AUSTRALIAN STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2201, 7 May 1896, Page 39

AUSTRALIAN STAGE GOSSIP.

(Specially Written for the Otago Witness.)

Dear Pasquin, — It is stated, by one who knows, (hat a certain popular serio, well known throughout the colonies, is shortly to be married. He ia connected with a leading London illustrated weekly. The weddine is fixed for the end of May. After the wedding, the happy pair intend going straight to London, where, should the lady make her appearance at the halls, she, to put it mildly, will Knock 'em btndy. I wish the lady better luck than she had with her first hubby. *» Mies Hetty Muret, Lord Clan«de in " In Town " with the Royal Comics in Adelaide, is a pupil of Si#nora Majeroni.

Australian actresses and actors in " Trilby" at Melbourne Princess .'—Misses Meta Pelham, Maie Saqui, and Lena Brasch, Messrs H. R. Harwood, Mario Mftjerorii, ' Cyril Keightley, and Harry Hill.

Charles Godfrey is doing a good realistic sketch with Itickards's Melbourne Opera House Company entitled "The Night Alarm," in which a fire brigade engine, and horses are introduced. Charles Holloway is in Brisbane playing " The English Rose " (played in MaoriUnd by Grattan Riggs, 'U2), "My Jack," and "Under the Gaslight." Meser3 Scot Tnglif, H. Plimmer, Stirling Why te, J. W. Sweeney, X W. Hazlitr, Hans Phillips, Fwnk Harcourt, C^ R Stanford, Miese3 Hsu-rie Ireland, Fitzmaurice iGill, Minna Phillips, Florrie Forde (by permission of Mr Rickardu), Allie Senior, and beanie Galletly are with C. B. WestmacottV Company at Melbourne Royal, where "The Workgirl" replaced "The Enomy's Camp," 18th.

Misses Edith Crane, Jennie R^iffartb, Camille Cleveland, Meta Pelham. Maie S«qui, L. Brenn^n, Millie Osborne, Mesurs Herbert Carr/ Chas. Canfield, Geo. Webster, G H Trader, W. F. Morrison, H. R. Harwood, Cyril Keightley. Harry Hill, Mario Majeroni, Lucien Vannorl, and ileuben Fax are playing in "Trilby" at Melbourne Princess.

Dau Barry is playing "Current Cash" at Melbourne Alexandra. The Age gays :— '' As 'Current Cashi' differs very little from any other Alexandra melodrama, there is small need to say much about its revival by Mr Dan Barry. The moat important factor in the success of thii class of plays, the free use of gunpowder, is not overlooked, and lest the audience should be discontented with a small charge fired off the stage at the hero's manly chest, Mr Barry improvises a eery amuiing battle tableau, wherein a prodigious waste of gungowder and aa ear-splitting noise goes ou. This happens early in the play, and has the effect of appeasing the voracious appetites of the gentlemen aloft and placing them in a genial frame of mind to follow with interest the development of a well-coloured plot. This is taken up with the adventures of a forged will, the hero, just before he goes to meet his supposed doom in the prologue, having made a will leaving hit vast fortune to his wife. The faithful friend who is entrusted with the preparation of the will thinki it would be better if he placed his own name in the document instead of the wife's, and so it comes about that for three JV.ta the heroine and her chee-yild •re sadly hurawed by the boovtHb* vill-yuu until

j near the close, when the husband, whom everyone I thought had been shot before the strucele betweeu virtue and villainy had comm«nced, asserts himself, a&d affairs are put sttuight ; or - in the picturesque lanrnage of the pro*r ß mme! the Serpent is «uare<J, and led to hi« righteous doom by the unerring hamd of justice ' As Alexandra plays go, ' Current Cash ' is attractive food for the patrons of the theatre, and o» this pcc^ion a large audience seemed to /enjoy it thoroughly. No great fault can be found with the acting. It suits the material of the play M* Augustus Glover makes a fine, upstanding sonorous hero, who plants his feet firmly in th« centre of the stage, and swears to the aallerv thai he will die like a British soldier. As ¥c doesn't, but lungs about the play in a surreptitious man! ner, the audienct entertain reasonable doubts oi jus courage, andare thereafter inclined to reient ; his claim to all the heroic and long-suffering viitues." The new quartet «f English singers eugaged for the present Australian winter season l»ft London for Adel«ide on Friday. April 17, under contract to the Australasian Concert Syndicate. The direc ora of the new syndicate are Mrwrs C. J. Stevens, F. BM«e, and P. A. Howells, of Adelaide ; a»d the new vocalists are Miss Thudichum, soprano; Miss Marion Mackenzie, contralto; Mr Edward Branicombe, tenor; and Mr Douglas Powell, baritone. These artists will probably appear in England up to the time of their departure. Mißs Thndichum was engaged for the Armenian relief fund concert on March 20, with Madams B;lleCole, Mr Watlrin Mills, M«damo Gomez, and a crowd of well-known artists ; and Mr Douglas Powell sang at the London ballad j c>naorU on March 11, and at the Roy^l Albert | Hall (with the Royal Choral Society) in Berlioz's "Faust" on March 12. Miss Marion Mackenzie, who is the sister of Sir A. 0. M*ck«nzie, tha Scottish composer, sang at the last Handel Festival, and was engaged for importAut oratorio festivals last year. The quartet will appear ia Sydney early in June in a short series of ballad 1 concerts, and will th< n visit Brisbane. At tha I end of June they will join in the Sydney Philhar* monic Society 1 * festival. Mr J. J Cramp, hon. i secretary, writes that as this is the jubilee year of the "Elijah," that oratorio will he performed, with Mr Douglas Powell ia the name part. At the second concert Dvorak's " Spectre a Bride" Will be rendered. "Hand.B Across the Sen," which was revived last Saturday for six nights by the Woods* Marthall Company at Sydney Her Majesty's, w»j first played in Sydney by Ch»rles Warners Company, Christmas '83. In the present revival Alfred Woods plays Jack Dudley, Okarlea Warner's original character. "Hands Across tho Sea " was produced iv Maoriland by the Warned Con pany in '89 Billy tfltoa's gag, " I'm fulL" tn " Djln Djin," breafes the audience every time. I "Tiilby," produced at Melbourne Princess Theatre on Easter Monday, is declared practically faultless by on* Melbourne daily, and Is referred to with veiled deprecation as "an entertainment" by the other. ~On the whole it appears to havo achieved a pronounced success, which has been largely due to the talent of M r Reuben Fax as Svengali, who, it is said, contrives that the audience thall fall under the spell o{ " this evilminded, dirty-fingered, hypnotising Jew." The play is declared to rest upon the shoulders of this actor. Mißs Edith Crane as Trilby "has great charm of manner, and is beautiful to look upon," aod her success appea'B to have been second only to that of Mr Fax. 'Jhe bis, muscular, Dun-dreary-looking Taffy and the jovial Laird o! Cockpun were exactly reproduced by Messra Herbert Carr and Charles Can field.

"The Importance of Being Earnest" received its first Sydney production on the 16th. Osca? Wilde's three-act come ly was produced in Maori* land by the Brough and Boucicault Company in the latter half of '95 The only change in the present cast is that Mr Ward replaces Mr Brough as JoHn Worthing, J.P. The Boston Brother's, a new acrobatic song and dance team, made their first Sydney appearance with Cogill Brother's Company at Sydney Opera House, 18th. The Intercolonial Variety Combination, under the rnar>ag*ment of Percy Shannon (" the throaty tenor," thr6uffh Maoriland with the Australian Merrymakers 95), at Sydney Music Hall, includes the M'Doug-»l sisters, E.IUh Moore, Master Monty Browne, Carlton and Sutton, M. Kmile Lizern, Cbarleß Daltoa, and Percy Shannon. One of the most fascinating shows now before the public is "the flying lady," now at Manly Aquarium Hall. The lady after being introduced to the audience ia put into a trance and made to obey the will of the medium by rir-ing in the air and following him about the stage while in the air.

" The Broad Arrow " (secured for the colonies by W. J. Holloway), a five-act drama by Gerald Holcroft, was produced for the first time ia Sydney at Her Majesty's Theatre, 18th. Mr George Adams has appointed Mr Phil Goatcher managing director of the new Palace Theatre, and as this famuus scenic artist is also responsible for the/ gorgeous Indian scheme of decoration— which will be quite new to this part of- the world— he will be closely identified with Mr Adams's new enterprise. Mr Arthur Garner, who Has been despatched to America and Europe for novelties, is stated to have carte blanche in the way of expense, provided only that the results justify the outlay. ' Now that Mr PhiKGoatcher has returned from Melbourne so as to *be on tha spot, building operations are progressing mere rapidly, and the Palace Theatre will probably bo completed before Christmas. Mr Keith Macklin, a 'Maoriland tenor, joined Rickards'i Sydney Tivoli Company on the 18th. Horace Copeland (*' Don't call me Horrie ; my name's Horace"), Florrie Esdaile, Georgie Devoe, Priscilla Verne, and Charlie Fanning are also at; the Tivoli.

Mr J. C. Williamson returned to Sydney from Melbourne on the 17th, after witnessing the introduction of " Trilby "at the Princess Theatre. Tha work of rehearsing and preparing for the Eastec Monday performance was an arduous and anxioua task— the cast included five or six Australia*

but all was completed in time, and the American artist-, d-olared the production, for which Mr Phil Gostcher painted the scenery, the beat iv which they had so far bean concerned. Crowded houses have naturally been the rule; aud as from Adelaide the Royal Comic Opera Company report their first nights (" Yeoman of the Guard " and '"The Gondoliers," ia which Mr Coiutice Pouuds made bis debut) the lmrtcest on record, the star of Messrs Williamson and Musgrove is very much in the ascendant ju3t now. fcYoni London Mr WMiamson hearß of the purchase of, " The Prisoner of Zenda," one of the successes of the year at tha St. James's Theatre. Mr Musgrove describes it as " a fascinating play," and lost no time in securing the Australian rights, and its acquisition is important. The piece was first produced In New York by Mr Frohman, with Mr E. H. Sothern a» the hero, and the comedydrama is now being revived, at the New York Lyceum with Mr Haofcett in the chief part. The young actor is the son of J. H Hackett. the famous American " Falstaflf " of years ago Miss < ilive Delroy, who has so long partnered Mobel Lynn, is engaged to be married to a Melbourne gentleman with "beans." Miss Delroy was through Maoiiland with M'Luan's Young Australians in '92, and agaia in '93-4 with Bris's Empire Minstrels and world's Trio. In the meantime let's hope for a piece of the cake.— Yours truly, Poverty Point. April 18. BIS.