THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 56

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasqcix. TUESDAY, May 12. Mr J. A. X. Riedle is in receipt of a cablegram from Mr John Lemmone, the eminent flautist, under who3e management Mark Hambourg, the world-renowned pianist, is touring the colonies, stating that the latter is a " colossal success" in Australia, and advises that the New Zealand tour will commence in Dunedin, at his Majesty's Theatre, on or about tho 17th prox. The New Zealand tour of the world's greatest tenor, Edward Lloyd, has not been definitely abandoned, and the individual who stands casual-like and looks a.s much like John Fuller, sen., as anyone eta? present writer knows may drop on us at any minute. Clive, "the great." with Rickards's Company at Dunedin PrincecG, at the conclusion of the New Zealand tour make? for America, having received an engagement ou the Oiphcum Circuit. Mis? Rose Hamilton, of W. and M. panto. "Dick Whittington and Cat," will fill the vacancy in musical comedy ranks caused by the withdrawal of Mies 4ggie Kolton. A big gap to fill. Inaudi, the mental arithmetician of Rickards't Company, is somewhat of a humorist. At the private exhibition given in Dunedin Princess on Wednesday afternoon, a. wouldbe wag asked: "What lay did January 1 id the year 1 fall on?" Quick as knife came the reply, "Sunday ! D- you remember it?" The days and nighis of vaudeville in New Zealand will shortly be numbered. Phis conclusion is arrived at mainly by the bursting of the Dix boom 'nd thr indifferent reception Rickards'f Company has met with in Dunedin. At the termination of Wallace Brownlow'* tour with present Rickards': Company the baritone intends leaving for America Madame Clara Butt, whe had been suffering from a severe illnes«, had almost reccvem, when the last mail left Enclanclj

and waa footed to sing at the Queen' Hall ballad concert. George Titheradge, of Brough fame, is playing Rev. Olivier Barry in "The Story of Winifred" at the Bang's Theatre, Hammersmith. "The Toreador" succeeded a revival of "Paul Jones" at Her Majesty's, Melbourne, what time "My Lady Molly" was in active preparation. Bland Halt is producing a Drury Lane success, "The Price of Peace," at Melbourne Royal. Mark Hambourg, the gifted and exaltad pianist, who has been, booked for a New Zealand tour, opened his Australasian campaign in Sydney on May 2. Julius Knight and Maud Jeffries will visit New Zealand with "Williamson's Company, playing "The Resurrection" and "The Eternal Oity." Musgrove'a Royal Comics, which are mostly that sprightly comedian, Edward Lauri, May Bea*ty, Madame Slapoffski, Josephine Stanton, Piddock, Pringle, Shirley, Courtney, and Co., were at latest appearing at Adelaide Theatre Royal in "The Fortune Teller," the comio opera which has yet to be seen in Maoriland, and shortly. Revival of "Charley's Aunt." the possible lady from Braail, "where the nuts come from," amassed over £1000 at Sydney Criterion for the management. The said management, which is largely Prank Thornton, has not since "■.eased to -smile. Miss Flo. Young, talented sister of George Young, assistant stage manager of Pollard's Opera Company, recently played "Paul Jones in the production of that opera in Melbourne. "My Lady Molly," a new comio opera, music by Sidney Jones, who made "The Geisha" famous, was sent up and tried on the Melbourne dog ou May 9. George Matheson, Williamson's genial "little man ahead," arrived per express on Tuesday to usher in "Holmes" and the individual who would show them things "If he were king." On this occasion, however, "Holmes" is "Secret. Service" and the "King" ie "The Christian." The opening night is set town for May 15, ait His Majesty's. The hundreds who religiously 6tayed outside and hung about the entrances of Dunedin Princess on opening night of Riekardsß season, what time the early door imposition was on, was an emphatic answer to the management's daim for bi extra for the privilege of sitting on not too comfortable seats 40 minutes until the strains of the orchestra broke the monotony of it all. Now the advt. read-s: "No early door!" Lax Maolean, of the Sylvester-Maclean Variety Company, was married on Wednesday morning at the Presbyterian Church, Gore, by the Rev. Mr Gray, to Miss Reggiardo, another member of the company. Mr Maclean is well known all over the colony as an exponent of physical culture. Mr Williamson has just been paid by a man -who admits that he wrongfully gained admission to his theatre 16 years ago. It is a case of payment of conscience money. A few days ago "the manager received a letter from a resident in one of the Victorian towns stating that 16 years ago he obtained admission to a theatre where the firm waa presenting a comio opera by means of a ticket which he had made himself. The writer says he jhough't he was doing a smart thing, but he might just as we'll put his hand into Mr Williamson's pocket and take a shilling out. Since then he had beoome a Christian, and although "you can bidrs evil from man. yon nannot hide it from God," so he now paid the shilling with another skill in? a« interest, at the rate of 6 per cent, for the term it had been owina:. Mr Williamson sent the writer a kindly and appreciative reply, promising to add the money to hie next contribution to charity. Mr Williamson's drama-tic company, which has added "Secret Service" and "The Christian" co its repertoire, has enjoyed one of the longest and, the manager in pleased to report, moot financial'!}' successful seasons that his companies have been favoured with in New Zealand for a Ion? time. Such an experience is quita refreshinc to Mr Williamson, when he rpmembers that once upon a time Messrs G. S ritherartsje, G. W. Anson, AW. Maltby, D'Arcy Staniield, Fra.nk Cato-s, Miwes Ajrnes Thomas. Annie Taylor, and others played "Jim the Penman" to an audience in Maoriland which enriched the troasiivv to the extent of about £2 10a. Mr Williamson now proposes to try the exneriment of sending his company to the West Coast of the -South Island. In the palmy days of the West. Coast goldfiekls — that is in the sixties — Hokitilca was rea'ly the hub of Hip theatrical universe in fTie Island Colony (wvs the Sydney Daily Tele-arrop-h). and Mr J«.me3 Bairtlett built a very larcp theatre ther<\ and named it the Duke of Edinburgh. Many of the host players who came to the colonies visited the Coast, and appeared in the old Duke, to audiences whose get-up con«iHv><l of a slouch hat. a Crimean shirt, moleskins, and a wash, but they kn^w th&ir Bnrry Sullivan, G. V. Brooke, Edwin Booth. Charles Kean, Wa't«r Monteromery, and other great player?. The population most'y consisted of the old hands, who. with the decay of the Victorian goldfields, had left for the new rush in Maoriland. TWtlett, who a.Dn«>ared in Sydney in 1363 in "Old Heads and Young Hearts," was a very popular actor in Australia, and he made an immense hit in one of the he&t of thf» old-time stock dramas, "The Ticket-of-Leave Man," a* Jem DaJton. The theatre he built in Hokitika. was destroyed by fire some years aao. and it lias been replaced by n comfortable but, smaller building. The contracts for Madame Patti's American tour have been signed and delivered. Madame Patti has put up a forfeit of £4000, a.nd the impresario has deposited £8000 in a London bank. The contract stipulates that the singer is to receive £1000 foi each of the sixty concerts, with a percentage on more than- a certain sum of recti;its. She i* to ping twice at each concert with ■possible encores, and her repertoire is limited to popular Entrlitih a.nd American ballads and selections from "Li Traviafa," "Lucia," and the "Barbiere." Alberto, the conjurer, left Du"cdin for Sydney on Thursday last. He talks of giving u» the variety business. Will Jamieson. of the recently-disbanded "Our Firemcm" Company, has received the appointment of advance acent to Rifkards'e Company, at nipsenfc ioi the Princet-5 Theatre." Mr Jamieson left for the north on Monday. An unneevwary and well-droned young drunk was fined £5 by the local court the ot'ipr day for abusive longuaee to Ben Fuller and )i ?how. Stated that the individual had a draft for four figures in his pocket when arrowed. Martyn Hagan. Lucy Fraser. and Co.. who are at present in Duuediu. talk cf acting out

on the road with a email show consisting mainly of the talented Hagan Family. Timo was when* Martyn Hagan and Lucy Fraser were a considerable power in the variety land. Will Jamieson, late Chiretohurch manager for P. R. Dix, and who has recently been running a small show on his own through; the country, has been offered the treasurership of the company which Fred Duval is bringing out to Maoriland from America-. • I am indebted to the proprietor of rheTheatre Royal, Timaru, for a complete list* of bookinge of the- local theatres which, appear at the head 1 of this page. It is reported that the engagement of Jacques Inaudi, the mental marvel, and G. Hunter, the comedian, of Rickarda's Company, expires in Wellington, and that the company will be strengthened by the inclusion of Hill and Sylvainy, the famous trick) cyclists, who have created such, a favourable impresaioa in Sydney. -' v ---' Miss Marie Narelle, the talented 1 Australian einger, who recently went Home, has been received enthusiastically By the musical people of the Smoke. Miss Narelle wa9 offered £25 a week at the Empire, bufe is doing so well at concert work that she has decided 1 to stick to the platform. Poverty Bay belies its name. Fitzgerald Bros.' Ciroue recently hung up a freSh record by taking £320 for one night in Gisborne, and £700 for three performances. At this same place th« prodigal son packed the elephant'e trunk with apples, and when; they were done dropped in a stone. "Lizzie" did not see the joke in a good light, and; presently boy and elephant were playing catch-as-catch-can to the music of the circus band. The elephant evidently knew something about the game, for she caught a much-frightened and very tearful boy about the middle of the waistcoat, and banged him with one-elephant power against the corrugated iron building. This story reads so much like the tailor and the elephant in the school books that I am writing to Dan Fitzgerald for a piece of the boy for purposa of verification. The unfortunate death of Mr William Paull, baritone, well known in Australia (says a New York correspondent), deprives us of a singer of exceptional ability and growing fame. While in St. Louie with the Castle Square Opera Company, Mr Paull accidentally fell from a window in the Southern Hotel. It was in St. Louie, two years ago, that he married Miss Ethel Gordon, of Sydney, who came 13,000 miles from Australia to join her fiance, having been a member of the same company with him {her© two or three yfars earlier. The MiSiiaig Link Dead. — Mr Bostock, the menagerie proprietor, has sustained another great lose in addition to the death of the Zoo elephant, Jingo. Esau, the wonderful "man-monkey," which recently created such a sensation at London Pavilion, has died, the Express announces, from tuberculosis set up by a cold. Esau possessed gifts unprecedented in the animal world, and an eminent surgeon is stated to have been of the opinion that an operation would haveresulted in endowing Esau with the power of "human" speech. Miss Josephine Stanton, the bright little American, recently ployed Miss May Beatty's part in "The Fortune Teller" in Tasmania what time the young New Zeal snider waa lying in a private hospital im Melbourne eating jellies and telling her numerouu visitors what it felt like to be coddled and petted. George Smith, one-tim« genial manager for Wilson Barrett, and now manager of five theatre? in South ifriea, including the Good Hope Theatre (Capetown), Opera House (Capetown), Opera House (Pretoria), His Majesty's Theatre (Johannesburg), aaid the Opera House (Johannesburg), writes from Capetown, under date April 8, io a member of the Witness staff: — "I have bought Mr Ben Wheeler out of this firm, which is much the best of its kind in South Africa. We ha,v« five theatres, and at the present time have under our management Edwardi Terry, Doyly Carte's Opera Company, andi Mrs Lewiu Waller, whikt Pollard is bringing over an opera company from New Zealand to play a season with ue. [The Pollard Company arrived in Capetown on Saturday, April 25. and opened in the Capetown Theatre on May 4. — Pasquin.] We have also a gaiety company coining out from Geo. Edwardes in July. I was naturally very sorry to say good-bye to my old friend, Wilson Barrett — he is one of the whitest men I have ever met. We still, however, have some business relations together. He has some large ventures out here, in which I am interested with him." " Uncle Tom " Dead. — The original of "Uncle Tom" has just died in Kentucky, aged 111. His name was Norman Argo, and he wa« born a slave — the property of General Kennedy. Mrs Stowe t*ot most of her material for "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the Kennedys' place, and Argo wac *he original of her famous hero. The elephant Jingo, purchased recently by Mr Boetock from the Royal Zoological Society, died on board' the Georgic on the 12th March. Jingo seemed to fret and pine away from the time the Gcorgic sailed, .lingo was 22 years old, or seven year 3 younger than hie predecessor Jumbo. He was between lift and 12ft high, and a man of 6ft could stand with his hat on between hie forelezs. Jingo was insured for a sea. risk of £10,000, and £5000 for death from any other cause. Poor Jingo's obituary notices in the American papers were proportionate to his bulk, and betrayed a due amount of compassion for his untimely end, which, according to his keeper, was due wholly to grief at being 1 parted from his con6ort. Referring to Punch's apostrophe, "Wilt thou a home with Pierpont Morgan find, or in the intervening ocean sink?" one writer jays that the last line might seem, prophetic, but it was not, for Jingo did not sink, but floated away to leeward, his back and head showing well above water and his two great ears restinar cm the surface like two huge lily leaver. Much may be forgiven the uninformed sailorman who :omes across this spectacle. Japanese theme? having succeeded so well in opera Mr Bee-rhohm Tree has decided to produce in London the five-acfc tragedy of old Japan, entitled "The Darling of the Gods," lately written by Messrs Belaaco and Lonsj. It- will be. a most costly production. The Daily Express gives the followime: description: — "The play opens with ' a look within, the Yashiki of the Princr! of Tosan — from sunset to dark.' It is a picture of still lifp. with all the wonderfully kaleidosropic lighting of the East, cunningly contrived to subduo the minds of the onlookers to the atmosphere of the drama. This begins with a view of the state hall during the night of the Feaet of the Thousand Welcome. Here the story of the love of Yo-Sam, daughter of the Mikado, for the gallant ,-uUaw Kara commences— a story

which develops ap«.ee until, to save lwr lover from hideous torment, Yo-San betrtys his ten fellovp-outlatvs, only to realiee that hor treachery is vain. For Kara has to kill himself in honour'^ cauee, and Yo-San slaying herself on his corpse, passes through the River of Souls for 1000 years until her t-.ack robes drop from her. and, all in whito. she aso&nds to Kara, whose outstretched arms await her. Between elcomy, inaccessible crags -the flame-tipped smoke of hell licks the eoene. Then, as this is merged into tie Oriental heaven, a blinding white radiance strike* the clouds, into which apotheosis of serene beauty the souls of the lovers are caught up into one." At His Majesty's Theatre Mr Tree will, of course, play Kara. No engagement has y-et been made for Yo-Sam, but Mm Patrick Campbell may be tempted to take the part. The following letter reoeived by Mr Rc-y-nols, of the Princess .Theatre, Dunedin, speaks for itself: — Heathorne's Hotel, Hobart, May 11, 1903. Dear Mr Reynolds. — On the conclusion of our Dunedin season I am writing to tell you bow excellent we found the Princess Theatre for concert purposes. The primary essential for our purposes— viz., that of acoustics, was all that could be desired, in fact, we have never sung in any theatre in. New Zealand thAt has given U3 more general satisfaction. — Yours truly, Edwabd Brjlnscomee.