THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2206, 11 June 1896, Page 39

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasquin. Tuesday, June 9. •. • Messrs Williameon aud Blusgrovu's Royal Comic Opera Compnuy are announced to inaugurate their New Zsahud tour of 1893 at the Princes* Theatre en Friday, June 12. The stuy of the company in this colony is io brief—nine weeki altogether—th*t only 10 nights oau be devoted to Dunediu, during which time the Company.will introduce two of the latest and be»t- of London, Amprican, and Australian " suec3Meß—" In Town " and " A Gaiety Girl." The success of both of these musical comedies fiat been very great: London raved about them, Amctioa endorsed the popular verdict, and in Australia last year they attracted large auditncea week after vso-;k, ai)d wera generally voted as among the most delightful And Lest of productions placed before colonial audiences by those euteri>rifiiig entreprtnturs Messrs Williamson and Musgrovo. The personnel of the company, arriving per ftltiraro* from Melbourne, by this week's b ;at, includes 85 members—principals, chorus, baHet, fuU opera orchestra ; —some hundreds of tons of scenery and all necessary accessories to make the productions as perfect and as complete as those lately placed beforeAustr*lian audiences. When played in Adelaide recently the booking was the largest knows, and there were' record houses despite the fact that the prices of admission had been raised to ?s 6d for the highest and 2s for the lowett. Of course such a tariff will not be charged here, the circle btiog fixed at ss, although tho cost of bringing to the colony the present com{%-.v exceeds that -of any previously sent," ranch larger numbers being required for the fortlwoaiicigf productions th»n for comic operas. There is no necessity to remind our readers that Messrs Williamson and Musgrove have never yet done anything by baIYOS, and no doubt the comiug productions j will be on the same 6cale of maguificence and met it as their predecessors. •. • The Pollard Opera Company brought what ha* proved an uludually successful ge&son to a close at the Princess Theatre on the evening of the 3rd. There was a l*rg*> attendance. AuiVan's well-known comic ot era •' ]> M.wofcfe" wasprodnctd, and it went with h swing from fiSt to - last. The beautiful nicui.ii'igs ot the pie-re and the handsome co«.'unieo formed a theme of admiration, »ud the jouug performers were all accorded a most cordtnl recepti. n Mr H. Quealy as R*co and Mr A Stephens as the King wer«j extremely »musing, and kept the audience in the best o( spirits throughout the evening. Miss Maud Beatty met with her accustomed succesi in the pact of Pippo, and Miss Marion Mitchell &s the Crown Prince and Miss L Stephens as the Princess both acted with skill and grace. The part of Battina was entrusted to Uiss Lily Evoretfc, whose sieging and acting won for her frequent and hearty rounds of applause. Miss Nellie Wilson, Miss Smith, and the others who sustained the rem lining characters lent adequate aesistanee. The pretty march in the third act evoked a specially emphatic demonstration of approval, »cd the audience insisted on its repetition. '.' Atanintervalin the performance Ml 1 Grattan Rigg», en behalf of the management, thanked the Dunedin public for its handsome patronage, and mentioned that the company would pay a return visit here in November next, »n announcement that was received wibh applause. The company opened in Inveroargill next night. I ■. • Moi)8. Frmnlr Abosaleb, tLe Turkish soldier j And champion guv fpinner, commeuces a short j season of four n-ghts at the Oifcy Hall, opening I on Wednesday evening. He will be sup- j ported by a specially-selected company of variety performers, including Mr Aif. Wilkios, (baritone), Messrs Brown, Collins, Slapltton, Grabame, Crtmer, and Gray, Misses Mowbray, : Leslie, and. the I Bisters Johns.^one. The orches'ranill be under the 'direct ion of Mr James BrowD. An attractive programme is being }ji\ pared. Popular pries will be charged. •. * Ttao Hun. linger Molyueux, brother ol the E»r) of Sefton, has achieved considerable dramatic success under the stage name of " Reginald Martin." He was a captain in the Ist Dragoons, but retired to take up theatrical life. Among other titled men on the stsge area nephew of the Duke of Richmond and a grandson of the fouith Ma-quiß of Londonderry. •..Mr George Gwsmith's latest musical Sketches include a clever description of the •*aauufacture" of an old-fashioned pianoforte

piece, an intensely funny burlesque of an Ibsen" ite lova Bocn6, aud a few "humourous musical ; hints on the art of angling for a husbipd." • . ' A rather striking itage device is shown in the second act of " Countess Gucli," now being played at Dale's Theatre in Now York. The Countess is receiving the attentions of General Suvstccheff, much to the discomfiture of his nephew, Bruno, who, taking advantage of his uncle's great susceptibility to draughts, and in order t>, break up the lender interview, suddenly throws opeu 1 doors and windows. Inalantfy a great draught of air is seemingly created, curtains and poiti*r«s and all hangings flutter like the sails of a ship, and every door bangs wildly as the general ends the scene by ru&hing wildly from the room ; . • It is stated by the New York Sunday Journal that Raoul Koczalski, who appeared in London a few years ago as an infant pianist phenomenon, and passed as a bey, turns out be a married lady. • . ' Afresh wave of precocious little musicians is prognosticated from the West. The first reported is Paula Sz»K% and a combined child violiniit and pianist is threa'ened. The little lady — tha infant phenomenon always gets this much title of courtesy — gate a concert in Vienna, where she not only violiucd and pianoed but played her own compositions, and thea provised, giving, among other things, a Fugue by B*oh, the Andante from Beethoven's D major Sonata, and Mendelssohn's "Rondo Capricoioso "-—at least, report say so. The sweet child is eight years old — no more. How awful ! • . ' Sveogali, indeed ! A remarkable tribute to the efficieacy of Mr Tree's iaipiT-soiihlion of Svengali has beeninvoluuratily p&id bj> a visitor to tha Haytnatkct. A couple of nights back a l&dy iv the (stalls found hersolf succumbing to the hypnotic iuflneucs directed against Mies B*ird, and had to be removed into the corridor. If the process had gone a little further, probably Mr Tree alone would have been able to release his victim from her trance. Realism is beset with pitfalls on every side. * . ' Madame Nordica's admirers among the box and Beat holder of the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, intend presenting her with a beautiful diamond tiara. The date of presentation has not been fixed, but it will probably take place on one of the big nights when she sings, during the supplementary season of opera. The coronet contains 233 diamonds, which range iv size frcm one aud a-half c%r.its to oneeighth of a carat. Tuere ate about a drzen ot | the larger stones, and the total weighs of the diamonds in the tiira is about 30 carats. Its ! coit will not be fat from 50Q0dol. The material in which the diamouds ara sot is p'atiuurn. The style of the coronet is that of AdamV, iv the time of the First Empire. The tiara is built upon a baio band of gold The centie piece of the crown can be separated from the rest and used as an ornament for the hair, and for this purpose is provided with a gold comb. • . • Sir Henry Irving is very particular about the way his private room at the Lyceum ia kept. Adorning the w til Is arc a number of valuable pictures in oiLi, water- col ..uirn, ai A black and white. Among them are two uf Whistler's. Stiorlly before he went to Anit-riea Sir Henry gave one of . his big "midiightt," and amor-g the guests was the lively painter. No sooner had the artist arrived than he began to injvect his own paintings — landscapes — with, great interest. They seemed, much to the amusement of the other guests, to have an irresistible attraction for him. After he had looked at them for the bast part of the evening, Sir Henry laughingly asked him if he wouldn't please look at something eke. "Why, my dear Irving, there is something wrong with them ; I cau't make 'em out ! " he exclaimed after a renewed examination. And then, after a p«use : " They're hung upside down ! Aud you never noticed it ? I suppose they've bseu this way for months P " "I suppose they have," rejoined the actor calmly; "but I think I may be excused for not uoticicg anything wrong with them when it has taken you half the oveniug to discover they are upside down." * . • A novelty in New York is " The Myriad Danct i 1 " ;by an arrangement of mirrors and lights the reflection of her movements gives the appearance of several women dancing at ones, and never fails to win applauss. This ought to satisfy even the encore fieud.