THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1926, 15 January 1891, Page 32

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Goitrltutitiu from Uit Profciilon ohioniollng tb«!r «»T«menti jad doinji art inTlted. All communication! to be tfdxMied C?" Paiquln," Oteco WUmii Offioe.

The season at the Princess of the Sheridan Musical Comedy Company terminated on the Btb, as it began on Boxing night, wifch a crowded house, and the management may congratulate themselves upon having achieved the Bomewhat unusual feat in Dunedin of evoking enthusiasm up to the fall of the curtaia for the last time.

News from the Bister colonies stateß that Nellie Stewart has determined to make another trip to the Old Country. Bland Holt is doing good business at Hobart. The MontaguTurner Company are at present at Launceston. Otago people will be glad to hear news of the Hesfordß, who are also in Tasmania with the Star Dramatic Company. They did capital bußinßsaat Bisohoff during Ohristmas week. The Harry St. Maur Company are at present in Adelaide. James Wilkinson and his wife Amy Johns have had an engagement in the pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Sydney. The following bills are now running at the various Melbourne and Sydney theatres :— Melbourne : Royal, "Aladdin"; Princess', "Sweet Maiorie" : Bijou, "Dandy Dick " ; Opera House, "Ohilperio"; Alexandra, "The Phantom Ship." Sydney : Royal, " Cinderella " ; Her Majesty'e, "Dick Whittington " ; Garnck, " Moths " j Criterion, " Impulse." The New Yorkers seemed to have espoused the cause of Mrs Agnes Robertson in the Boucicaulb wife trouble. The following letter has been sent to her:— "Dear Madame,— With a view of giving public expression to the high esteem and regard in which you are held by the community and dramatic profession, and realising your present condition, we desire to offer you a testimonial benefit at one of the city threatres, and shall be pleased if you will accept the same.— Very truly yours, George C. Barrett, Lawrence Barrett, John R. Brady, Chauncey M. Depew, W. B. Duncan, T. Henry French, Daniel Frohman, John A. Hunter, Joseph Jefferson, Richard Mansfield, Mr J. O'Brien, Hermon Oelrichs, A. M. Palmer, Dr T. S. Robertson, Daniel B. Sickles, and E. H. Sothern." In addition every city manager has signified his desire to aid her in someway, besides which Palmer's, the Lyceum, Star, Grand Opera House, Fifth Avenue, and the Garden Theatre have been offered. The Kendals are to be important factors in the proposed performance. Mr Toole is very angry at the story of his having married in Australia. He writes to a friend as follows :-" Just got your letter with that lying paragraph about my marriage. What a thundering shame 1 Not the ghost of an atom of truth. An awful lie. I have not the faintest notion of ever getting married again. Pray contradict it everywhere." When people are justly angry, it is unreasonable to expect them to measure their words. Otherwise, Mr Toole might be asked to describe " the ghost of an atom of truth." A New York correspondent of the San Franoiaco News Letter writeß -.—Marie Hubert Frohman, formerly known as Mary Hamilton when she so successfully played May Blossom, and whose season last year in "False Charms, " Snowbound," and " King Rene's Daughter," was excellent; has a new historic play entitled " The Witch," which I beard read the other day, and is a fine piece of literary work. Mrs Frohman is an actress of the Modjeßka Btyle, and is not unlike that lady in appearance, walk, talk, and gesture. She has. one of those thin, clear and clean out faces with large eyes, that depict so well every emotion. Her voice is Bweet and musical, and her experience quite large and varied. . In the new life of Madame Trebelh it is stated that at the EberfeJdt Theatre, Assur having lost his beard, '• Semiramide " was delayed, the audience grew riotous, and the portly German manager waß pushed before the cur- , tain to make what excuse he could, Advancing gravely ;— " Ladies and gentlemen,— l am at a loss to understand why you are dissatisfied and make such a noise. The performance was to haye begun at half-past 6, Well (drawing out his watch), it iff 10 minutes past 7. What more do you want ? " The absurdity of this speech caused a burst of merriment, and the beard being at last-run to earth the evening ended peaceably enough. The report that Mrs Navarro, nee Mary Anderson, will return to the stage for one season to fulfil her contract with Mr Abbey is denied by all concerned. It is said that since her marriage the lady and her former manager haye come to an amicable and Batißfaotory understanding. The world-famed violinist, M, Prosper Sainton, who in 1860 married Miss Dolby, passed away on the 17th October, in his 78th year. He had for some time been suffering from bronchitis and asthma, but was occupied with his duties as a teacher up to within a week of his_death. He had baen engaged as professor of the violin at the Royal Academy of Musio, London, since 1845, and his demise was most touchingly alluded to by Dr Mackenzie in his address to the professors and students on the J.Bth Ootober. Mr Daniel Mayer is booking engagements for the well-known Hungarian violinist Edouard Remenyi, both in London and the provinces, previous to a Bix months' tour in America. The idea ia suggested of turning hypnotism to a useful purpose by applying the remedy to the indifferent actor, and causing it to thoroughly impregnate him with the characteristics of the role he is impersonating. There must (writes " Anglo- Australian ") bo many still in Melbourne and Sydney who re member the advent there of tho late Mr and Mrs Charles Kean. The tour through Australia was a groat success, and its history is well told anew in the current issue cf Belgcavia. It seems that it was at Sydney that Charles Koan's labours were interrupted by a first attack of that disease which shortened his life. Madame Patti is utilising her new theatre for the entertainment of her friends. A recent performance commenced with an overture for piano and violin. The farce " Turn Him Out," was followed by tableaux. There were about 10 of these, and Madame Patti appeared in all, with a change of costume each time. Then the cantatrice appeared in some of those attitudes from opera for which she is famou?. She " posed " three times as in the first scene of " Lohengrin." The entertainment concluded by Madame Patti appearing with two other ladies as " The Three Grao9B." The delight of the audience culminated when the diva sang two songs. Lady Halle is the most distinguished member of a large- family of musicians. For a contury and a-half the name Neruda-her lady fchin'a name was Wilhelminft Neruda— has bp6u Rusociated iv Moravia" with the violin a? much as soma of the families of Cremona wcra famed for its manufacture. Lady Halle's father wai organist at the cathedral at Brunn, where she waa born 48 years ago. She played at a concert in Vienna, when she waa six years old,

Jenny Lind Bang at the concert. She gave a concerto from De Beriot, and from that day to thiß Bhe has been constantly performing in public. Mr Herman Merivale writes to an old friend :— " I am off, with my wife, to Australia in searoh of health and strength. Speed our Bailing vessel ! I am fearfully broken in health, but hoping." And then with much of his old vigour Mr Merivale defends the stage of SO years ago, and olaims that justice has not baen done to the managements ot Charleß Kean at the Princess, Alfred Wigan at the Olympio, Vestis at the Lyceum, Webster at the Haymarket and Adelphi, and the Swanboroughs at the Strand, although, as he pathetically adds, " It may have been youth on our aide."

Dr Mackenzie's "The Cottar's Saturday Night " is a masterly setting of Burns' homely story. The Scottish nationality is as distinct in the music as in the words. The poem describes the return home of the toil-worn cottar after his week's work, the frugal though cheerful evening meal, the arrival of Jenny s lover, and the family worship which concludes the evening. All this is faithfully pourtrayed to the minutest details in the music, which is written throughout for chorus and orchestra. Thus when the lover puts in an appearance the old Scotch air, " The Shepherd's Wife," is heard, and in the worship the familiar "Dundee," "Martyrs," and "Elsrfn," are alluded to. The finish is the fine peroration with "From Scenes Like These OldSootia's Glory Springs." Jeannie Winstone, has been for years the ideal representative of a man on the stage, but Agnes Huntington, as Paul Jones, ha* entirely wiped out all recollection of her— it is an ideal representation of the young, bold, bad man. The English company in support are moat efficient, while the scenery and oostumeß are " out of sight," Of all the pretty picturesque effects of the season is in the last apt, where, in a tropical scene, the entire stage ia filled with magnificently attired Spanish girlßj two English officers enter, clad in bright red, and then Paul Jones, robed in steel grey, Btand3 in the centre. It is a colour picture of tone and magnificence.

Miss Helen Mather, consequent upon the impression she made as Julia in " The Huuohback," at Montreal, was formally invited by Prince George of Wales to a grand ball in her honour. This was Act 1, Act 2 took place at Toronto, when the lady on learning that the theatrical manager had only seven pieces of scenery for the whole of " Romeo and Juliet " flaw into one of tho tempers for which she ia famous and suffered actions at law for breach of contract. To be feted by a prince and expected to play " Romeo and Juliet " in a parlour set within the week ia an experience that would teach any actress exoepfc Helen Mather philosophy J " Jim the Penman," not the play but the notorious forger who suggested it, is said to have found a legitimate successor in America. The Yankee oaligraphist has, it is stated, more than once forged a Treasury department bill with hie pen, and of euch a high order of merit is his work that the bills copied by him have circulated undetected till they have at last reached the Treasury at Washington. He is still labouring in his vocation. The death of Mr Joseph Wood at Harrogate recalls a cause ciUhre of its day. Sixty years ago Mr Wood was a popular tenor, and one of the great attractions of the Oovent Garden Theatre. When he was at the height of his fame he fell in love with Lady Lennox, a noted beauty, who, before her marriage with Lord Lennox, had been on the stage. His passion was returned, and he had the good or ill luck to persuade her to elope with him. Lord Lennox at once applied for a divorce, and as soon as it was granted Mr Wood and Lady Lennox were married. Hence the then fashionable conundrum, " Why is Lady Lennox like the children of Israel ? " " Because she turned from the Lord (Lennox) and made an idol of Wood." Mr Wood lived for many yearß in Harrogate, where, he was popular with all classes. Dr Maribhold's new play "L'Ogre " has made a great hit at the Ambigu, Paris. The chief incident discloses the murder of a little boy who early in the piece is told a fairy tale in which there figures an ogre with a big knife. Hidden behind a curtain, the child sees a friend breaking into a safe, rusheß forward to greet him, is at once stabbed, and falls to the ground orying " The Ogre." Here is a sample of Western criticism ; star having been promised and- failing to appear : "In justice to the manager we must say that he feels much chagrined over the imposure. He booked the company on the strength of representations and the exhibition of press notices which were doubtless frauds, like the performers, who could neither sing nor dance nor act. Perhaps it would be charitable to transfer them to a lumber camp, where the men can wield axes and the women perform the cooking and washing. The company's manager can have extra copies of this issue, free, to use as press notices, and save himself the trouble of preparing them himself." On those who saw it at its best the Rosalind of Lady Martin created a most powerful impression. It had real delioacy and poetry, and was often contrasted with that of Mrs Charles Kean, which was a le&s ethereal without being a less convincing performance. In these latest days, a Rosalind differing from either has come forward in Miss Ada Rehan. So few, however, are those who have seen the three impersonations,' a comparison between them is scarcely to be hoped.— Athenaeum. In the new periodical Treasure Trove, there is an article by Mies E'len Terry on the art of acting. As to gifts natural and acquired, the first, we are told, is a good heart, " without which no man or woman can aot well." Here the representatives of the villains of the piece, and the diabolical heroines now so much in vogue, are presumptively excopted. Not bo with some other requisites. Boauty, it is admitted, may [greatly aid ; but. like a favourable [criticism, though it can attract people, it " cannot make them stay."

Does the claque exist to any appreciable extent in English theatras? I happened (says a Home correspondent) to fall into conversation recently, in the neighbourhood of Tonybee Hall, with an intelligent workman who Beamed to have every modern opera and drama at his fingera' ends. Ho was a regular first tighter, it socmed, and had aided to build up the fame of many a well-known actor and actress. H9 never paid for a seat, for the foreman of his factory had a number of tickets sent him for distribution, and sallied forth westwards, night after night, at the head of a well-Belecied body of men, trained to laugh and applaud at appropriate intervals. I have often pitied (writes a Home critio) the " villain of the piece," and wondered whether the load of imputed sin which he has to bear weighs heavily on his mind. And then after the last act, when the athletic clergyman or the virtuous naval' officer loads the heroine triumphantly before the curtain amid the shouts of the audience, how does tire poor villain feel as he slinks acrnsß the stage with the mark of Cain upon bis brow, and the whole house hoots and hisses in exultation over the downfall of his wioked plot? ? In Paris they are more considerate of the aotor'a feelinga, AOd the more desperate the villainy, the more.

despicable the character, the higher is the rate of pay. Mr Walter Bentley (sayß the Bame writer) lost no time in picking up the gauntlet thrown ! down by the pastor of the Tabernacle, and I must congratulate the popular actor on the skill with which he repudiated Mr Spurgeon's outrageous attack on the Btage. " The efforts of actresses and actors," said Walter 8., " are in themselves a secular sermon, (none the less telling in their effect because they appeal to the good sense of the publio in a popular style. The average play exposes villainy and represents virtue in its most noble and attractive aspeot, and such representations cannot harm, if they do not improve, every spectator." Madame Samary la Garde's death was, if not actually sudden, very sad and unexpected. This talented young aottess has literally fallen a viotim to the poisonously unwholesome water with which portions of Paris are supplied for drinking purposes ! She acted on September 1 in '• Le Monde ou Ton a'ennuie," but was then oomplaining of feeling out of sorts, and fanoied ahe had got influenza. She went to Trouville to recover, but instead grew worse, and Dr Hortel, who waa a personal friend of hers, went to inquire after her ; and as soon as he saw her pronounced it to be the form of typhoid fever so miserably common in Paris during the summer among those who partake of Seine water. She was taken home again, but? died soon after her return. Madame La Garde was only 33, and had been married about eight years. M. La Garde was extremely wealthy, but his wife preferred to oontinue her career on the stage. M. Victorien Sardou, at Paris, recently read his play " Thermidor," to the company of the Comedie Francaiße, almost aoting every part of it. He exerted himself tremendously, and broke down in tho third act, The actora were carried away in a wave of enthusiasm.