THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 56

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasqi-iji TI'KSDAY. April 15 Air George M^usgrove has l>ooked the Prince**. Theatre from June 30 to July 9, inclusive. This will pnib.iblv he for Nellie Stewait in " Sweet Nell of Old Diury "' Since tlieir very succcs'-fiil nip through the goldfiekls with Mr Philip New bury and Madame Spada, the Coinck Family have been drawing big houses in Southland. They intend leaving the Bluff on Tuesday, April 15, for Tasmania, by the Mokoia, wheie they open m Hobart next week. OIJ time minstrel Charlie Hugo ha^ come to light again m Wellington, ancl has oiganised a company whkh occupies the "Xx change Hall in the Empire City. FrankMay is the representative L J. Lohr, the retired theatrical representative, who has taken the Esplanade Hotel at Aiyleraoii't, Inlet, 80 milesi from Melbourne, has been appointed honorary tecretary of the Imeilochy Jockey Club. English imported actors and actresses wh'. vveie thrown out nf engagement by the de struclion by fire of "Men Hur'' at Her Maje-ty's, Sydney, are to be put into hai neet again m May. They are to be yoked to support >oung Shakespearian ac tiesJanet Waldorf in a re-nal of "Ap You Like It" at the Theatie K<>>al, Sydney, on May 3 Di\'- (I.iiety Company continue- to hold uiidi.-putecl sway at the Alhambra, and the trea-iUiy is benehting by the patronage extended. No new fa. es appear on the bill, but tho-e 'of la-t week aie f-uffic lent to account for nun h amusement for many nights to come The show standard i-et by the Alhambra management is high enough to wan ant the hall being crowded nightly. Colomed comedians Pope and Sayles, hold t i i o Alhambra boardf- for many minutes in the evening"-, piogramme, and get a va-l amount of puie and whole-ome fun out of then- bu-inesi vvitliout descending to the oidmary time payment joko- 'J'be-e two arti-t- <ou)d vi i iipv Die whole bill, |iidging by the reception tliey ge-t from Alhambia jmdiencc'-. but the management r l^ cogni-o that enough ir a- ge)od as a fca-t. and limit them to, on an average, my en(Oh 51 - pei night Lennori, Hyman and Lennon are contortionists and acrobats of a Burn c lent y high order to justify their position m lar^e typo on the bill Their "digger"* hut 1 ' art. though by no mean" new. has a good clral of rreiit. and the aerobat<- in que-tio'i manasre to get out 20 minutes oi gcimmo launrliter Tho other lights of the Alhambra firmament continue to >-hine as brilliantly a- on the ir riist apearance. T)i" only new feature after the tlinw is Charlie I'opp'.-, "A=cot," at wJufli all tlie Alliambii punter^, and putitere- c c-, do m their "chipThis i- an indoor game, which pie^nu-oe to rival ping-pong. "Gordons to the Front, oi. tin Larldei ejf Life"' pof-tcrs aie oremiying the attention of our billbticker- Sa.* bi'lstic ke-r- aie pamt_3iig the tuYfu. m\h Uit t^^^a^i iittoii^

representing a charge of Gordons on Dargai Heights, also the ladder of life appears in. a kilt of many colours doing sundry acts of daring which no Gordon Highlander in his sober moments would dream of doing. Also, again, are depicted in the splendid pictures which advance representative Michael Josephs is causing to be put round the town three acrobats forming a ladder of life to a poor wretch who has wandered under a steam hammer, which threatens to crush him on the spot. Tho acrobats appear to be getting right down to business, and pull our wretched friend out of danger just as the sun went down. The hammer, disappointed of its pound of flesh, crashes down cm tho spot where a moment before lay the form of an individual who should have known better than permit himself to be placed on the monster anvil. All the same, the descending hammer would only leave tho spot — a blood-stained spot whore the man had been. All in all "Gordons to the Front" is going to be an elaborate spectacular drama, placed on Princess Theatre stage on Saturday next on a blow-the-expente kind of scale. The show is committed for trial on Saturday evening next. Miss Lilla Wilde (wife of aetor-elocu-tioni-t Albert Lucas), whom old-time Alhambia playgoers will remember, is playing Mane Loui-e in "A Royal Divorce" in London. Se-.uirtl ton- of " Djin-Djin " scenery i- stored jn the old New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition annexes. The "Hall of a Thousand Storks" is being made a n. others' meeting house for iat-> 'lhu other day a big lodent was calmly perched on the top of Mount Fugi Sin Probably waiting for the eruption. The Delevme-,, who now number five, have just concluded a succe--l"i'l London season, au'l are doing t licit- " flirtation "' act m tlu province;. Ge-rtio Campion, tho Gay Piiisienne of Pollatd Opera Company, was tlie daik-haired one of the Winterton Sistcis who twanked the mandoline to the knee-breeched Delevines in days gone by at Dunedin Princess. Gertie herself nairciwly escaped being a DeTevine, but she broke off the engagement and returned the ring on tlie dcparaiie of the talented mandoiinists to London. Hamilton Hill, husband of .ip-toe dancer Beanie Gellalely, and brother-in-law of Misa Kdie Lingard, at present with Dix Gaiety ("jnipaiiy in Wellington, is making his foitun" in London, where he is a big favourite at tho '• Halls." Mi-s Grace Hoiiiley fell dead on the stage oi th^ Lyceum Theatre, Birmingham, rec riitly. She was singing the now popular song, "" Dolly Gray. ' and in response to an encore wa-> repeating "Good-bye, Dolly, I must Jonv yon. Though it breaks my heart to go," when she fell across the footlights — dead. Her heait had bro\en indeed. .\) - ce Lothbridge, the large-eyed Amazon of London Gaiety Company, who lms been cUi'.f.' of coiioiituption these many years back, is sii 1 very much alive. She was at latest appearing in the. n.usical play, " Hidenscek," in the Kngli-h provinces. Frank Thornton commences his Australian season a' the Princess Theatre. Melbourne, in Dai nicy's farcical comedy, "" Facing the Mumc.'' The company is new to Australia, but haa a veiy .sound English reputation. Mi WillianiTi'i has decided to present the wl ole of his " Ben Hur Company (with the exception of tho=o who have received engagements) with a week's salary. Nearly 400 peonle will paiticipato in the presentation Mr Williamson's generous treatment is waim'iy appreciated. Li inpnerc Pringle, the young Tasmanian operatic artist, who wa-> through New Zealand a few months Inek with Musgrove's Giflnd Opera Company, and who afterwards took a concert company to his native town, LauiVPston, i-> now in London playing Marco in Stephen Plulhps'^ " Paolo ancl Fra:iee-ca," produced at the St. James's Theatre on March 6. Miss Ada Ferrar. another New Zealand favourite, who played Mi rcta to Julius Knight's Marcus Superbus m "' The Sign of the Cross,'" is also in the ca-t of "Paolo and Franc ora " at the St. Ji.me-'- Theatre. Mis- Feirar plays Angela, a bind -ervant of the MalaJc-ta (G-eorge A levaiulr r) I'rohablv- rhc ipc -t son m 1 local :ct which li.i- ever -truilv Aiistnilia wa-> .i few inor.ths ;><rn being liavvkeci from one cheating -lied to another cm tlie outback stations of New South Wales by it- originator Said originator is a coloured coon from Mie West Indie.-,, who Kpeaks several languages fluently and does several things more fluently. Has a board, about 4ft Jong and 2ft broad, -tudtled with hundreds of 3in nails, specially sharpened, points up. (Jn tin- " fretful porcupine " h-> dances and jump-, about with bare feet like a Dervish, at the same time. Higgling with swords, the keenness of which be illustrates by cutting a hair or thin piece of paper suspended in mid-air while bobbing up and down like this " on the t-pike-. Al-o. h'j has a box (looks like thebottom half of a boot trunk) filled to overflowing with bioken bottle- of all description-, with then blood-thirsty ragged edges pointing skyward*. Takes a iuii and dives h< ad first into the jagged sea of broken gla- Rai-es his head, showing t'<e broken bottle- scattered r.gl.t ancl Wt — but never a sctatdi on the nigger's biow. Under ' white ' c ncuni-taiHc-s the head would have been jelly and the owner a coip-,". The jTofesioi'a nr\t act i» the niost startling. He take- an ordinary teacup, fill-, it to the brim with an evil-^mellmß fire and brimstone liquid like castor oil run amok— ancl drinks Breathes hard, applies lighted match- puff, a blue and greenish-coloured flame .shoots out with 6ft of a bhoot. An elephant named Gus, 135 years old, whii h ha, for many years travelled over England and the Continent in Ginnett's ancl Alexander's Circuses', died in England lecently from the effects of a severe cold. His medicine included 15 bottle of whisky, rum, and brandy. His companion, Topsy, assiduously ministered to Gus heaping hay upon him to keep him warm, and now that her mate is dead the displays the mo<-t poignant "lief, (ius weighed five tons nnd a-quarter, and he was valued at £500 On-, when at a French seaside le^ort, distinguished himself by rescuing two children who were in danger ot drowning in the f>ea. He was bathing himtnlf, when, heating the children's cries, he dashed to their rescue, and brought them fafely to land. Messrs Geach and Willoughby s venture hi* opened s U cce-=fully in Melbourne with •■The Wrong Mr Wright." The comedy was meT-nted in Melbourne on Easter Saturday •o a great audience at tho Bijou Theatre, and was splendidly received. A Melbourne paper ■.a}*:—" 'The Wrong Mr Wright' will e-tabhbh its claims of legitimate 6uc-ee--ion to the other pieces winch have preceded Jt from tho same pen. Like 'What Happened to Jones ' and ' Why Smith Left Home,' it is conceived in the wildest vein of transatlantic humour. The incidents are

what overstepping the modesty of Nature, are full of go. and the fun is maintained at a furious pace, which gives the audience iitfcle rime to miss the more delicate shae'es of comedy." Says the latest New York Dramatic Miiror: — Billy M'Clain and Ernest Hogan, upon their return from Au.nr.iha, will arrange for what promises to be the largest negro minstrel comedy company ever presented to the American 2>ublic. The Metropolitan Theatrical Exchange, Broadway Theatre Building, will have charge of the organisation. The comedians are now at Honolulu. A man named Alexander Mackinnon Browning, a mining engineer, received in ji-rics at Fitzgerald's Circus on March 26. fiom which he subsequently died. It ap pears that, ai the horse-, were being Jed along a passage into the ring at the circus for the last act, the deceased, having hold i)i a little girl by the hand, ran across the track. Several of the attendants gato the deceased warning, but be appeared to stumble, and was struck by a horse. To cross the track deceased had to stoop under the extended ami 3of ore of the attendants who lined the pa -=agf< to keep the crowd back. The little gill escaped ii.jury. but the man v.-as tiai-apled upon, and received a tiansverse fracture of the fionlal bone, a fracture of the bridge of the no«e, and laceration of the no=e Deceased reeided at 310 Castlereagh srrte-t, Sydney, and left a widow and ona child. The- jury iccorded a verdict ol accidental death. Miss Alexandra Dagmar. t-uid io be the "stuuningest" womap on the Eviir'i«-li stage, after singiag "by special request at a. vory special performance" in the Chinese Thcn'rc, 'Frisco, received a parly of Chinese Msnors. whom she thus describp-:— A siring of 18 Chinamen, clad in the ino't elaborate io~ tuuies. each carefully holding be fere hiia ;* parcel wrapped :w silk of all tho hue*- of the rainbow, j. \cA' no time in ciaiiriung thete mysterious parcels. I found that the first proved to bo „n orm.ni.utal g!a:?s jar filled with what looked l.ke preserved fri'it. The next was the tame, to was the next and the next. Among them wf.e pomegranates, mangoes, pme-apple-, orau^s. I'cheis, camel has, azaleas, and jratdeniu 0 . Tiu- lcttei was written in purple .uk tin yei'oi. s-ilk. It started out, "Oh. Dagmar. sparkling bride of the fun," and they calmiv told me that I was. as loieiy'io thrir eyes as a tea field in blo->=oni. that my face reminded them of the full moon in Au'just. whilst my eyes put those of the peacock to shame. T T go Biomli, the lightning sketch artift who starred in Dunedin «ome time back, has three a^niftauts behind the scenes, an Italian, a CJormtti. and an Englishman. He speaks half a dozen different languages him~elf, but he find. 1 - it . t a\es trouble to ergage dreaders who can be understood by stage hands where vei he happens to bo appearing. Nearly all the lifts he wears on the Ftage are made u'lth a faLe bro« and nose attached; in this way he contrives to entirely alter his face, although Lis ryes, mouth, and large, workable chin are ».f far more service in quick change of c\ } rf-?.-ion than any ma-k rould po-ssiljly ho. Kiondi was in Johaime=hurg at the time ol tiie cornm.'ncemeiit of the war. He tel!« an exciting yarn of how his skill in inakmp. up wns of great <=i'rvic<" tc a cnujile of lib f i lends — prc-smn.--.". ho w<re ohigod to irake tiicir escape from the < >ty. They nine to Mr Biondi'i- hotel in th" nnud'o of the night : explained the w dangd and m treated him to fcUggeit suitable disguise^ The clever Italian rrfcc f e to the occa-ion. In a couple of hour-> one f>f the journalists. a rran with dark hair aiid beard and .--allow couiptexion, \va.s to bo t-e r n as v Lit clergyman, with a ncati sliairn face a;:d light, chemically-dyi-d hair. The second •disguise was even more ooaipiete, for Hiondi took advacitago of a slight figure and -small, delicate features, and trade hi^ friend dro>= as a nur=e. The departure pnd the long joi'ruey v. hif h fol'owrd it woie «utce-»fullv accomplished, and Bicndi >-till li\e* to toil tho tale. It ir; not in Afstraha a'onp that th^umr al managers are expt.iic-rn.iaß mi-N itui.c Mi .1 A. X Malone, 2\lr Wiiham^f.n'-. I>>!i/.on reprc c eutjtive. wiitc->- thai bu c cip^- at the theatres ha? been '-criou-.lv affected nuing to tlie smallpox scare and s"\cip pjiideiiuc <■ f influenza, and anothi : icci-o'i udiai.Lcd t'jr "tbe genpial di«jp at tho bo\ ofii' t" wa t!i it people were -ai ir% for tie ('■/ uuation ( crpvnjny One oi the fortuu-ate houscn which had not bc-n -.n.ou-Iy affei ted b/ tr.o c'epre-'ion ua~ Daly's, uheic "1 he Coucitry Gii 1 " wa^ heing played In the ]-roduction of "Tho Country Girl " there are Mr Fred Kave, Mr Will-c Warde. and Mis-« Beryl P"al>cr, all well known m Au^tralin. .Mr Warde wa= a member of tbe Brough and lioucieault combination, and figured us the dancer in ".hu-k Stierpard " The [ut- < ipal comedian >- Mr Huntlcy Wrighr. whof<> father, Mr Fr°d Wright, «a< a wci!ii.oivn pro\iucial touring manager .-'j~ip tv. o decades ago. It ir,-.= zii one of > - fonipaiiies that Mr Cecil Ward pi-Attlcallv learned his business. Mr; Patrick Campbell appealed a= M.n lana in .Tumcs Montcith Graham'- adapts lion of .To-e Kciiegarav's par of the sa;ne title at tiic 'Uieatie Republic, New York. last month. The cinics spoke \ery hi%hl\of Mrs Campbell's lmper-onation and of the woik of hci comparj. K't t!ic play «as not so favourably regarded. Mr o Campboll r»> j-'^rved the production of '"IVrioas «nel M"clis.inde" for the last work of her New Yoik < ugagement. Two special matinee performances of this play weic cruca at the \ ictoria Theatre, instead of the Theatre RepubliO, OS there \ikS »f> anftfimjannrlntinil at

thp Litter liou-e for the large orchc-'tra te- ( quiod for tli.« piodiu't.on The doatii oi Lord Duffeiin remirilthe Era that lo had the Shfril- i I tlan blood in hi-. \e!' i s, for hi= mother was a fii. lighter of 'llamas .Siieridan. the son of ! It l chard B"-ius!ej- Sheridan, poer, orator, and ■ p'aywright. and author of "The School for | Scandal," " Tne Rivals," "St. Patricks . Day," and other pklys. Lady Dufferiii was } hciself a poctc- lie \,rote. for instance, ' "Tne Liir.ent of the Irish Eniigrant'"— and . a dramLtint. tco. though ouly one play came- ' norn liar pon This was called "Finc-se ; or. A Busy Day m Medina.' and was writton especially for Alfred Wigan and J. B. Bud-, -tone It i.a- piodu'^ed at the Hay- I I market Theatre ilay 23. 1c63. Of this play j j Hi nry Morlry >-aid at the time: — "In the ! j \cins of the writer rids the blood of Shen- | dan. and tho a'mndnnr mirth it cau-c is genuine mirth (.iiovokod by wit in its fair ', j pj'on and its exna\agance There is not a I I pun in the pie: p. although one scene is full J of mirthful and witty play upon tho double sense of words.'' And much mere to the I j f.ir.e purpose. Her son, whom we sio'.v\ I l.imcnt, Lord Duffeiin, wrote at lecu-t one i worthy work, "Letters front High Alti- | tildes." He had a good prose style, but I hud very httie taste for any poetry except I tiiat of Tennyson I j As tl-eie are "Lycoum men" playing in j «o many London theatres just now, so there j are old mcmbei? of Wilson Barrett's com- j J pany frequently appearing with succo-s upon I ' th- W-st Fuel boards. 'Mr Caleb Porter, I who make 1 -- so much of his p?rt in '" r Jhe H>'que! " at tho Critc-,on (says M. A. P.), 1 is one of the 'attcr. a'fhough his stage ex- ' perieni'js. before a>id '•nice his three jears with Mr 13a!r< j rt. seem to have "covoiv-d the ■ j whole m-ound, from stock work with Mi*s j ' Sarah Thome to c tagc management at the . J Acslph'. from com'-Jy parto in London 10 ' producing l>':i>> in Au-,t:aJ--a_ "Mr Porier. j v. ho ccnmpEced in a "thinking" part with ! i'.io ( omediai's — so well known in the balV — ! i the- Two Mac«, is not only n thoroughly j <'tpab!o and finished actor, b;it .clever with j h.s Pv-ufil, and especially good at littlo pen j I sk' tehes of humorous pubje( t- Caleb Poi [ l r r, it will be vemembpred. plavcl Xero ! in t'se fir-t proc'uc'ion >>! "Tlie Sign of the- j Cro^*" in Nfc-r. Zcu'lav.i.