THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3399, 7 May 1919, Page 46

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By IjasQUIX.1 j asQUIX. Tuesday, May 6, 1919. Dunedin is having a dull tune just now so far as visiting companies aro concerned. Still, the public are particularly well catered lor by the vaudeville programme at tho Princess and the tare provided at the various picture houses. . In the Melbourne production ot Going Up" the part oi Grace Douglas—played charmingly in Dunedin by the petite Gracie Layers—is taken by an actress (Miss Lthel Lrskine) who had been engaged in England to impersonate the character. Miss Lavers now takes the part ot the telephone girl. Referring to tno performance ot Miss Erskine, a Melbourne exchange says: JNo great strains are made upon the vocal resources of Miss Ethel Erekme, the new leading woman, who has a pleasing and flexible soprano, but a style which, on Saturday night, was lacking in vivacity. __ Miss Ethel Irving, whose brilliant wqri in Dunedin will long bo remembered with pleasure, was at latest taking the part ot Lady Faneyful in the production m London of "The Provoked Wife." Tho death of Mr Thomas Tilton from influenza is announced from Sydney. For many years he had been before the public of Australia, chiefly in melodrama. Mrs Tilton, better known as Miss Pearl Hellrnrich was in a Melbourne hospital suffering from influenza at the time of her husband s death. She is now out of the hospital, but has not yet completely recovered. In noticing a recent performance in New York of Wedekind's ' r The Awakening of " Mr Hey wood Broun, dramatio critio°of the Tribune, described the acting of Mr Geoffrey Stein as the worst he had ever seen/ Mr Stein brought an action for libel against the Tribune, claiming damages; but the jury decided in favour of the newspaper. Frank Wedeiund is one ot the leading, certainly the most notorious, of modern Gorman playrights. His works display brutal cynicism, nastiness, and a morbid love of unsavoury subjects such as would not be tolerated in the ordinary English theatre. He has been bitterly assailed even in Germany, where, for a, time, he acted in his own plays, of which " The Awakening of Spring" is one of the best known and most unpleasant. Two of the oldest actors in Australia, who are also well known in Dunedin, in O. R. Stanford and John Cosgrove, are now appearing in an Irish comedy drama, "Mother Muchree," at Melbourne Playhouse. After three attempts to play a season in Sydney, Mr M. B. Figman, the American comedian, has succeeded in staging only three performances owing to the influenza epidemic. " Nothing But the Truth" has been pursued by influenza from one end of the world to tho other, having encountered the epidemic in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. In seven months Mr Figman has played for only nine weeks. The company was to go to Brisbane for Easter in the hope of escaping the epidemic. Among the many popular theatrical artists now appearing in Wellington with the Royal Comic Opera Company probably there is none better known to theatre-goers of the Dominion than Mr John Forde. It is many years since he first appeared here aa Captain Corcoran in_ " H.M.S. Pinafore," when produced by Alice and Horace Lingard. Since then he has visited New Zealand with many companies, having been associated with a number of productions by Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove. As John Stofel in " Struck Oil." with Maggie Moore, he is known throughout Australia, as he almost created this character. Many will also recollect his performance of Tod Codd, the rough, hearty, old sailorman in "Beauty and the Barge," produced by Brough and Flemming. Another part played by him under the same management was the Bishop of Solby in the charming "Dr Wake's Patient."

Miss Dorothy Brunton, who, nt latest, ha-d replaced ' Miss Winifred Barnes in " Soldier Boy" at the Apollo Theatre, London, -will, at the conclusion of her present engagement, appear in musical plays under the Sack management. The indications are that it -will be a long time before _ the young actress is again seen in Australia. A striking- new prologue to "The Luck of tho Navy," which was recently .well past its 250th performance in London, is thus described! " Tho curtain rises on absolute darkness. Gradually tho outlines

of a submerged submarine become manifest, and as the light, little by little, grows stronger, you realise that the boat is lying at the bottom of the- ocean, while real fish dart here and there, curious to know what this strange monster may be. Eventually a panel slides back, and the interior of tiro vessel is revealed, while the voice of the captain is heard giving orders, duly repeated by members of the crew, for an ascent to the surface. Altogether an exceedingly off active and arresting picture, calculated to attune the audience to the thrilling events which are to follow." Madame Adelina Patti, the most famous prima, donna the world has ever seen, has just celebrated her seventy-sixth birthday. In her castle at Craig-v-Nos (the Rock of Night), buried in the heart of rugged mountains, the event was marked by a festival of song and dance, but the great singer herself passed the day in the utmost quiet of her room in a great south coast hotel, facing a grey sea and closely guarded from all visitors. Her friends and admirers all over the world will learn with real sorrow that Madame Patti is lying ill, and is not allowed by her doctors to receive visitors. Her husband, Baron Cederstrom, is. with her,_ and her room is guarded by an inflexible man servant, who will allow no visitor to enter. Until, quite recent years she preserved to a remarkable degree the wonderful carriage and' deportment which always distinguished her appearance on the stage, so that it was difficult to realise that, at that time, her ag-e. was approaching 70. She once told an interviewer the secret of her youthfulness. "Up to 40," she said, "I stinted myself to nothing. I loved the very joy of living, and I revelled in the beauty of everything around me. After 40, however, I began to adopt a comparatively strict way of living. Since then I have eaten no red meat and have drunk only white wine and soda. When I feel weak a glass of champagne serves me as a wonderful restorative."

"I took a gambler's chance and went to Broadway—the only place where you can make good." The chance was all in Mr Jerome Patrick's favour (says the ■ Sydney. Daily Telegraph). Aided by natural gifts which soon brought him to the forefront, Mr Patrick, as leading man with David Belasco for three and a-half years in America, has appeared successfully in_ many first-class plays since leaving Australia. He returned to Sydney by the Sonoma, to attend to private affairs, which will shortly take him to New Zealand. Speaking of his experiences, Mr Patrick smilingly recalled how someone remarked to him before his departure from Sydney. " Let me tell you, my. boy, there are 10,000 actors out of work in America. I suppose you will be cast as leading man on Broadway." Fortune favoured him; a few years later, and that prediction, offered satirically, was fulfilled. Since then he has appeared under engagement to Moroseo, Klavv, and Erlanger, Frohman, and Belasco fie has a great admiration for Belasco's genius in theatrical production: " A man who seeks for the best in youth, encourages ideas, and with a great staff around him." Mr Patrick enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, but after being in camp for some months rheumatism laid him low, necessitating his discharge. He is visiting Dunedin, where his father (Mr William Patrick, donor of the- Hocken residence for the purpose of a Soldiers' Club) died recently. After settling up family affairs he will return to Sydney. " Theatrical business in New York is booming," says Mr Patrick. "You see, too, types of people in New York to-day the city man never saw before. They are coming in from all the places outback, to greet their boys home from the war —and a, fine type of folk they are."