THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2520, 2 July 1902, Page 68

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasqitin.

TUESDAY, July 1

Cinquevalli, the marvellous juggler, now showing i>t the Princess Theatre under Harry Rickards's management, celebrated his 52nd birthday yesterday. Sincere congratulation?.

Pollard's Opera Company, to the number of 60, proceeded to Invercargill on Monday, opening in the Theatre Royal that evening. The pieces to be produced in the southern city are "The Messenger Boy." "Tho Casino Girl," "Ros» of Persia," "La Periohole," "Maritana," and "Florodora." The company return to Dunedin Princess for a season of five nights at the conclusion of the southern tour, when they will revive "The Gondoliers" for two nighte, "In Town" and "The Messenger Boy" to follow.

Maud Hewson and Jennie Opie, two contraltos well known on this side, are singing with marked success with Rickards's Melbourne Co.

A brother of Miss Ruby Ray, the talented actress, who was out in Australia with "The Message from Mars" Company, writes me from London to the effect that Mies Ray is getting on splendidly in England. She is at present appearing in "The Three Little Maids" at the Apollo Theatre, London| under the management of Mr George Edwardes.

"The New York Entertainers" are the latest company of vaudeville artists out on the New Zealand roads. Prof. Lewis, "Wizard of the East," is the "star."

Miss Cresswell Brandt, an English actress, is playing Fanny Legrand in Cosgrove's "Sappho" at the Gaiety Theatre in Melbourne. Olga Nethersole, who made "Sappho" famous in America, is playing the star part at the Adelplu, London. Dan Barry has been getting off his stock joke on the residents of Tasmania. H« recently made a speech at Burnie, and in tho course of his remarks gaid that the residents of the North-west Coast town were the most beautiful people and Burnie was the most lovely place in tho world. He also declared Burnie should be the Federal capital. The previous night Dan said something veiy similar about Launceston, but, as he explained, "I had not seen Burnie then." This joko is deserving of the old-age pension.

John Fuller, jun., one of the Trio, threatens to get married in July next. Th» fortunate young lady (she is barely 18) is Miss Fraser, of Henry's Dramatic Co.

"Romeo" writes: — "We were all glad to see Mollie Bentley back at the Alhambra on Wednesday night, and few that heard hex juaoshii, m<k osb Aolej kjuu& tk&t gfet

had just come off the train after a tedious and miserable journey from Christohurch. Your budding Parti would want at least a day's rest, and excuses would be found for her by the press. But why, O why. Mollie, do you persist in singing 'Eng land* and pronouncing it in all probability in a different manner from what you would in ordinary conversation? So, Mollie, please let it be 'Ing-land' in future, with the accent on the 'Ing.' With these few remarks I will conclude with wishing Mollie the best of luck, and hoping that some day, just to please a few of the other boys, she will ease up on the Boer and maudlin, domestic questions and essay something, ii j no less maudlin, would at least be better musio and a olubnge — say, 'Out on the rocks' and pieces of a like description." Pollard's Opera Company play a fourI nigh t«" season in Christchuroh, beginning on 1 July 21. The northern town has not flocked! to tho performances of the P.O. Co. with any very great degree of flook for past two seasons — or more, — so that even four nights is a risk. "The Messenger Boy," however, should pull big for that number of nights — even in. Christchurch. Mr Harry Rickards has organised a very strong company to inaugurate his tenancy lof the Perth Royal. It includes Deronda. and Breen, Miss Peggy Pryde, the sisters i Casolli, Mr J. W. Winlon. Zobedie, Mr ; Chas. N. Brown Parker, Miss Neva Carr , Glynn, Little Fanny Powers, Mdlle Lotty, j Weston and Yost, and Mr J. C. Bain. I Dear Pasquin, — Since writing you last we have visited the goldfields. with the same result—^ood business, and "Mars" the trump card. While playing the piece in Kalgoorlie one night a fearful storm came on — the> rain was simply awful. The building being an iron one, you can imagine the effect. It) was impossible even for the artists to hear the dialogue or their cues, and just as "ths Messenger" makes his entrance amid thunder and lightning -ne. did it with tho real material. It was impossible for the audience to hear a word. Mr Hawtrey considered it unfair to the audience, having paid admission—s3, 4s, and 2e — fo he stepped to tho front and explained if they would not object; to wait until the storm had abated the scene would be re-played from the beginning-, which -was done amid srrent demonstrations of approval. Now I'm sure I an* i correct in saying such a thing has .never I oociirred before on any stage. Henceforth | good old "Mars" is unique. We remained i on the fields four weeks. pa.id a roturn visit 1 of 12 nie'its here, opened in one of our newpieces— "The Laily of Ostend." Very good reception, and great business. The public olamoiiTcd for a revival of "Mars," and Mr Hawtrey acceded, playing the last four nights to enormous- business, and could have run it easily another four, but our season is at an end here. We played Fre-mantle las-t night in tho Town Hall to a packed . houso with "Mars." It is 40 minutes by lail from Perth, and majority of the Port people must have seen it in Perth, but the ory is "Still they come!" We open at Broken Hill on June 21 for 12 nights ; Adelaide three weeks: then Ballarat, Bendigo, and Geelone: These are all return visits. Melbourne. Biiou Theatre, August 30, for 10 weeks. We have three new pieces in our lepertoire. and are adding mot», bo by the time Mr Hawtrev visits you again : there will be plenty of change for the New. Zealand public, and something they will like-, too. I hope to aceeompany him on his return there, but am certain of nothing nowadays, as I had such a sad disappointment before. I am delighted to tell you my health, thank God, is splendid — quit« strong and well. The company arc all Al ; plenty of work to do. Mr Everard is well, and having a good time with fishing, golf, etc. Business being good, all goes on serenely. Very kindest regards and besfc of good wishes to yourself, and pleass convey through medium of your excellent ppper my kindly remembrances to Dunedin people. Bless their good, kind hearts! — Sincerely yours, Nellie Mobttne. — Perth, W A., June 8. I Jean Gerardy, the celebrated 'cellist, is now en route for Australia per steamship Sierra, which left San Francisco on the 12th ult. Mr A. H. Canbv. who is directing the tour, and Mies Electra Gifford, the sopi-ano who will be appearing at Gerardy 'a concerts, are also passengers ; but Mr John H. Tait tays, according to advices' r«ceivecl from Mr Canby by the last American mail, | that Lachaume, the pianist engaged, is seriously indisposed, and it was doubtful if he could undertake the trip. Failing him. Gerardv would bring a very fine pianist from Europe. The tour, which promises to be a great success, opens in Melbourne on July 10. The other principal date 3 are: — Sydney, July 2^ to August 2; Brisbane, August 5 to 9: Adelaide, August 14 to 20 ;| Perth and goldfields, August 26 to September 10; Launoeston and Hobart, probably September 18 to 25; and New Zealand centres during October. Mlsb Alice Edgar, of the Pollard Opera Company, who has been seneusly indisposed for tho past week, during which time s-he wa<? unable to appear at the theatre la | lying in a private- hospital m Dunedin. Miss Edgar is buffering from an acute attack of bronchitis, but I am pleased to chronicle that ehe is improving daily, and by the time 1 the Pollard Company return from Invercarcill she will probably have recovered! sufficiently to rejoin them. Dix Gaiety Company in Dunedin Alhambra have been doing excellent business dur- ■ ing past week, and there is a promise of • much greater support being given to thia show tl-an in the past. The days and nights of Frank Leon, Lizzie Kirk. Olive Lenlon, I Harvey and Morriss, and Jeanie Johnston, are numbered, and after Friday night the Alhambra will know them no more for some little time. The gaps left by these performers will be amply filled by the introduction of the Juvenile Dartos (the clever youngsters who saved th© pantomime). Alice Layton, Carl Collier, and Pearl LovelJ. Tho new series of vitagraph pictures occupy a pla.ee entirely their own on the bill, and ! they are as much a feature of the performance as anybody else , Owing to th« indisposition of Miss Alice ' Edgar, Miss Annie Curtice was caHed upon to fill the rol» of Mrs Bang in "The Messenger Boy," and for her performance the lady in question receives this papers congratulations. This is the second occasion in Dunedin on which Miss Curtice has been: asked to fill an important part at a few hours' notice, the first one being when sh« played Buttercup in "Pinafore, _ Pollard's Opera Company reopen m Dunedin on Wednesday, July 9, for five nighty Oa»aru follows on July 15 ; Timaru, 16th, 17th and 16th; Chnstchuroh, 21st, 22nd, 23rd', and 24th ; and Wellington on July 26. When Mr Alfred Hill oomes back to New! Zealand from Sydney in about cix weeks' time, says the Post, he will be accompanied by a' young Australian soprano, Miss Evelyn) Sgljfc. jjri,o jjrill asgufc iv the .contemplated

production of the legendary musical cantata "Hinemoa" — which was written some years ago by Messrs Hill and Adams, and performed at the last Wellington Industrial Exhibition — in the chief centres of the colony. In the course of a private letter, Mr Hill states that he has hopes of Miss Belig ultimately becoming a famous singer. Besides possessing the neccsary voice and range, eke has the right temperament and a good presence. She kas only made one public appearance a« yet, and that at one of the Sydney Liedertafel concerts, when the critics all spoke hopefully of her career.

An Australian manager, who is now travelling in America, is outspoken concerning the character of the entertainments ho has aeen in the States. He says : "I should like the Australian press and public to see them. Out of 30 shows I have seen there were not two that I would have the cheek to try before an Australian audience. I travelled 1000 miles to se« a drama that Bland Holt would not look at, and yet it is drawing £2000 a week." Mr Edward Lang, of the Gotham Comedy Quartet, who played the part of Abanazer so comically in Mr Musgrove's pantomime of "Aladdin," was married in Auckland, New Zealand, on April 5, at the Roman Catholic Church, to Miss Aggie Geary, of Macquarie street North, Sydney. Mr and Mrs Lang are making a honeymoon trip through America, on their way to London, where the Gotham Comedy Quartet have contracts of lengthy dates. It is interesting to note, in connection ■with Miss Olga Nethersole's production of "Sappho," at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on May Day, that it was on the Adelphi stage that she made her London debut in the "Union Jack," written by Sydney Grundy and Henry Pettitt, about 12 years ago. Things have moved since then. Miss Nethereole has played successfully in America most of the roles created by Sarah Bernhardt, Madame Rejan«, and Mrs Patrick Campbell, while in London her name will be ever linked with the production of "The Profligate," " A Silent Battle," and "The Termagant." * Miss Nethersole is an immense favourite in America and Australia. It was in Australia that she made so much progress in her art that, on rejoining Sir Hare at the Garrick in "A Fool's Paradise," she quite electrified her audiences with her power and pathos. In America ehe set the country bytheearawith her production of "Sappho," at Wallace's Theatre, in New York, where, by the way, «he became the first lady manageress of a theatre. How ehe was haled before a magistrate and committed for trial tofore a judge on the ground that her production of "Sappho ' was contrary to public morality is matter of common knowledge; but it may not be equally well known that Miss Nethewole possesses a manifesto preeented lay the jury setting forth their high appreciation of her dramatic talents and the integrity of her motive in presenting the mueh-discuseed play. Hitherto the only news of Miss Nance O'Neill'e tour has reached Australia through letters from the lady herself, or members of lver comnany. Now, however, that i=he is Hearing we read the following in the St. James's Gazette, of May 2:— "Miss Nance OJNeill, who will open her London Beaaon-*K the Lyceum in the beginning of September, has had a successful tour on her way from South Africa to England. After leaving the' Cane her company appeared one nizht each at Delagoa Bay and Btira. The Cairo season at the Grand Theatre was completely successful, the Khedive and Lord and Lady Cromer, to whom Miss O'Neill was presented, being present at each new piece in the repertoire. After a short season at the Kixinia Theatre, Alexandria, Miss O'Neill will proceed to London." The Chicago Intc-r-ocean of May 13 drvrtes half a column to the debut at the T°mple of Music of Pollard's Lilliputian Onera Company. The article, which includes the remark that "the cuccosp of the little people did not stop a bit short of being remarkable," is cross-headed in the American fashion, "Tot 3 Sinz an Opera"— "Clever Youngsters from Australia Bea;in Season m Chicago." On this side, however, the statement that "at tho Antipodeo the operatic organisations of the adults are simply the juvenile Pol'ard companies grown old." will be received with astonishment. We arc thankful to say that Mr J. C. Williamson's famous Comic Opera Comnany is not formed quite as the American scribe has been led to suppose. Afore than half a million copies of "Funiruli Funicula " aro scattered over the world. Purely evorybodv in England, says M. A. P., Vas whistled or hummed the haunting tune. Tt has been sung in Russia ; it has caught "'he ear of the Jfipane-c; ifc is as well known ~-i France as in Naples, and the story of this ' opular eong of songs is very briefly told. 7 's composer, Signor Luigi Denza, seems to ' -rite bal'ads so quickly that a new publica- ' ion to-day is. to him, a work of the past <o-morrow. But ?s "Funiculi Funicula" — fir-st heard over 20 years ago — may be considered, as far as universal popularity goes, his triumph, it is still of more interest than the pretty "Sleepy eyes," "Sea days," and "Spring love song, " published this week. "Funiouli Funicula." was composed for a lorai fete on the occasion of the opening of the Mount Vesuvius railway, in I^Bo. Signor Denza was then livine in Castellamare, his native town in Italy. The song simply flashed into his mind : he sane ifc himself that night, and on the following morning ifc was heard on everybody's lips, warbled by the minstrels, and an instant success.

Modern Society, on ' the Australian soprano: Mi&s Josephine Deakin, the Australian soprano, who gave a concert at the Steinway Hall on a recent Tuesday afternoon, voa&epscs a small voice, which she employs with a certain amount of taste ; but ehe has acquired a habit of dra^gin? her Bongs, this being especially noticeable in 'Angels ever bright and fair," and in the Jewel song from "Faust." In the latter she made some very inartistic cuts. Her renderings of less ambitious item's, however, were agreeable, though her intonation left much to be desired.

Mr W. 8. Penley hnd his good luck as a comedian thrust upon him by hi 3 batl luck as a merchant's clerk. Not tliat Mr Pcnlev, us "something in Iho City," was a failure in tho ordinary sen^. He was. it is said, anything but backward as a business man. His employers, the members of a wholesale eilk firm, found h,im a m»st excellent clerk, and were delighted with his work, tc which lie applied the industry he now exercises in a very different direction. But they were vnable to keep him in their employment because Jus peculiar treble voice and the comio manner in which he bore himself generally made his fellow clerks laugh. One day the "chief" called him to his office, •nd. while complimentina him upon, hi*

efforts in the "silk line," explain«d to him that as the others could not do their work properly for laughing at him, the firm would be compelled to engage- someons els« in his place. So Penley had a month's notice to leave, and so devoted was the funny little fellow to his business, and so loyal was he to those at the head of it, that for the remaining month of his service at their establishment h» used all means in his power to speak and conduct himself in an ordinary way. In his attempts, however, at not being funny he was more comical than ever, and for this reason his employers, much as they respected him, were by no means sorry when his month was up and he trotted off the pr»mi3es. His last day's work in the City was, as it turned out, his best day's work. It led eventually to his making, out of "Charley's Aunt" alone, nearly £100,000; and it is to be doubted, capable as he always proved himself to be in his City work, if he would ever hay» made such a sum at negotiating rolls of «xtra superfine silk t>n on© of her last literary Thursdays Sarah Bernhardt showed for the first time to the Parisian public the celebrated ermine cloak which has lately been so much spoken of. When the curtain was raised for the third act of the "Dame anx Camelias" the royal garment wa»> spread on the back of an armchair, and the beauty of it was so striking that loud cries of admiration were* heard, accompanied by applause. TJiis upset the jealous artist, on whom, for the first time, perhaps, the idea dawned that her exquisite dresses had something to do with her success. "Us sont idiots, ma parole d'honneur!" she cried, shrugging her shoulders. "Very well. As long as they are satisfied with my mantle I can go on lestiutj. When they are tired of it I can go and play my part." But soon the stamping of feet and the cries of "Sarah ! Sarah !" brought smiles to her face, and she made up her mind to sulk no longer. To an intimate friend, who ventured to ask the price of the cloak, Sarah answered, "If you do not mind, I will keep that to myself, considering that this ermine wrap is Oie ohief remorse of my sinful life. It is a tremendous piece of extravagance." "At anyrate," said Maurice Bemhardt. who, like his mother, totally ignores the value of money, and does not mind a bit seeing her recklessly f-pend enormous sums, "if mother gives a few thousand francs for a cloak, it k, at least, to put it on her own glorious shoulders, which is not nearly so scandalous as to see Mdlle walking every morning in the Avenue de Bois with her three 'toutous' parading in their overcoats of blue fox embroidered at the corner with diamond initials, and led by chains of gold and turquoises !"

A DUNEDIN ACTOR MAKES A HIT. I Brisbane, June 22, 1902. Dear Pasquin, — Just a few lines to let you know that after playing email parts in Adelaide, during the Brough season there, we opened here on Thursday last, in "The Second in Command," and I got my first good chance, playing the part of Lieutenant Barker, which was played through New Zealand by Mr Orlando Daly. Although I only got five rehearsals, three without the rest of the company, iforgive me for saying that I think I iid" well. At anyrate I was warmly congratulated by Mr a.nd Mrs Brough and tho other members of the company. Mr Brough very generously told me that it was an admirable performance, and that I showed great promise. We play it two more nights, and then produce " Lady Huntworth's Experiment," in which I do not appear. My next pood part comes in a new play we are producing here in a week's time, " When We Were Twenty-one." We play here a month in all— thence to Sydney. How is dear old Dunedin? I often think of it. Trusting you are in the- best of form, and with kindest regards, — Yours sincerely, D Maclean.