THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2202, 14 May 1896, Page 39

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

' BrPASQum. . • Tuesday, May 12. •,* The Pollard season at Chris icWch is proving vcjcy successful, the audiences being large and enthusiastic. '.'Paul Joces" was produced for the last time on Saturday night, being replaced on Monday bj " The Gondo- - liers." -y' / 'jj ?£i* a Maud Hewf on, who has scored a 6ucc?Bs~withthe Pollard Opera Company dur'ng the present New Zealand tour, is an Auckland girl, and made her debut in that city at the commencement of the season. • . • " Turco, the Terrible ; or the Magic Roses" was produced at the Princess Theatre on Saturday uigh.t by the Royal Burlesque and Gaiety Company, and attracted a large audience, all parts of the "house" being well patronised. Contrary to the usual procedure the company .Appears to have kept the beet piece in their repertoire for the last, for in many respects the burlesque is a distinct advance on those previously produced during the season. The music is light and pretty, the dancing effective, and some of the costumes decidedly bright i And charming. ' ' I The story is founded on the fortunes of a prince who seeks the daughter of the tyrant King . Turco. Aided in his search by some magic coses, which have the power of making him visible or invisible at will, he rets out en his quett, and on his arrival at the court of the king the latter becomes possessed of one of the roses, which renders him invisible. He has not the power to bring himself buck to his former state, and a series of amusing incidents is the result of his dilemma. As heretofore Mr Will Stevens introduced a number of his extremely droll specialties, and the progress of the piece was arrested for no inconsiderable length of time whilst he vainly endeavoured to satiflfy the demands of his auditors, whose thirst for encores apparently grew more insatiable in proportion to the number of times he re-appeared. It was only by specially pleading for indulgence on the ground that he took a leading part in the burlesque that he -was allowed to give some finality to his specialties. His representation of the character of Turco was mirth - provoking to a degree, and it may well be s*>d that throughout the whole of the evening he kept the Kudience in a perpetual titter of memmflut His efforts were ably seconded by Mr Percy St. John and Messrs F. Caioboumc and B. Crenier. As the Prinoe, Miss Bel Pousoaby acted with her usual -vivacity, while Miss Ada Lempriere, as Turco'e youngest daughter, B'acg and danced with skill. The latter sang with much taste " Surely," and, wish Miss Ponsonby, rendered iv pretty style the duet . " Fie, fie, fie I" Miss Blanche Wilmott, as the fairy,- alxo acquitted herself with credit, and •* her singing may be characterised es an enjoyable feature, of the evening,' her solos beiDg " Somebody ' loves me" and ''Gentle f&cea." Bliss Addie Favart also contributed in no small degree to the ple&sure of those present by her singing ' and dancing ; while the ballet " Orientale " and the ballet " Divertissement " both provoked rounds of appreciative applause. ■ The well-known song "Comrades," with an' illustrative tableau, formed an effective termination to one of the acts, and it also elicited a marked demonstration of approval. * . * The sacred concert which was given in the theatre on Sunday night attracted a crowded audience. The programme comprised a miscellantons selection of sacred - and sentimental items and was apparently enjoyed. Those who took part were : Misses Favurt, Wilmott, Johneton, Duffriesse, Lempriere, Messrs J. H. Cuomba, 0. Grahame, W. Stevens, and T. Dallas. • . • Mr George Warren, who so successfully piloted Mr-Walter Bentley through Maoriland, is once more with us, this time in advance of the Amy Vaughan Musi-al Comedy Company, •vrho opc-u at the City Hall on Saturday evening. It is five years since Miss Amy Vanghan appeared before a Dunedin audience, and she may well look forward to a hearty reception on (Saturday evening. Her company include! v among its members such old favourites as Harrj Baxter, Johnny Collins, and Earl Brown, ir addition to Misses Flame Cameron and Efiw Morella, and the MacDermotts, who will make - their first appearance here in comic song and dance. " -*•_.. * . * There was. a fairly good attendance a< , the Princess Theatre on Friday night, wb.ee , the Royal Burlesque and Gaiety Com< . pany repeated their performance ol . "Fra Diavoloi" the proceeds being verj generously donated to Miss Laura DuffriesH ■ p,nd her mother. The burlesque was goni through in a aatiifactory manner, and all th< performers were accorded a favourable rccep

I* . ' The diver whose death was cabled from Sydney on Friday was always haunted by a 1 presentiment that he would bo killed whilst performing the feat. On more than ono occasion while the company were in Chrittchurch before going up he expressed his fear of the event whioh has since happened. I . ' The lovers of good music and also of good acting will be glad bo learn that Measra Williamson and Musgrove's Opera Company and the American " Trilby " Company, specially brought from Amerio*, will tour New Zealand shortly. The Opera Company will open in Auokland, and the " Trilby " Company in Dunedin. Mr Mutgrove will be in charge of the musical com- . pany, with Mr Wm. Hughe* as bis lieutenant ; j and Mr Geo. Tmllia, of whom hosts of friends cherish pleasant memories, will personally conduct the " Trilby " Company. ' ' . ' News from Honolulu states that Mins Annis Montague, "the Hawaiian nightingale," who has made Honolulu her permanent home, has already a large roll of pupils, and is acknowledged as a great addition to Hawaiian musical circles. ' . * Madame Bernhardt has announced a new whim, and, like all her fancies, it combines the practical with tho eceentrio. She proposes, it is said, to make a journey to ludia after her Lois dun season. A yacht is to be built with a, salcon that may be used as a theatre, where performances may be given at various ports. The "Divine Sarah" aspires to bs the owner of the first floating theatre. ' . * Sir Henry Irving, when studying his role of Corporal Brewster, in the " Story of Waterloo," viuited Thaneb Workhouse to get his realistic touches from the study of an old soldier, William Suttoo, who was an inmate of that institution. In a similar way he prepared for the parti of King Lear by visits to the Broftdmoor Asylum. Eleonora Duee is said to have made extensive study of the unfortunate girls in a convent kept by the Sisters of Mercy i before undertaking the part of Santuzza. | Mary Anderson, before her retirement from the * stage, frequented Faddington churchyard, and, ! seated on the tomb of Mrs Siddons, diligently studied her part Mrs Keeley, half a century , ago, was equally careful about the details of i her characters. She continualy visited Newgate to watoh the ways of criminals when studying for "Jack Bhepp&rd." And when preparing for the part of Nydia in "The Lftat Days of Pompeii," she made frequent .visits to'an asylum for the blind. Mary Anderson was once urged to take to the operatic stage by no less hu artist than M. Brigaoli. He overheard her singing by chance an Irish ballad in a hotel in Toronto, Canada, and seeking an I introduction, told her that her voice, with a ' year's training in Milan, would win her success ia gcvid opera. The great actress told him that she wa3 s&tiaflsd with her life as it was. • . ■ " The Shop Girl," which has held the boards at the Gaiety Theatre in London for so long, cost about £5000 to put on, and "An Artist's Model," now at Daly's, £7000. These immense sums tell their own tale. They mean that, if the takings at the theatre that produces them do not ananunt to nearly £10.00 ppr week, the management loses money. All the time a play runs there are enormous outgoings. " Treasury alone — that is to say, the weekly salaries of the actors, aotresses, supers, and others engaged — ia a gigantic drain, to say no- , thing of new properties, new dreises, fabric repairs, and last, but by no means leasb, advertisements. * . • Forfcuue has seemingly smiled as blandly on Miss Ricoardo as the summer skies of Southern Italy have given her warmth of colouring and supple grace, for although she ia ' playing the leading part of BerenU, a wealthy patrician in Wilson Barrett's powerful play of i •' The Sign of the Cross," Miss Riccardo tells ■ yon, as you sit in her pleasant flat opposite tho ■ Lyric Theatre, that before she appeared as ■ Ancaria in tho samd drama she had never before • faced the footlights. It is no littie evidence of ■ Mr Wilson Barrett's perspicacity, says St. . Paul'i, that he has' discovered this young lady . of 19 years. " I was very, very young wheu I left my birthplace, Naples," she remarked to r me. "My parents then took me to America, , and I lived a very quiet life, being educated E obiefly in convents. I only left the last I wa3 , i put into two years ago." • . • A' Home critic, writing of Mi«s Ada i I Crossley's appearance with Madame Belle Cole s and Mr Edward Lloyd at the Queen's Hall in i London, cays " the new contralto uses her voice > to perfection." f • . • In Mrs Anne Morton Lane's interesting l interview with Mr Herman Vezin, in a late issue a of the Priocess, he gives bis opinion of actors i and actresses of the paot and of to-d*y. •• The 1 chief fault that I have to find with actors of the present day ii," he says, " that they have not t the versatility of the old-time actor, who could i tun the gamut of emotions from tragedy to - comedy with almost equal success. There ar< f too many 'leading ladies' and 'stars' nowaf days. Do I admire Sarah Bernhardt ? Yes, c I but I have s«eu Rachel ; and do you know what c' a great critic onca said ? ' Sarah Bernhardl s end» where Rachel began.' lam an intense i- admirer of Elenora Duse. To me she is th< greatest living actrets ; bat ibe, like Bdmuut

Ktan, is not perfect iv all plays. The test and i the sum total of great acting is ' Nature.' I Where Nature is set aside, Art oannot appeal." * . • Mr Walter Pallant, the Gaiety director and popular young mevnon 'Change, has written - the libretto of an opera which was to have been set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Events happened, however, that caused Mr Fallant to seek a composer elsewhere, and we may see their combined work at a West End theatre before long. The story tells ef the bankrupt condition of the young reigning prince of a small German State. His courtiers and, retainers have deserted him, and he means to go out injio th« world and seek his fortune. He will not listen to the entreaties of his aunt, who begs him to wait and receive the wealthy neighbouring king, who is to call on the morrow to Kittle the arrangements for the betrothal of his daughter to the prince, who has never set eyes upon her. As he vis about to depart he comes upon a band ef strolling players, and is fascinated by a beautiful young dancing girl who has run away from her parents because they wish to force her into a marriage with a man she has ■ never seen. An idea seizes the prince : He asks the players to help him out of his trouble by taking the places of the retinue who have deserted him. After some demur they consent, and all sorts of fun and frolic are developed from the complications that ensue. The curtain rises for the second act on the grand hall of the palace, where the mock courtiers are "making up" for their parts. The king and this train arrive, and are all much scandalised at the behaviour of the prince's household. The king explains that his daughter haa rua away ; and, later on, the dancing girl discloses herself as the princess, who had determined to catch a glimpsa of frhe priuce before she allowed herself to be betrothed to him. General happiness and quiok curbain. Such is the barest of bare outlines. If Mr Pallaat has risen to his oppirfcunities his book ought to be one of the funniest written in recent years. ' . ' The statement of assets and liabilities in the estate of Mr Percy, St. John shows liabilities amounting to £227 8s 2d, with no assets. The principal liabilities are: — Jacob Showman, £70 2s lid ; C. Burton (Christchurch), £15 ; H. C. Kent (Christchurch), £12 Is ; Lyttelton Times, £10 2s ; New Zealand Times, £9 ; — Badley (Danevirke), £6 ; — Stock (Timaru), £8 ; H. H. Hunt (Hastings), £12 12s ; Caxton Printing Company, £7 17s 6d ; Timaru Herald, £5 ; A. H. Wyldis (Palmerston NortE), £5 Is ; Otago Daily Times, £4 12s 6d; Oliver Harris, £4 ;-Binnette (Auckhnd), £4103. The following statement was put in by the bankrupt at the meeting on Friday :— " I started business as a theatrical manager in Brisbane in March 1894 with a capital of £400. The debts set out in my statement were, for the most part, incurred during a tour of thia colony from March 1894 to Au«U3t 1894— » tour which resulted disastrously for me, the company I brought with, me having to disband in PUlmaraton North. I took an engagement in Melbourne, but received no "salary. Thi3 lasted over a period of four weeks I then went to Adelaide in partnership with Slade Murray from February till May 1895, but made no profits. I ' then came to Melbourne and formed another company, which I took to Adelaide and now have iv Dunedin. The business done has not been very good. The books I have kept show the whole of my transactions during the present trip." In reply to the Assienee, the Bankrupt said that the immediate cause of his filing was the action of the Lytteltoo Time 3 Oompsny ia issuing a warrant for his arrest. The ground of-his arrest was that he was about to leave the colony. He had not been going to loave the colony, for as a matter of fact he had booked the Chmtchurch thea'refrorn the23rd May. He had been paying off his back debts as he had the funds, but latterly he had been doing little more than paying his way. In answer to Sir MacGregor, the Bankrupt said that wkea he lef '■ the colony before he knew that he had a certain amount of debts outstanding which he could not pay then, but some of these debts had been forgiven him. He had not bean improving his position a3 he came down the coast on this trip. He paid Mr Harris £3 on January 11 and promised to pay £1 a week, but was unable to do so. He had not paid the Union Company auything since he , arrived in Dunedin, the last payment made to them being £16 at Christchurch to cover the passages down to Dunedin. Mr K. C. Reynolds said he had had a. pretty intimate connection with Mr St. John and had a knowledge of his dealings. He thought the bankrupt had dove his level best to pay everybody as far as he possibly could and that he would not have tiled but would have hung on and tried to pay his creditors off, had it not been for the action of the Lyttelton Times Company. For Mr Showman, he would have been quite content to let the balance stand so that Mr St. John could work it off. He regarded it as a case of pure misfortune, and moved that the bankrupt be recommended for his immediate discharge. Mi P D. Ritchie (Caxton Company) seconded the motion, which was carried.