WELLINGTON WING WHISPERS

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 39

WELLINGTON WING WHISPERS

By P. RoMPTEa.

December 23.

Dear Pasquin, — Here \va are cgain ! We join the merry round and make tbe paper sound, with a wrinkle crinkle inkle-up Dobs Christmas with a bound ! I tru-t thnt you and yours are in thp Land of Alright, and that the compos, mentis -will forgive all bhortcomings ia the way of crazyfUts during the parft year. Whilst admitting that I have oft been "a bit off," I trust it has never beon the cause of others getting "a bit on." So .may we all, in different ways, our good and bad V. llompter up aise. And wbi,lst for praise lam "not askiu', may all iind peace — and heie's to F.t, quin ! Membeis of Messrs Williamson and Musgrove's " Sign of the Cross" Company, to the number of 54, were on board the Mohowailast night en route j to Dunedin, whero it will begiu its New Zealand • season on Boxing Night. The remainder of the c. mpany took pay-age by tbe T.ilune via Melbourne and the Bluff. Mr Ernest Fitts, the well- ( known Australian baritone, who has been engaged to i>lay the 1 leading part in "Djin-Djiu" here on Boxing Nicht. was also a passenger by the

vessel. The presence of so many theatrical people on board was taken advantage of to hold a series of excellent concerts on the passage, in which Mr J. M. Clark, the Wellington elocutionist, also gave valuable assistance.

Fresh from the triumphs of a Eur-opean tpur, and with added musical distinctions gained in Germany, Miss Eileen O'Moore, or, as she is better known in the colonie?, Miss Bessie Doyle, is about to enter upon another tour of the colony. She has planned to give 30 concerts, three of them in Wellington, and the first on January 14 at the Exchange Hall. Miss O'Moore contemplates returning to London for the June season.

On Friday last the Maughan Barnett Musical Society gave its annual production of "The Messiah " to a large and enthusiastic audience in the Opera House. The soloists scored the runs of this innings, Madame Carlton being in grand voice for the soprano work, Miss Parsons doing the contralto work well. Mr W. J. Hill made a feature of the tenor .singing, and no words of mine could add to the lustra of Mr John Prouse's work in baritone. Mr Barnett conducted, and Mr Laurence F. Watkins was seated that night at the organ, and he was neither weary nor ill-pleasing, for he made sweet melody fill the air. Little Celia Dampitr, who "fiddled" herself into the affections of Wellington audiences in the early part of the year and subsequently lost a valuable and much-beloved violin in the wreck of the Tasmania, is to revisit Wellington either at the end of December or early in January. She will give one concert here, in company with Miss Annie Lorrimer, an accomplished soprano, and then proceed south, en route to Sydney aud England, where she is to complete her musical stiMies. s

The Fullers— who are fuller than ever with the addition of their big Ben — have been giving nayrioramic concerts at the Opera House. Rowley's Waxwoiks are still at the Criterion Theatre.

I gather from the Christchurch paper 3 that Mr F. Watson, son of the Rev H. C. M. Watson, who hss, under tho name of Mr 'V. Brooke Warren, been most successful alike as a- dramatic author and an actor, has achieved quite a success in a provincial tour with bis own piece, " The Face at tho Window." All the papers speak in the highett possible fceims of the play. Mr Watson, it may be noted, was iv the original catt of "The Duchess of Coolgardie " when the piece was produced at Drury Lave Theatre.

This is a good time to have a look backward, and until one comes to note them down you'd hardly credit that we'll had Buch good time theatrically. Taking the opening dates of their seasons, we haye had these people aud their c:m-i panics iv Wellington during 1897 :— January I—Pollai1 — Pollai d Opera 26— Brown-Potter— Bellew February 15— Alfred Wood „ 27— George Darrell Ada Delroy and Bell March 15— D'Orsay Ogdca „ 2G-CarlHettz April 7— Pollards again „ 20— George Rigu.,Ul May 24— Carl Hertz again June 3— Professor Bristol's horses „ 9-Glayds Leigh „ 15— Frank Lincoln „ 23— Wellington Dramatic Students „ 89 -Matsa Vaudeville July 23— St. John-Haymau „ 27 — Matsa again August 20— Broughs September 27 — Phyllis Perrier October 9 — Robert Ininan „ 30— Flying Jordans November 3— Stanlev-Paulton 17-B!and Ilolt „ 27— Norton B. Smith, horsetamer December I— Probasco's Circus „ 9— Wybert Reeve's Cinematograph „ 14 — Rowley's Waxwoiks ,i 24— Hudson's Surprise Party „ 27— Pollard's Djin'-Djin Pantomime. Heller's Mah'atmas Royal Bioeraph Company open in the Theatre Royal, Napier, for a short t season an Boxing Night. Now for the yearly tag— A Happy Nkw- Year;