THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 66

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Br Pasqcin. i

TUESDAY, October 26, 1909. In an issue a. few weeks 'a^o readers were advised that an enterprising management was in negotiations with an Australian firm to secure f or Maoriland two big London *succe=<es >n the musical comedy line which hac' created a furore on the"* Australian gido. At the time-these negotiations were pending' I was pledged to secrecy a, to the identity of the management and also the names of the musical comedies. A cable received this woek from Melbourne '"clears the air.'' announcing the succots of the negotiations and advising that Mr A. Mo-s. of this cit\, and proprietor of Pollard's Opera Company, has secured the New Zealand rights of the Dutch, play, " Miss Hook of Holland," which will be staged at Christchurch on Boxing Night. Anothei comedy which is being negotiated for is " The. Belle of Mayfair," anc" word may be expected any time in respect to that bright work. With the addition of '" Hook cf Holland " and I " Belle of May fair "' to the repertoire, j Pollard's Opera, Company should maintain a successful run in New Zealand. i By the way, it is past understanding ] why the Pollard Opera Company's manageI merit ha\e not rnU-ivd into negotiations i for '"The Earl nm\ tho Girl." one of the best of musical eomcclio*. which the late John F. Sheridan introduced to Maori- { land audiences thiee years ago. '' The Earl and tho Girl' ha* not only a well defined plot, some character in construction, and muc-h that i- eroo-cl in mu«ic. but it- thomo throughout U abo\" th" standard of much that i»a--eo foi morn the-e day-. Among tho \i=ito;-s to die city at pr-^en. i- Mr Stxnlcy Giant, who was lu-t m Dunrdin ;<> bu^in^-; inanatror for the late John V. Slr-'idan. with tlic " Cinclprolla ' Pantomime Company. On tins occasion Mr Grant comes along as tmuing manage-r kfor Mr Edwin Geacli. who has organised a dramatic company to iila\ the sub-towns an -I «rna!ls « irh "The Fatal Wedding. " Midnight W<-dding," and '" An Englishman's Home.'" AH the original scenery v ill be used for the two former productions -.liile the Tin-Can Band, which was -uch a feature of tiie p.emier production , of "-The Fatal Wcrldiiijs." will bo a «ociatcd Hirh the coming attraction Th«_ members of the compam arrive vi Dunedin in tnc coui-s- of a few djvs. to rehears prior to 'etti'nft out on th« tour which commoner in Invprcargill on Saturday, iSon'mbcr 6. All the towns fca\e the four rent res will be visited, the tour concluding in the North in February noxr rhe Dunedin sea^n of the Julius Knight Company concluded on Tuesday evening with a l'oviMil of "A Royal Divorce and this aVedn«=<l-ay) morning Hip members oi the oiiranu-ation Jeft by train for Invercargilir where two niglv.? will be played prior to returning to Christchurch. where the company is duo for Carnival week. Since last week the company has staged

'" Beauca-ire." '"Scarlet Pimpernel,'' '"The Sacrament of Judas,'' '" An Englishman's Home," and " The Sign of Ifoe Cro l^."' The curtain-raiser to '" An Englishman's Home"' was a masterpiece, clever in construction, powerful in theme, and the very essence of drama in tabloid. " Beaucaire " was a delightful revnal, likewise " Pimpernel" and "The Sign oi the Cross," but "An Englishman's Home" f ailed to grip the audience, though I have it on good authority that the Dunedin public received the play more seriously than elsewhere. Anyone who starts out seriously to criticise '"An Englishman's Home" from the usual viewpoint is wasting time. The play was written for a purpose, and the moral sticks out in every act. It is another matter to get the gublic to accept it. It is not generally known that an Australian management, realising the support accorded by New Zealand playgoers to pantomime, had in view the question of opening with a big pantomime in Auckland at Christmas, and- touring Maoriland with the show prior to visiting Australia. At present New Zealand doe& not see the big pantomimes until eight or nine months after they have been staged in Australia. By this time much of the freshness is worn off and in some instances the original oasts are changed. Despite this the pantomime draws enormously. .Now, the management which realises the possibilities of New Zealand as a show country, and which expresses that appreciation in a "practical manner is going far to establish itself in this Dominion, which has long supported enterprises from the Australian eide. It has often been expressed by managers that for its population New Zealand is the most wonderful play-going country in the woi-ld— a ' statement which those who know will be prepared to admit. The management which takes Maoriland into its confidence and gives the public the attractions need not fear for its enterThe Carltons, late of the Elite Vaudeville Company, have just returned from a successful touT of the south. They anticipate returning to Australia at the end of November. . The long cessation of vaudeville is to be broken at the end of the present weeK, wher Maurice's Vaudeville Company commences a short season at His Majesty's Theatre on Saturday next. The advance representative has arrived in town to make the preliminary arangements for the company, which by the way has met with splendid receptions elsewhere in New Zealand. " Mr Harold Ashton, the well-known theatrical representative, is still in America or was when he wrote last, in search of talent for Australia, acting on behalf oi Mr J. C. Williamson. Writing under dat© New York, September 12, Mr Ashton &a-ys, amongst other things:— You will be pleased to know that we have secured a splendid leading dramatic lady here, Miss Katherine Grey, who will sail by the November boat from Vancouver. She is recognised by all the managers as unquestionably the best leading woman m America, and has many big successes to her credit. Salary is of course exceptionally high, but she will prove herself worth it if I am not very much mistaken. Fr&d Rivenhail caJkd to see me the other day. He is doing excellently in vaudeville. Also Mario and Geo. Majeroni. Mario is with John Drew's company, t.he best of its class— drawing-room comedy— m America. Geo. has a!fo don< very well, and I believe has developed an excellent singing voice. He tell 3me he intends remaining in New York all this winter and studying with a view to trying his luck in opera. Irene Dillon will play the- leading soubrette part i« "The King of Cadonia and ha«s just started rehoa.rsals. Irene looks ac if she has a good future here. lne regular theatrical season has started, and practically every theatre is open, but so far very few genuine successes have been scored. Apart from the re\ivals of the hits of last year, I think there are only about three «o tax than can look for a year's run— viz., the musical play, lne Dollar Pi-ineess,'" a smart detective play (from the French), " Arsene Lupin, and a rather smart comedj — the title lias just escaped me - by Bolasco. One or two others may pull through, but are doubtful. I am mentioning this to show you the difficulty of securing plays for Austiaha. Not that I wish to imply that a success here must necessary be w with us, nor a failure a failure, but still a.-, a general proposition it holds good, oveept in a play that w exclusively Ameiican in type. That might be a real winner here and utterly useless to us. But there is plenty of time yet for some- «al good things.. * "S*"?. °^ productions are on t f tapis. Ihe Maori team at tho hiuje Hippodrome *now -the biggest of its kind in the world -are <^ idently a novolt.% success, from what I utai. I intend seeing them noxt week. Mr Fred Leslie. Into of th< "Jack and Jill" Pantomimo Company, has been transferred from that company to Ihe King of Cadonia" or ff aiij*arion. and was , nhon Cadonia." which commoner* a Mao.ilaml tour at Auckland or Boxnig Mis- Beatrice Merc-r. lat«- of this ci.y. who was a member of Pollard, Opera to ,„ the dear dead -Ji V . and who for *> nyha, b«en making her ma. k on th ooiic.-rt platform, i« one again in INew Zealand, thU turn- on a vi-it. \ veteran rhoatiKiil representative "> the p^on of Mi- Karnev Le%y aimed "om Melbourne th, other d.v. P«-.,.ff through to Welhnslon Mr l>;y " in Chance of Amlc-on* Dramatic Company which commences a New Zealand tour at Wellington on November 3. FiSf 3000 people attended the cortume recital of «• Juliu* Ctesar ' by the AscheBravton company at tho Town Hall , &J d ney. 7 Included in the audiencs were rnanj W ho are never *oon at a theat re. P»o hxblv it is for ihe ben-fit of this section showed out promincnilv. Mr O*ai Asc" 6 a- Brutue wa» superb; but Mr K. iTennv, « ho had tho vory important .part of Mark Anthony, suffered by co mpari on though he put some wod =ound "orkinto hi, representation. Miss Lily B»»y»° n o-reatlv impre«xd the audience by her perKancTas Portia. Mr Herbert Gnmwood as Cassius, Mr Caleb Porter as CaS, and Mr J. Fr.tz Russell as Casar vere all excellent. 4.oknowlectgcd with th-anks, complimentary ticket tor tihe performance- to be given by tbe Wai4»hi Minstr«l Troupe to oele-

brate the improvements te the local hall. A correspondent forwards the following particulars of the Waipaihi Hall, whicli may Toe of interest to small touring companies. — The stage new is properly built, , being 12ft deep by 23ft wid*e. Proscenium opening' 16ft and 10ft hi.gh. Act drop in front — " Windsor from the river." Back cloth. Wings, forest. An interior will be added ■when fun-.te permit. The improvements make the hall fit for small companies to pay a visit in passing, and as soon as possible dressing rooms will be added, and a piano procured. "My first appearance?" said Mr W. S. Percy to a Sydney interviewer. " The King in. ' The Piratea !' Failure ; no* the opera, me ! Hat fell off ; sword fell down ; heart in fcscts; in fact, don't know where it was. Don't think I had any a* the end of the show. Result, thought this game's no good; so "wrill have a stand-by. Still went on, but tackled scene painting. The company remained Williamson's Liliputians fo.r 12 months, when it was handed over to tihe Pollards. Tom Pollard coached all tho kids. J. R. GrevULe was the manager, and I went wkh ' Daddy ' Lohr, Marie Lohr's father, to New Zealand. What didi we produce? All Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, in which I played the baritono parts, and subsequently all the comedy characters. An actor whe hiad a big influence. on me. was G rattan Rig-gs.. He aleo represented J. C Williamson., Greville being' only with us for three months. Grattan Riggs took an inter-: est in me, anY put a bit of his finish 6n me. He was a fine old aotov. His ' Irish Detective ' was capital character work. He staged ' Hfcmdy Andy.' in which J playedthe name part. The liiliputian.. repertoire was distinctly varied. , staging everything from ' Uncle Tom's Cabin ' to ' Maritana.' • and finally taking up all th< moden stufF, suoh as ' Florodora !' In 1893 the company wenifc to South Africa, where it was known as the Royal Australians, and had a great time, Australians and New Zeala-nders rolling up in ffreat. ityle. There was a big New Zealand night and also a.n Australian night at Jo'burg. We were burned out in Durban, and thereby ban^s a tale. Mr Pollard was very suparstitious. Wouldn't have the ' Dead March ' whistled in t.he theatre, eh? No, not that. His pet aversion was the number 13. There were some extraordinary coincidences certainly. We were burned out in New Zealand on tihe 13th, on the 13trh' in Durban, and when. Pollard heard fchat was the 13th consecutive fire ho became wildly excited!, saying, 'That proves it ; that proves it !' "* " While playing 'Djin Djin' in Wellington, New Zealand, I remember p rather funny thing occurring, which may have moiij bhan passing interest, because of Jie Cook-Peary controversy, one of the seines 1 had to bring or a whitewashed clothes prop, sayinKr, 'I've foiural the North Pole!' Weil, a bit of a kid .came along, and said, '1 want the Pole !' ' What?' I replied. 'Mother wants the Po'e, and she must Jiave it.' This wa* a bit mystifying-, bvA it was all cleared up when the youngster ©add, 'Well, it's washing day, and mother wants the North Pole to hang out the clothes.' The property man, it appe'ara,* had 1 borrowed this- particular clothes prop for ths Pole." The J. C. Williamson pantomime foi nexti Christmas has been receiving 'attention for tihe greater .part of this year off and on, but now the staff have begun preparations in real earnest- Th« cast "has already besn roughly arrangod, and will include several newcomers, miniglecJ with old and tried favourites. In Sydney Miss Emily Nafthan is working away at the wardirobe, and in Medboume Mr W. R. Ccleman is giving his undivided attention to the scenery, which will be varied — in all dearly 20 scenes having been arrairyed. Thar© will ■be the princely palace, occupying the whole of the stage, and there will be the less imposing " front . cloth," which, aotwith-J standimg its apparent simplicity, requires" much time and energy to b.3 spent on it to get the desired effect. Then there arc the frameworks to be built and the mat-tome rj to be adjusted to enable the ec<?n°s to be changed practically mi itan•taneou«ly. and all the hundred and one details to be thought of arid arranged that go to make up a really effective pantomime. Mr Reynolds Denniston, the young Dunedin actor who is playing leading -oles with the Julius Knight Company, was for three yrars with Saas and Nelson. cast in a number of London kuccps-scs. including"lf I were Kin,g." "Old He'delbrrp," and " Mice and Mon." Aftra- South Africa, Mr Dejinieton visited London, awl there gained a deal of experience under the management of Mr and Mrs Kendall. At the conclusion of the tour with the Kendalls the young New Zealander joined Miss Lena Ashwell's management, and va« understudy to llonry Ainley, a recognised juvenile in London, who ha* been engage! for ar Australian tout by Mr J. C. Williamson. Shortly afterwards Mr Denniston was pngag-ed bv'Mr Julius Kniffht t< come out to Australia, and although tho comuact was origniallv for twelve months, it has boon o\t?nd"cl to four yoar?, tluriny which time Reynolds Denniston lias played with success ;n; n all the 'atter-day pro duelions. ] " Tlu» quicliPit thing in production I ever hiiullod," remarked Mr Gerard Covcntiy. sratro dirrctcr of '"The Belle of New York." "was Uw> pantomime 'Australia.' In»tiucticns were given Ijv Mr J. C. William-on on Decembfr 9 that it was to be stacrrd, a-nd the premiere was announced for December 23. When I started in the dialogupwas not written, the music wae not rca<ly. not a chorus girl was entraged even, and most of the effects were still in the clouds. But ue got down to work, arid sure enough the ouitain went up for the first performance on the advertised date. It is all very diffeient now. ' Ala-rVlin,' the pantomime for this Christmas, has been receiving attention off and on ever since ' Jack and Jill ' was completed. The big effects have all been decided upon and the mechanical departments of the J. C. Williamson workshops are now busy with them. We nave eomo big surprises and are going to eclipse anything in the spectacular way that has been done here before. And it >as been arranged to keep everything secret and make the enjoyment of th©_ first night's performance all the more Keen by the audience being entirely in the dark as to what will come next." Mr Allan Hamilton, is a thea-trtcal manager wi'.h a firm belief- in New Zealand as a field for hia particular line. Other managers n^ay oqniplain at times of the indifferent results of a tour, but Mr Hamilton will produce facts in figures to settle all argitf i^nte against tbe Dominion being

' a good country for a good show. - " Show mo a country of its size and population to beat it !" he says. After that they pay without " seeing."' " But expenses are becoming heavy in New Zealand," said Mr Hamilton to "Sylvius."' "The ren-l of theatres in the big towns is now £100 a week, where it was only £60 a year oi two ago, and expenses all round have increased at least 25 per cent, in the last five or six yea-re. Fares are higher joo — the careful manager has to put down a* least £50 a week throughout the tour fo* travelling a. fair-sized* show through thai Dominion ; yet my experience has been' that if you delivoi the goods which, the public want they will come. The difficulty is to guess precisely what they do want. It's as bad as being a Prime Minister !" A through passenge. by the Warrimoo from Melbourne is Mt Coate9, representing William Anderson's Dramatic Company, " which commences a season in Wellington on. November 3. Mr Cbates was fast here with " The Squatter's Daughter " Company, 10 months ago. Miss Marjorie Murray, who landed in Australia last week to fulfil her engagement with J. C. Williamson, may- certainly claim, to have put in some highly commendable work during her comparatively short sojourn 'on the stage. She ha« not "yet passed the milestone ; which is known as "coming of age," and yet eho has had ~w>de and versatile experience. Her father, and -mother are both iv tb» theatrical profession, and at the age of nine Miss Murray began her career as Cissie Denver in " The Silver King," in. a company which was headed by the- late Austin Melfo'pd "as Wilfred ' Denver. Siw> played that part about a thousand times; and thereafter was engaged for Stephanas in "The, Sign of the Cross," by William Greet. Then the next few years were devoted to an educational training, which i» turn was followed by a stanring tour at the age of sixteen as Alice Faulkner in "Sherlock Holmes." under the direction of Charles Frohman. Afterwards came engagements as the ineenue in " Leah Klesehna," Dick in "The Two Little Vagabonds," and the orphan girl »« "Charley's Aunt." But perhap3 the biggest of her London successes was as Pickles in " The Agitator," by Mrs Oscar Bennger, in which as a high-spirited factory girl she incites , "her companions io go on strike. For her rendering of this part she received a perfect shower of high encomiums from the "press. A tour or Great Britain was arranged for with ncr by Mr Louis Calvert a couple ,of T«a» agp and the result was a triumph as "'Sunday," ar.d later on a3 Kate Creegan. in the new version of "The Manxman, which part she was playing when Mr Williamson aecured he* for Australia. An old comic opera favourite returnee* to Australia by the Ormuz in the person of Mr Claude Baotock, who has been away on a four months' holiday. Hia fellow artists in the company were delighted to have him back once more m their midst, and accorded him a very warm welcome. Althcueh he thinks there is no place likb Australia, and is very glad to be back her© attain, he has enjoyed his trip immensely and has much to tell of in the Old Country. Among the thcatrica* attractions he saw in LondDii l were . • Ibj M«rv Widow" and '"Our M* Gi bbs. Tbe- 'former production he did not like m many respects as well as the A^"' I*™1 *™ presentation of the famous Lehar oper^ but he thinks very highly of "Out Mw Gibbs." and consid-rs that : when in ; a induced out here under the J. C. W.lhameon management, it will make a very <}>x™d hit The Australian cricketers welcomed th© popular actor with open arms, and W« only did he witness several of the tx*6 matches, but ne was an honoured visitor .™ Lord's, and .indeed was the only outsider admitted to the. room I^.^ the Australian team when there. Awrtte experience which Mr Bantock is not hkefe soon *o forget if that he was on the jur* Hurino ■ th» trial of Dhinera, the Indian Snt who shot Sir William Wyll.oJjJ paid the penalty of his crime last month %n" Wednesday evening next ? e^ fnSnse are the many incidents and the manne; n which they are depicted that r.nn h*. e-i-patlv appreciated by mose «'» nova b£t sfth an objective mean, fni The incidents are excepteonaUy flir* \i£t and tragical, and are reproduced m jo lifful a mannei and with such intense enactment as to be thoroughly enjoyed by, tho^e .who relish a powerful dramatic production, although indifferent to the paramount object of the story.