THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 37

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

OtltrlkitUu from tt* FntiHhm thnilauu *«!r m«TMUMi vi blip an imriUd. All MmMulwUtu to k* tiiiMM* U"TmtiM,"OUt*'Wlt»*mQU*t. ■ , Pollard's Liliputian Company ate having a very successful season at the Princess Theatre. "La Mascotte," which ' replaced " Aladdin," gave place on Friday night to " The Mikado," for which "Pinafore" was substituted on Saturday night. On Monday "The Gondoliers" took the boards, and this will be replaced on Friday night by "The Pirates of Penzance." A most successful 'matinee performance of "Aladdin" was given on Saturday last, and this will be repeated on Saturday next. * : Donald Dinnie's Variety Company made their first appearance at the City Hall on Monday night, and although the audience was by no means a large one, the company had. good reason to be gratified with the reception accorded them by those who were;present. The company embraces eight performers, and the entertainment given by them was of a very varied character. The entertainment concluded with a very laughable fjirce, in which all the members of the company took part. During the evening Mr Dihnie.toqk occasion to express his disappointment at the smallnesa of the attendance. Seeing that h^.'was sp well known, and had won something like 8862 contests, he thought he should have' been able to draw a crowded home himself^ especially in Dunsdin, where there were so many of his own countrymen. The Adelaide Register reports an interview with Madame Antoinette Sterling, in the -course of which she said :— " I sang at Christohurch one night, and in the morning the news came through to Mr Hudson of the -death of my husband. I was at a meeting of,sbe W.C.T.U. Mr Hudson wanted to keep the news until the next day (Sunday), bo that I would have the whole day to myself ; but the Press Association got the intelligence, and he came to me, took me to my hotel, and told me. On the previous Tuesday I had had a vision of my husband. That day he said to Dr Marten in Adelaide that the tour was long, and time was passing slowly. At the same time, away in New Zealand, my husband came into my room and tenderly embraced mo. I faw him as real as I have ever seen anything in this world. The night I got the news I dismissed the audience and abandoned the rest of the tour, and now I have come back to Adelaide. I wanted to finish the tour, because my song is my life; it is part of my existence, and, I ■ know my

husband wanted me to ge on. If it had not been his wish I should never have gone from Sydney." Madame Lncy Chambers has had a birthday celebration in Melbourne. This talented lady, who is still happily in good health, made her first appearance as leading contralto with Lyster's Opera Company in 1869. Her bright companions of those days included Barratti, the soprano ; Neri, the tenor ;' and Dondi, the bass. Madame Chambers retired from the stage "many years ago," but she has been actively employed as a successful teacher in Melbourne .up to the present time. Among her pupils may be counted Colbourne Baber, Marie St. Clair, Ida Osborne, Cicely Staunton, Alice Rees, Mrs C. B. Forster, and Mr William Walshe. Melbourne, by the way, is loyal to its old favourites of 20 and even 30 years ago Armes Beaumont, Mrs Palmer (Miss CarandiDi), and Madame Christian are still warmly welcomed on the concert platform there. The Sydney Bulletin says:— "Bland Holt, accompanied by his chariots and horses, the vessel that smote the reef when the flowing tide came in, and many other bulky fittings, retired from the Princess's on Tuesday night, after a fairly triumphant reign of two weeks and a bit. The immediate destination of *A Million of Money' is Maoriland, a country that Bland Holt intends to paralyse regardless of expense." A Blacks' correspondent protests against the treatment meted out to Donald Dinnie and his company on the Otago Central goldfields. He says that several days prior to their arrival reports had been widely and industriously circulated that their performance was of a very inferior kind. The reports are entirely without foundation however, the unanimous verdict of those who witnessed the performance of the company in Blacks being highly appreciatjve. That these reports have done Dinnie's Company a considerable amount of harm cannot ba disputed, but in justice to the company it is high time they were contradicted, as the entertainment given by them is of a superior character to that of most companies visitiDg this district, and, moreover, it is utterly void of anything that would shock the morals of the most fastidious. "Madame Sara is back again," writes an American actress recently back in New York from Paris, " and is looking more insolently and imperiously interesting than ever, as she drives every afternoon, fine or stormy, in The Bois. It is said that she discovered, while away, a marvel of s dressmaker, who will hereafter construct all Madame's gowns. Worth is said to be nearly frantic at losing a • client ' whom he is declared to have called it a joy and a despair to work for, and M. Felix has quite haunted her hotel of late, rumour says, in a vain attempt to induce the divine one to accept three magnificent costumes, bis most artistic designs created for, her eßpecial wear. In the meantime, Madame is seen in a new and charming costume every day, each more artistic, each more indescribable than the other. At the matinee concert recently given at the Theatre d'Application by Mme. de Lagrange, one of whose most promising pupils is said to be a little Dutch proteg6 of Bernbardt, the great actress wore a superb toilette of silver and white brocade, with immense puffed sleeves of purplo velvet embroidered in silver and amethysts. A short mantle, consisting of six over-lapping capes of the brocade, lined with silvery green satin, was worn with this dress, and also long dead white suede gloves. A fan of white lace, spangled in silver, was carried." The New York Dramatic News gives publicity to the rumour that, as soon as the decree is obtained by Minnie Palmer in her divorce proceedings [it has been obtained] that interesting personage will return to London to become the wife 'of a well-known theatrical" manager in that city. This manager, it is said, is the one who h&d charge of the Minnie Palmer tours of Great Britain since the separation of the star from her husband. The second attempt to launch " The Magic Opal" in London has proved no more successful than the first, and after losing, it is said, nearly £5000 in three weeks (the greater part spent in advertising) the syndicate backing Signor Albeniz gave out. "The Great Unpaid," at the Comedy, has also failed to attract, and been withdrawn, and poor dear " Jane Annie," at the Savoy, cannot, I fear, last long. Princesß May -was presented by Mrs Beerbohm Tree and Mrs Kendal last month with a spray of rose leaves in diamonds, " from a few women of the stage." The present was accompanied by a scroll containing the autographs of the givers, which included the names of all the foremost ladies of the dramatic profession. It is stated upon the best authority that John L. Sullivan's profits during the past season have exceeded £10,000. Sullivan, who is now bis own manager, has developed marked skill as a business man. Mrs Brown Potter returned to London from New York laßt month, full of good notices and elated with a handsome offer arranging to guarantee her £5000 for a 13 weeks' tour in America. After consulting, however, with her business manager, Mr Twinning, she decided to decline the offer, as its acceptance would have necessitated the abandonment of her Indian tour which, as I told you some time ago, starts in October. The advocateß of dress reform will be interested in the following paragraph from the Illustrated Sydney News in its notice of " The Amazons" as produced by the Brough and Boucicault Company at the Sydney Criterion :— "Mrs Brough fairly revels in the part of Lady Noeline. She says she thinks it ' nice ' being emancipated from trailing and clinging skirts, that she loves to walk about in the — the — other things, and • would like to wear them always!"' One of the pleasantesfc musical functions of the week ending May 20 was the concert of the Rev. E. H. Moberly's string orchestra of ladies at St. James's HaU, London. The number of these fair executants now reaches nearly a hundred, including five members of the sterner sex, who play the double bass. The execution throughout was of surprising excellence.