THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2370, 3 August 1899, Page 46

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Bt Pasqttjn.

TUESDAY, August 1. A male quartet party has been formed by Herr Paul Sonderhof for the study of Old ' English glees and madrigals, |as well as modern pieces. Herr Son- i derhof, who has had considerable experi- ; , ence of this work in Australia, has en- ! ! listed the services of Messrs .Blenkinsopp I ! (tenor), D. Hutton (baritone), and W. F. ! Young (baritone), and will take the part of | second tenor himself. The quartet has been j | namnd " The Aleißtersinger," and the first ap- | i pcarance will be r.isde at a smoke concert on I . the 9th An&Tict. - : | On" Saturday night a crowded audience palro- \ I niaed the Alhrunbra Theatre, and those ptescr.i; . ■were rewarded with one of the best variety pro- ( grammes yet submitted by the Fullers' Waxworks .Vuudeville Company. I The Garrick Club will present Miss Minnie I Palmer's widely-known musical comedy " My \ Sweetheart " at. the Princess Theatre on Friday I and Saturday, the 11th and 12th August. ' The original intention was'to play on the 4th. ] and sth inst., but circumstances arose necessitating the alteration above indicated. The cast j includes the Misses Annie Sime, Tui Stephenson, Marie Landells, and Mrs H. S. "Valentine, Messvs Donald Maclean, Reynolds Dennistoß, H. Ij. Tapley, .Tohn Lnsk, Alfred Forsyth, and ' George SievwrJght, supported by a chorus of children. Special aceneiy, inoluding a realistic representation of the Pennsylvania Waterfalls, has been prepared by Mr Tom G-laister, and j the productions are under the direction of Mr I Barrie Mars :h el. Wanganui is making ample provision for threatical performances in the form of a Municipal Opera House, situated in Hill j street, of which like manager, Mr Charles I Voas, has sent me a lithographed plan. The I building will afford seating accommodation for over a thousand persons, the number being:—Dress circle 237, orchestral stalls 172, I stalls 162, and pit 450. The width of the stage is 50ft, depth 43ft 6in, proscenium 26ft by 24ft 6in. The stock scenery will comprise four sets, and the building will be lighted by electricity. Ample dressing rooms, green room, and all necessary accessories will be provided, and the new theatre will be complete in every respect. The Steele-Payne Company are doing the country districts of the southern part of the | North Island. According to the Lyttelton Times a rather ludicrous incident occurred during the c-nterhunrnfit. of the M'Adoo Minstrels at th© Choral Hall, Christchurch, on Saturday night. Aliss Bell Gibbons was just returning to t'l'j© stage in response to an 'encore for a recitation and announced her next number as " The Bald-headed Man " at the same moment as a well-known country journalist, whose hair is very scanty, was walking down the passage to the front seats. The audience talcing in the situation, laughed heartily, and it was some little time "before the lady could continue the recitation. The Fanning and .Rivers Company seem to be doing well in Wellmgton. The New Zealand Times says that nothing funnier has been fceen here for many a day that the burlesque of " Romeo and Juliet," in which Mr Fanning and Mies Georgie Devou reversed roles — he becoming the simpering maid, and she the love-sick swain. And nothing more diverting could be wished for than Mr Manning's vocal imitations of the Black Melba. Foli, and other singers, or Mr Walter Rivera's really clever imitations of Bland Holt, Mr George Rignold, " Svengali " Fax, " Gecko " Morrison, and Edmund Holloway. Madame Melba is, it is said, much alarmed at the prospect which threatens her of very rapidly acquiring a superabundance of adipose tissue. To ward off the danger she has undertaken the heroic treatment of three ■ cold baths every clay. AValter Bentley, having decided to return to the stage, has accepted an engagement with Messrs "Williamson and Musgrove, and will appear in one of his best parts as Wilfred Denver in " The Silver King " at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne. The friends of the Titheradge family will be glad to hear that they are having a pleasant experience in London, and are comfortably located at Cavendish road, St. John's Wood. They arrived at Plymouth on April 15, and continued their journey by rail to Paddington, where Mr Titheradge met them, the joy of the reunion being enhanced by the presence of Mrs Titheradge's two sisters. The party had the furthei delight of going straight home at once, for, explains " Table Talk," Mr Titheradge had already prepared a charming nest for his family. In the course of a highly interesting letter Mrs Titheradge says: — "London is altered. I have been through the places I knew as a girl, and the changes bewilder me. Servants are the greatest difficulty in domestic life here, but I have secured two nice girls. The price pi

everything is tremendously high, not only meat, but vegetables, fruit, butter, etc. Mr Titheradgo is still playing in ' For Love of Prim,' and the Abbe in *A Court Scandal,' since Mr Beveridge left to join Mr Beerbohm Tree. Though following an established part, he has won golden opinions. The piece was transferred from the Court (which was out of the way) to the Garrick. Everybody tells me I missed a great deal in not seeing Mr Titheradge in ' Grierson'a Way.' He made a great impression, and received much kudos from his own profession, but unfortunately it was not a popular play. I have been to a music hall for the first time — the entertainment was very bright and rapid, no pauses. Dan Leno was the great star. I was delighted with him — a born comedian, effortless, quiet, genial, inoffensive, and artistic. He makes £150 a weekl" The latest recruit from the ranks of the aristooracy on the boards in England i 3 Miss Blair, the daughter of the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland by her first marriage. Her good sense in beginning on the very lowest rung of the theatrical ladder is of good augury. Miss Blair, whose name as a super is not even on the programme, is a handsome distinguished-looking girl, and was quite noticeable among the ladies of Queen Gertrude's train in " Hamlet," recently, at Fulham. Miss Blair's mother, now the Dowager .Duohess of Sutherland, is not an American, as 1 several papers have stated, but the daughter of an Oxford don, the late Dr Michell, a well-known figure at Alma Mater 30 years ago. Miss "Michell was a striking girl, tall, and well-built, and her daughter is much .in the same style. She also shares her mother's cleverness and go-ahead spirit which caused the slow set in the Oxford of her day to occasionally gape with wonder. "Last Call" sends the following items: — Frank Lawton, now with " The Belle of New York " Company in London, reoently I whistled at an entertainment at the Hotel Cecil, at the special request of the Prince of Wales. George Grossmith is seriously ill at tho London Reform Club, suffering from general idebility. Mr and Mrs E. W. Thomas (Agnes Knight) hove left America, under engagement to Charles Arnold for his South African and Australian tour with '"-What -Happened to Jones." A divorce separating Frances H. Arnold (Frances Harrison) and Charles W. Arnold was granted on May 18 in Boston. I Henry Lee is still in the States, and has ■ Ivsen engaged to play Simonedes in " Ben ;H; Hm '-" Ethel Browning, in Australia with Isat Goodwin, was recently married in IndianaTDolis. __ ~ The will of the late Mrs Mary Anne Keej ley has beeii- probated, showing her estate to be worth £17,000. 1 Max -Pomborton is dramatising ins novels ■ '-'Krcmstadl" and "Tho Garden of fc'wordc." i iUrs Scott Inglis (Yda Hamilton), who since ' licr husband's death has been staying with i her relatives in Kentucky, has accepted an i leri£a;reraent to appear in New York in : .nu:et "Wildox, who is on a round world ' trio, -embrwiny, Australia, after a successful ; Koiiolulo ps jot, lias left for Yokohama. Her manager has ivr.t to Australia for soyen now ' people to join n«r in Hongkong.