PRINCESS THEATRE.

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

PRINCESS THEATRE.

" THE GONDOLIERS." Creditably as the members of Pollard's Liliputian Opera Company acquitted themselves in the earlier productions of their season at the Princess Theatre, in none of those performances did they appear to such advantage as- in the most tuneful of all of Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, " The Gondoliers," which wasplaced upon the stage on Monday night. The young people fairly excelled themselves, and their performance as a whole can only be regarded as being a signal and remarkable success. The chorus, who have never been seriously at fault during the season, and the principals all shared in the honours of a production which went with a splendid swing from the beginning to the end. The opera was sumptuously mounted, and the dresses were rich and effective, but, after all, these are matters which are provided by a liberal and experienced management from whom it was only reasonable, in the light of

past experience, to expect the best, tt is but right at the same time that recognition should be bestowed upon the fact that the piece was mounted in a lavish style ; but what is equally, if not more to the purpose, is that -the bright and fascinating music of the opera was fittingly rendered by the performers, who challenged comparison, not wholly to their disadvantage, with what was perhapß the most powerful combination which has visited this colony for the production of comic opera. With the very successful • representations of this particular work by that combination still fresh in their memories, the large audience who were present at last night's production, cordially recognising the undoubted merits of the performance of the juveniles, received the opera with unstinted plaudits, their demands for encores being of frequent occurrence. Miss Lily Everett and Miss Lily Stephens, as Gianetta and Tessa respectively, made a pretty and graceful pair ofl eading contadine, and both acted charmingly. Miss Stephens obtained an encore for her singing of the air " When a merry maiden marries," the compliment being perhaps due as much to the personal attractiveness of the little lady as to her vocalisation ; and Mies Everett narrowly escaped, but deserved, an encore for her capital rendering of "Kind sir, you cannot have the heart." The company were particularly fortunate in having the characters of the principal gondolieri, Marco and Guiseppe, so ably filled as they respectively were by Miss Marion Mitchell and Mis 3 Maud Beatty, both of whom threw themselves thoroughly into their parts. Miss Mitchell's singing of the solo " Take a pair of sparkling eyes " was one of the triumphs of the evening, and rendered, as it was, artistically as well as with considerable grace, it elicited a double encore — a disposition being shown, indeed, to make the encore a treble one. Miss Beatty claimed an encore for an effective version of the solo immediately preceding that just mentioned— Guiseppe's 6ong " Rising early in the morning," the dance with which the vocalist accompanies it sending her panting back to the throne of the Baratarian monarch. This young lady is entitled to a word of warm commendation for her admirable delivery of her part in the dialogue. Miss Flo. Russell sang agreeably as the Duchess, while Miss Cissy Samuels made the most of her opportunities as Casilda." The sweet and sympathetic voice of the latter young lady was heard to capital advantage in the duet •• Oh, rapture ! " with Miss Nellie Wilson, who was well cast as Luiz, and the beautiful duct "There was a time," sung by the same two characters, was another effective number, albeit Miss Wilson's useful voice was somewhat assertive, and an encore was demanded. Master Alf . Stephens did himself justice as the Duke of Plaza Toro, and did not sacrifice the dignity of the character. He responded fairly well to the vocal requirements of the part, and obtained an encore for the soDg " In enterprise of martialkind." Master H. Quealyplaced judicious restraint upon his exuberance, and made a really capital Don Alhambra. His acting of the part was, in fact, an agreeable surprise, and so also was his singing. An encore was obtained by him for his first song, "Ne possible doubt whatever," and a similar complement was paid to him — and thoroughly deserved it was — for his rendering of "There lived a king in days of old," in which the tenets of levelling politicians are ridiculed. Master W. Percy in the part of Antonio, secured an encore for his rendering of the lively barcarolle, " For the merriest fellows are we" (the choruß lending very effective aid) ; Miss Nellie Foord took the small part of Inez ; and the parts of Fiametta and the other cantadine named in the' cast were more than satisfactorily filled. The difficulties presented in the concerted music were fairly overcome, the contrapuntal quartet, "In a contemplative fashion," sung by Misses Stephens, Everett, Mitchell, and Maud Beatty, evoking an encore ; while the quartet " Then one of vi will be a queen," by the same performers, also deserves to be favourably mentioned. It is pleasing to record that the remarkably creditable work performed by the rank and file received recognition, the chorus being recalled to repeat the pretty "Thank you, gallant gondolieri"; while a repetition was also demanded of the cachuca in the second act, the gavotte given later on— this dance being different from that introduced here by Mr Williamson's adult company, but certainly not less effective — also having to be repeated. The company, as a whole, are to be congratulated upon a remarkably successful performance, in which they received efficient aid from the orchestra conducted by Mr King. "The Gondoliers" should prove sufficiently attractive to draw good houses for several nights.