THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2254, 13 May 1897, Page 41

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Br Pasquin. Tuesday, May 11. » . • A packed house greeted the fiDal production of the opera of " Boccaccio" by the Pollard Company at the Princess Theatre on the night of the sth, -when the company's Dunedin season closed. TJae opera was attended with quite as much success as on previous occasions. Tbo applause was frequent and hearty, and the audience gave every symptom of being thoroughly satisfied with the entertainment. The company C 36 in number) left on Thursday in the Talune for Melbourne. * . • At the City Hall on Thursday evening a benefit was given to Miss Nell Oakdeue, who some years since was known and achieved a * good, deal of popularity as " Baby Ogden." There was a good attendance and no lack of sympathy on the part of the audience. The piece selected for presentation was a dramatic version of Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe's famona novel " Uncle Tom'a Cabin." Mias- Oakdene appeared as Eiiza Harris and also as the irrepreisible Topsy. In both she played well, hub was most successful in tho latter character, ■which afforded more scope for her ability, and is also a part in which she has previously ap» peared to advantage. • . • The success of the Bracy Opera Company in Melbourne has placed a visit to New Zealand beyond donbt. Tljey will probably open in Dunedin some time in June. . • The Pollards have " Madame An got " tinder way, and will add it to their already extensive repertoire during the coming Adelaide Beason. Miss Maud Beatty will occs more estay a girl part, as she is to be casb for Clairette. • . • On Saturday the D'Orsay Ogden Company appeared before a very fair audience in •'A Mexican Tigress " and " The Jealous Husband." The former piece is a farcical comedy somewhat of the same character as " Taming a Shrew," which was recently produced by the company. The pi«ce went off very well indeed, the audience beiDg kept in a high state of merrimenb duriDg the whole of the performance. ■ | • . • The Scotch night of Mr John Fuller's ! Myriorama at the Garrison Hall on Saturday ! proved eminently successful. It Is rarely such j an attendance can be secured in Dunedin for j any entertainment. At half -past 7 the Garrison | Hall was full in all parts, and soon after the j announcement had to be made to those seekiDg ! • admittance in large numbers that there was standing room only, and, it mighb h*ve been added, very little of that. The hall was densely crowded, and even tho stage wa3 invaded by some of tho audience. The entertainment was worthy of the audience, being probably the best of the season. The viewa were numerous and excellent, and all were shown clearly and steadily. Mr Ben. Fuller was again the " genial guide and humourist," and was unconsciously, or at any jrate unavoidably, humourous in his pronunciation of the n times ef some of the places. At last ho frankly admitted his inability to do justice to gome of the namea, and declined " Tighnabruaich," " Ardrishaig," "Dumquaich," and Withers as beyond his linguistic power. The musical programme, as formerly, was creditable throughout. * . * Tbe engagement is announced of Miss Marion Mitchell, a leading member of the Pollard Company, to the sen of a well-known Auckland resident. • . * The postponement of Albani's visit to ', Australia was the outcome of a meeting between the Verts at New Yoik. Mr F. Vert, who had jusb toured Australia with Mdlle Trebelli, advised his brother that the risk of loss at the terms required was too great. It was decided, however, to carry out the tour of Misa Maud M'Carthy, and the little violinist will accordingly leave London with her mother in j July, principally ns great interpreter of classic music. Miss M'Carthy has lately made a successful debut at the Crystal Palace. • . • Mr Joe Brown, the well-kuown Australian journalist and theatrical manager, left Mr George Bignold to join Professor Kennedy, who is in charge of the troup of trained horses from America. • . • Young Mumford, Julia Mathew's eon, is a theatrical agent. His great Melbourne hit •was in " Aladdin," singing " Sweat spirit, hear my Prayer," from •* Lurline." • . ' Madame Amy Sherwin's only son, Louis Sherwin-Gorlitz, has come through his examination with honours, and has gone on to the Charterhouse School, where, it is stated, hi* studies will be directed with a view of his embracing a literary career. •.• "Under tbe Bed Babe," Mr Eose's dramatisation of Mr Stanley Weyman's novel of that name, has beaten^all previous records for takings at the New York Empire Theatre. The receipts for the first week amounted to 10,753d01. • . • Irving so drills his people th;.t they be- : come replicas of himself. A plucky little woman at a rehearsal.drew herself up, exclaiming, " If this goes on we shall all be Irving* ! " • . • Amongsb the stories told of Madame Soldece in the great days of the old Philharmonic was one to the effect that a v/orshipper at the shrine of Drogan showed the diva's • "" photo to a friend from Australia, who was not at all struck. "Ye gods!" he exclaimed, "what a mouth!" "Wait till you've heard Emily open it," was the quiet reply. Acd he was perfectly right. Mus Soldene's fortuns did not lie in her face, but in her voice, her histrionic abilities, and her sterling character. This story recalls the American joke that tlaeie weLe only two mouths in the United States — one Soldene's, tho other the mouth of the Mississippi. • . • Lord Nelson is the hero of a piece entitled ',' The Mariners of England," produced recently at the London Olympic. This is not the drama which so unwisely dealt with the hero's love affairs. In this play Nelson is the good angel lo other txploiters in the amatory realm 0 , aad ends by puniehiDg the nautical villain who attempts to assassinate him, and by rewarding the good lieutenant with a commission, which enables him to claim his bride. At the end of the action are shown two great historical ' tableaux. In. the first is depicted the Victory's deck during the battle of Trafalgar, just as Nelson's last commands are given, and the great admiral receives his death wound ;• the second represents, very effectively, the death -scene in the cockpit-, where tbe dying hero pr&js them to bury him 'at home, to be kind fco poor Lady Hamilton, and tbanks God thab he has done his duty. Mr Abingdon played the part of Lord Nelson in a wonderfully realistic and impressive fashion. With a gentle, kindly .planner, but keen," watebful glance; a figure dignified, melancholy, but, iv the moment of 'action, alert, fierce, sharp in command — jasb as one has pictured Nelson to oue'a self — he -walked the boards of the Olympic, and it ia

said that every Englishman who sees Mr Abingdon in this part will gain thereby an increased appreciation of England's greatest admiral.