereton, a London journalist now in New South Wales, contributes Borne interesting, and in several respects astonishing, particulars to the Theatre Magazine. Mr Brereton, who is well acquainted with British theatres, both before and behind the ourtain, considers that the Princess 1 , Melbourne, is, as a whole, superior to any of the London theatres. This establishment appears to be the perfection of comfort on either side of the footlights ; the arrangements behind the scenes being especially admirable. At Her Majesty's, in Sydney, almost the same standard of excellence is reached, while there are well-appointed houses also at Adelaide and Brisbane. The liberality, and even luxury, of the appointments and arrangements become the more remarkable when it is recollected that the universal charge for the high-priced seats — those ia the dress circle — is only 53 ; the whole of the ground floor being, as a rule, devoted to 33 pit (?) Such, however, is the siza of the theatres, and bo keen the love of play-going amongst our colonial cousins, that in several cases the receipts are from £200 to £250 a night. Evening dress appears to be the exception rather than the rule in any part of the theatre ; and other differences of social habit are indicated in the absence of anything like a refreshment bar (?) or a smoking saloon, and in the frequency or wholesome patronage in the way of what are called theatre parties.