THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1901, 17 July 1890, Page 32

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Contributions from toe Profession ohronipllng 01 . r a m l o . v ? r^ s n e t l snd doings are invited. All oommunloatlons to bo addressed to " Pisquln," Otago Witness Offloo.

An announcement has been made during the week which will probably be received with both interest and surprise in moßt quarters of the world where the English language is read and spoken. Mr Christie Murray has resolved to adopt the stage as a profession. The sta?e was an early dream of his, but was abandoned on the urgent advioe of Mr Mercer Simpson, the lessee for many years of the Birmingham Theatre Royal. Mr Simpson thoroughly recognised the talent of the young aspirant to theatnoal honours, hut he strongly urged him to devote those talentß to literature rather than the stage, Until the occurrence of chat contretemps, the particulars of whioh are set forth elsewhere in this isßue, Mr Murray thought of the stage no more. But Mr Saint Maur's extremity seems to have been his opportunity, and his success in the part of Baton Hardfeldt, undertaken at less than 24 hours' notice, has turned his ambition to its original channel. That success appears all the more surprising when it is known that in the whols course of his life Mr Murray had never essayed the lightest dramatic r»le. That be should on the second eight of his assumption have played with all the emphasis, distinction, fire and pa?sion, and self command of a finished actor augurs a possibility of future distinction of whicb the Dunedin people may be proud to have witnessed the unexpected beginnings. Mr Murray, in adopting the stage, does not by any means surrender his adhesion to literature. He only transfers hia affection from the lyrio to the dramatic muse. His argument iB that all or nearly all the eminent dramatic writers of recent days have been intimately associated with the stage. He proposes to familiarise himself practically with the working details of stage life, and when]that task ia achieved he will devote himself to the writing of drama, and will himself create the character parts of hia own plays. The English- speaking world at large, and New Zealand in particular, will watch with interest the result of this experiment. It ia not often that a man of 44 years of age, who has already attained a worldwide reputation in one line of art, bo abruptly deserts it for another. Mr Murray is fully oonsoious that nothing but Buocesa can justify his enterprise, but he has the courage of his hopes, and the uphill fight by which he won his place in letters gives ample augury of the fashion in which his new ambition will be pursued. The fact of Mr Christie Murray taking up the character of Baron Hartfeldt In "Jim the Penman" at so short a notice having caused considerable talk in Dunedin, Mr Murray throught it advisable to write an explanatory note to the city papers. In this he says : — The simple truth is that I never saw " Jim the Penman" played through in my life. I sat through the second act in London, and I have seen portions of it played by Mr Saint Maur's company. Until half-past 11 o'clock I bad never seen the M S. of any portion of the play. I studied the part of the Baron until 3 o'clock 1 in the morning, rehearsed it at 11, an* played it I at night. Until Wednesday evening last I had never, on any occasion, or in any place, assumed a dramatic character, or worn a stage make-up, or so much as .delivered a letter upon the boards. If my performance of Wednesday last is really so very remarkable as to look unlikely, ■ I have a perfect right to take the credit of ifc. The following appears in " Musical Notes" in a recent Argus: — "A correspondent of a New Zealand newspaper states that, at a recent concert in Port Chalmers, a Mrs Power sang from lower A to G in alt, exhibiting the wonderful range of almost three ootaves." We should very much like to bear this vocalist.

A ourious reminiscence of Mr James Mortimer, a former editor of Figaro, has been reoently published by Mr Olement Scott, who mentiona the fact that "Mr Mortimer was publioly hissed and execrated for years by the pit in all places of publio amusement for words that I myself had written, and he sternly refused to allow me to put him right with the publio. He was responsible, be said, and he did not intend to fling any of his staff into the jaws of the howling mob. Suoh nobility of oonduot ia very rare, and it has never been forgotten by me." The people at Monte Oarlo, who swear by Mra Bernard-Beere's luck at the table, are for onoe forsw m, for the fascinating plunger has lately had an unusual spell of bad luok. The number of V society actresses " ia shortly to receive an addition in the person of the Baroness Julie De Tontenilliat, a sister in-law of the American millionaire W. X Vander bilt. She has atudied under Dion Bouoicault. Even as the poets are said "to learn in suffering what they teach in song," the lady may be thought to have developed a natural sympathy with some of the favourite heroines of the modern drama, from the fact that she is separated from her husband. The Neve Musik Zeitung of Stuttgart has (says an English paper) at last delivered itself of a joke. The fact and its occasion naturally deserve to be recorded. A German gentleman, it seems, walking along a street, meets another gentleman holding a child by the hand. The second gentleman says, " The ohiJd is an infant prodigy. He is only two yeara old, and— he does not yet play the piano." It ib said !on gond authority that J. K. Emmett has cleared £18,000 this season.

At a performance of Sydney Grundy's " Mamma," given at the New Theatre, Eichinond, ou May 7, the chief interest of the occasion was the debut of Mr Gilbert Hare, a youthful son of a justly celebrated father. Mr Hare, jun., essayed the part of Tom Shadbolt, and, though somewhat nervous at first, he later on displayed snfficient power to warrant a belief in his future success in the career which he has chosen

"The Middleman " has already been produced in Dutch with much sucoess. It is now to be translated into Flemish, and to be performed at the Antwerp National Theatre. This is the first occasion of the production of an English play in Antwerp. The recent revival in London of the old Adelphi drama of v The Green Bushes " has, aB might bo expeoted, served to recall the name of the onco popular coramedian Paul B. adford, who was the original Jack Gong. It ' is said that his famous catoh phrase, ll I believe you, my boy," waa not an original " gag," but borrowed from an actor named King, who had introduced it in an earlier play of Bucksfcone's entitled " Poor Jack."

Mr Lionel Brough, popularly known as *' Lai," haß besu unsuccessful in nts vist to Africa. He is reported to have said that he loat all the money he took with him to speculate with

Nothing succeeds like suqeess. The confidence reposed in Augustus Harris iff really toaohing, for although be has not ißsued a line concerning hn arrangements for the coming opera seanon in f.ondon, the aristocracy and f-.hn librarians have between them subscribed £35,000, or about, £700 for each night. This beats the record even in the palmy days of Italian opera, After this Harris will be wise

to leave circus and burlesque business alone, and devote himself to higher class work, whioh it ia obvious can be made to pay, if properly done. The libretto of the now opera "Asoanio," oomposed by M. St. Saens, is founded on the drama of Benevenuto Cellini, written by Paul Meurice, one of Alexandra Dumas' " devils." There exists, or existed, an aoting oopy of "Benevenuto," in whioh the following stage direction was inserted for the benefit of actors who had not mastered the art of modelling, in whioh the actor who created the part was profioient:—" The property man will have ready a finished terra cotta statuotte, well baked) completely surrounded and oonoealerl by a mass of wet clay of the same oolour, plaood on n tripod, the summit of whiob turns on a pivot. The actor will dexterously out off with his modelling tools, or remove with his fingers suooossive layers of the wet day till ho has completely cleared it from the hardened surface ,of the Btatutette, whioh will then stand revealed in all its artistic beauty. To add to the vraiaemolance of the operation, the actor may oooasionally retreat a few paoea as though to appreciate the progress of hia work, and now and again he^may softly whistle." Some rare nonsense is talkod, or supposed to be talked, by artists at interviews with Ainerioan journalifits. The press interview with Madame Patti at Hoffman House, Now York, i=< a case in point. Madame Patti is allog-id to have declared that she was born in New York, It is unlikely that the piimn donna aaid anything of the sort, for the American people are asperfeotly well aware as herself that she was born in Madrid, although she was taken to the United States when she was yet a child. Madame Patti is also alleged to have said that she had a craze for old ohina, of which she owned a large collection, and that in her leisure she was prinoipallr fand of playing the banjo and the zither. Perhaps of equal importance were the personal details elicited that Madarre Patti generally rose from her bed at 10 and h^d a oup of bouillon, did n?t breakfast till 12, and never drank tea or coffee (a f&ot whioh advertising vendors of those beverages doubtless regret), that in the afternoon Bhe received friends or drove or amused herself with her banjo, and that after an early dinner she rested until she went to the theatre The most |important item ofj the interview, like tho P.S. in a lady's letter, came at the end. In almost :the last sentence 'Madame Patti disclosed the seorets of her h»ir dye and bor complexion. "About my hair?" said the diva with characteristic naivete. "Well, I'll toll you a secret. It was done in New York. Everybody thinks it was done abroad. It was only begun there, and the finishing touches were all put on here. See, is it not beautiful ? You cannot see a dark hair anywhere— not eyen the roots," and Bhe bent her pretty bead and allowed the luoky reporter to part the thick looks and search in vain for any dusky tresses. "And your complexion, madarpe; how do you prererve its freshneßS?" "By creams and lotions with whioh one New York firm supplies me. I remove the stage oos ■ metics with cold oream, and I wash my face with lukewarm water and wipe it with a soft cloth," which, if true, is nice for Mr Nicolini. A' wicked Englishman now, however, calls Madame Patti the great " soaprano."