THE STAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2240, 4 February 1897, Page 39

THE STAGE.

C#DtrlkoU»n« from the f rofeuloQ obronlollnf tholr moTcmeot •od Aotnf »re isrlMd. All commualouloni to b« nldrewd • "ruqnla," ou*» WJtnesi offloe. THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES. By Pasquiw. Tuesday, February 2. "r* Tbe fiaal performance of Frank Harvey's powerful drama "The Wages of gin" was given in the Princess Theatre on Saturday evening by Mr Alfred Woods'a company. There was again a good house, and the performance, whioh was credibable throughout, was duly appreciated. All the leadisg parts were played with care and skill, and special commendation is doe to Mies Maud Q-wynne and j Messrs Alfred Woods, G. Coughlan, and A. ! Bootbman. I ' . ' The kinematograph still continues to attract well at the Octagon. On Saturday thero were several exhibitions, and the visitors were' greatly pleased with what they saw. • . ' G. Coulson, custodian of the Wellington Opera House, died suddenly on the stage on Wednesday, the 26th ulfc. For some time past he had been suffering from a pain in the throat and chest, and was seized with a violent fit of coughing. Upon being picked up he was covered with blood. It wae found that he had broken a bloodvetsol, and he died almost immediately. * . * C«rl Herts: is coming to New Zealand. He has just (writes my Melbourne correspondent) . called in to tell me about his movements. He opens in Auckland about the middle of February. Mr Geach manages his tour, He hks the latest cinematograph tad over 200 new pictures, including the latest animated pictures ia natural colours. He w»s v the first to introduce the machine to Australia, and all the others you hare seen are toys compared with his machine. ' . *An interesting memento of Mrs Brown- ( Potter's visit to tbe colonies takes the form of | a littte brochure entitled "A Sonveuir of Mrs j Potter aud Mr Bsllew," issued from Melbourne j Funoh office. The biographical portion of the j work m pleasantly written by " R.C.8.," but of course toe illustration* are the chief attraction. Judging from these Rosalind is Mrs Potter's favourite character, but to my mind she looks infinitely more charming as CamiHe, or as Violet Grefbam in "David Garriok." The pictures of both Mrs Potter and Mr Beltew are capitally executed, and the souvenir should ba ( of very great interest in after years. * , " " The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown" ran five weeks in Melbourne, and Frank Thornton and Manager Lohr** faces are wreathed in smiles. This is a great record for a farcical comedy to achieve in Melbourne, and ! is a sufficient answer to those who predicted no I more substantial success for Messrs Buohanan j and Marlowe's work than is attained by the do«6D or so of one-act farces whioh are every I year extended, quite unpermissibly, into three act* of romping and extravagance. "Miss Brown " is nob a one-act Itttr de rideau padded out to cover a two-hours' performance. It is an extremely well-planned and well-developed piece of absurdity, depending for its success upoa the way in whioh four or five excellent , parts are played. Therefore, Mr Thornton has I been able to get some such jrnn of it as "Tbe . Private Secretary," ■" The Magistrate," and " Charley's Aunt " enjoyed. Mr Lohr informs , me that his company nopea to arrive in New Zealand about the middle of Jane. r ' . ' Of the presentation •of the character . of Fioria Tosoa by Mrs Brown-Potter in "La Tosoa," at Wellington, on the evening of the &eth the New Zealand Times says :-" Mrs Brown-Potter has mauy natural gifts and ! advantages whioh qualify her for Buoh a character as Fioria Tosoa. She is beautiful, of ) slim, lissome figure and graceful presence, and ' she is successful either ist comedy or a tragedy ! actress. In the scene with Mario in the Church of St. Andrea, in the first act, she gavt a mosb expressive, finished portraiture of Tosoa in her love-miking — a child of whims and capricas, now full of tender confidences, now torn with suspicion in her jealousy on seeing tho face of another on the artist's easel. Tbe lights and shades were faultless. Mrs Potter's acting grows upon the onlooker. The insinuating grace and tenderness of this scene were far outrivalled in the great third act, where tbe most remarkable episode of tbe drama occur*. It is here that Baron Soarpis, determined to find the whereabouts of Angelotti, put> Mario to the torture. Mario is taken into aa Adjoining room, whilst Fioria is questioned by the Baron, and, as she refuses to answer, the instruments of torture are tightened about the brow of her lover, until, wruug by mental agony, she confesses the secret of the fugitive's hiding-place. The con- j flicting emotions which rend the heart of Fioria j herself, the impassive, immovable sternness of j the pitiless Scarpia, measuring his questions in frigid tones, and ordering the torture of Mario to be renewed with each fresh refusal of tbe girl to speak, and her abject misery as she throws herself at the Baron'e feet and appeals | for mercy — all these constituted this a truly ! gre&t scene. It was here that Mrs Potter wa* ; at .her best. But Mr Bellew was also respon- ! Bible for the striking success of this as of every ' other part of the drara». Both he and Mrs ; Potter gave in this scene a maguificonb display ! of their artistic power, and both well deserved ! the call they received aa the curtain wont down upon this act." * . * Privately, tho Chinatown Company was a very unfortunate, combination. Poor Sadie M'Donald died, Patricia had to retnrn to America, Amelia Stone became ill, and Manager Mitchell was nearly driven mad from worry ; now Frank Lawton, who remained behind for the pantomime, has received word of the death of his mother in America. • . * Walter Baker lately got a nasty craok on the head by a falling piece of scenery, but heroes n«ver get killed on the stage, and Wally, as usual, turned up all right at the finish, and virtue remains still triumphant. . • An appeal (says the Leader) bas been made to the frienas and pupils of tho late Madame Simonsen for subscriptions, limited to ss, towards the erection of a memorial over the grave of the deceased artiste. * . * Captain C. F. Nevil Macready, youngest son of the celebrated actor, is a well-known clever amateur actor. Whilst in India with hit regiment, the First Battalion of Gordon Highlanders, he played with Mrs Louisa Jordan, the writer of that very interesting book, " When We Were Strolling Players." • . • MdUe "Nikita, the well-known prima ~ donna, is a leaflet on one of the branches of the family tre<of Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky backwoodsman, and was born at Washington in 1873, ancT%lttC»!&ed ander the porsonal instruction of CharfeVtSooiiod, Ambroiee Thomas, Jaiet Massenet, and-- tfssrice ' Btrakosch. Mdlle Nikita speaks and writes ; no fewer than seven languages ; is an excellent potrait painter, a talented pianiste, a regular contributor to the literary page of the Prense of Vienna, a first-rate billiard player, and a ' daring bieylisb. Basides holding the title of Court aipgec to (be Duke o£ Baie-Ooburg-

Goths, she has been decorated by three kings »nd aw»rd<*d gold anrt silver medals by Germac, French, aud Russian institutions of learning. * . • Performers ia Gernuu drama must have a rough timo of it. Iv a Nihilistic piece, recently produced in the State*, it is racorded of the hero that in tbe rare moments when he simulated joyousuess the lot of bis companions was not easy. As ovidencsof ligbt-heartedncss he showered the villaiu with bottles aud cigar boxes ; be hit an old Jew hard with a book thrown half across the stage ; he threw a hassock straight at au old man's head, and tossed three valises at the maidservant, hitting her with one. Even this treatment not to bs compared for severity with that given to tho last-named by the villain. Unless that young woman is black and blue pretty much all over her body" to-morrow (wrote the critic), it will bB because her opponent, in hauling her about the stage, handled her more guardedly than ho seemed to. She had an extra round of applause for her share in the scufila, bat most every one had plenty of that. ' . • In the begiuning of November " The Sign of the Cross " pasted its thousandth performance in England aloue, and the total receipts are now estimated at between £150,000 and 200,000. * . * Curious mistakes are sometimes made about the voices of great singers. M. Jean de Retzkc, for instance, who is now regarded as the greatest of living teuora, started his musical life as a baritone. Madame Bello Cole, whose rare contralto voice is now so mnob in request, was. first trained as a soprano, and at the outset of his career Mr Ben Davies was declared to be a baritone.