THEATRICAL-AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3430, 9 December 1919, Page 60

THEATRICAL-AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By Pasociix.

Monday, December 8. The chief new act to be presented at the Princess Theatre to-night will be the offering by the Montrose Trio. Theirs is a feature compounded of singing, comedy, dancing, and bagpipe diversions. Two men and a girl comprise the troupe, and their exhibit is claimed to be eminently worth while. Doreen Dore, the young lnvercargill song and damce artist, will make a reaxipearance. For the rest new offerings will be made by Miss Maggie Foster (violinist), the Newmans (uni-cycle experts), Preston and Perrin (dancers), Renaux and Arta (xylophonist), Miss Daisy Harcourt (comedienne), and Miss Lillian Fontenoy (balladiste). On Saturday night the wonderful Kenna Brothers concluded their brief season, and the popular Falvey Sisters and the animal troupe" s also had a hearty sendoff

•The season to bo opened at His Majesty's Theatre to-morrow night by Miss Emelie Polini and her company should prove an artistic success, The opening piece will be "The Eyes of Youth," vvhich will be followed by "De Luxe Annie." The tour in Australia, and in the northern New Zealand towns of the brilliant actress has proved quite, a triumph. Miss Helen Gard'ner, the popular Dunedin soprano, who has playact many leading parts in amateur productions throughout "the Dominion, is, I understand, to take up her permanent residence in Wellington as a. teacher of singing. A number of notable artists under engagement to J. 0. Williamson (Ltd.) will shortly arrive from England and America. Jenny Hawtrey is coming out to. appear in the big revue, " Bing Boys on Broadway," in Sydney at Christmas; Marriott Edgar, the Dame of the ' Sleeping Beauty' pantomime in Melbourne, will _ arrive from England; Eva Lynn, the principal girl, will come from New York. From London will come the eccentric comedians, the Egbert Brothers, for the "Sleeping Beauty" pantomime. Winifred Roma, from Drury Lane Theatre, London, will be the principal bov of the pantomime. For the pantomime also is coming Peggy Doran, a notable English character actress. Fritz Kroisler, the famous violinist, was refused permission to appear at the Opera House at Louisville, in Kentucky, because he is an Austrian. Miss Emelie Polini is to return to Australia early in the new year to appear at the Sydney Palace Theatre in "The Little Damozel," a play which has not previously been seen in the colonies. After 15 months in Australia Mr M. B. Figman •'and his wife, Miss Lolita Robertson, were to make their final public appearance in Svdney in "Nothing But the Truth" on the Friday, amd to leave for the United States on the following Wednesday, December 10.

Miss Maud Beatty, who was last seen here a few months a°-o in "Going Up," is leaving' Australia to be married. Returning to country from America in 1918. after a long nbssnee, Miss Bcatty met Mr S. G. Kibble on board the Sonoma, and it is to become his wife that she is leaving the statre. Mr Kibble, who is a, member of a well-known Queensland family, was born in Sydney, and about 20 years ago went to the Argentin.9 and ranidly made a reputation as a breeder of prize cattle. He fought in the Boer war and the great European war. in .which he was severely wounded. He is the own.?r of a station near Buenos Aires. As an actress Miss Bcatty has plnved many parts, ranging from principal "boy" in pantomime to leading contralto in n series of Gilbert anrl Sullivan revivals. Her sister. Miss May Beatty of the late Edward Lauri) is also well known to New Zealand plavcwrs. From latest advices Messrs J. and N. Tait will s»md " Daddies" through a tour of New Zealand in January next. I am not sure whether the cx-Divnodin actor, Mr Jerome Patrick, who is taking the part of R. Robert Audrey, one of the quartet of bachelors who swear off mai-riage. will come to New Zealand with the company. I understand that Mr Patrick has an_ engagement to play in pictures in America early in the year.

Miss Emolie Polini says she does not know any oountv of ths approximate dimensions of New Zealand which presents such a variety of scenery and topographical contrasts as does New Zealand. " I thought," she said in the course of an interview, "that after three weeks in Wellington I knew oretty well what sort of place New Zealand was, hut on reaching Auckland

I saw that I had judged a .little rashly, for after the bracing non-stop winds of Wellington I found myself in a city like the beginnings cf another .Sydney, a place with a very beautiful harbour, dotted with interesting" islands of Lnriumerabla seaside spots, each with a shelving beach of yellow sand, with the languor of a sub-tropical country in the air on its sunniest days. This, 1 thought, was the real New Zealand. But I came here (Christen urch). and I find myself in a nice subdued English provincial town, with its long, flat streets, all radiating from an old grey cathedral, and a dear little soft-flowing stream with green banks, to waft me back to Canterbury, or Leicester, or Stratford-on-Avon. Indeed, I can't for the life of me believe that I am not in England when I stroll in the early morning along the banks of the stream and under oaks and chestnuts _ that lead to the museum and college. It is_ all so intensely English that it makes me just a tiny bit homesick. I don't know Dunedin yet, but am now primed for any surprise. In the meantime I'm brushing up my knowledge of Burns in case of accidents."

The New Zealand rights of the- drama, " The Luck of the Navy," have bsen secured by Mr Allan Wilkie from Messrs J. and N. Tait, who at the present juncture have not a purely melodramatic company in the field. This spectacular and patriotic play, which had a good run in London, will be produced by Mr Wilkie on his second tour of New Zealand, which commences early in the new year. Miss Muriel Starr will appear in a series of new plays under the J. C. Williamson direction at His Majesty's Theatre on Wednesday, December 17. It is generally allowed that, as the cabaret singer in "The Man Who Came Back," the play that will open her season here. Miss .Muriel Sta.rr again illustrates her remarkable versatility. Tne role is unlike any other in which she has hither to appeared. Said to b 6 a play of varied interest, "The Man Who Came Back" is credited with sweeping, you along with it from the mansion of the Wall street millionaire in New York to the whirling life of a cabaret' in San Francisco, takes you to the glamour of the Orient, shows you the inside of an opium den in Shangnai, and introduces you to the perfumed glory of a pineapple planation in Honolulu —altogether an enchanting voyage of discovery It is not a dream of crooks and crime, but a story in which figure real every-day people. The second production will be "The Bird of Paradise." Miss Starr will have with her a brilliant supporting. staff, including Messrs .Frank Harvey, Arthur Styan, J. B Atholwood, James Hughes, Edwin Lester and David Belbridjje, and Misses Marion Marcus Clarke, Bertha Ballenger, and Ethel Morrison. D'Oyly Carta left £24-0,000, which is a record among British theatrical fortunes. Charles Wyndham's £197,000 was only £4OOO better than J. C. Williamson's fortune. Harry Rickards amassed £135,000 in Australia, and Edward Moss went £IO,OOO better in England. George Alexander left £90,000, J. L. Toole £BI,OOO, Kendal £66,000, Herbert Tree and Edward Terry £44,000 apiece, and Henry Irving £20,000. Gilbert's bit just got to six figures, doubling Sullivan's £50,000. In his. notice of "Eastward Ho," the new and elaborate production put on by Mr Oscar Asche at the London Alhambra, the dramatic critic of the Sporting and Dramatio News, after referring to the poor quality of the book and the songs, remarks: "The truth is that _Mr Oscar Asche was brought in to orjranise something gorgeous and Eastern; this he has done; but it has been overlooked that other ingredients are necessary to a revue. I make no complaint of the lack of plot. It might well be quite enoagh that two or three groups of people go out to Egypt in search of treasure. But something will have to be done to brighten up the life on the boat on % the way out. On the first night the only thing to bo noticed was a ballet in which various kinds of cocktails were represented, and a o-or-geous scene in an Egyptian temple in which Miss Loraine played a goddess and took a love affair. apparently as a serious matter. The effects in both oases were beautiful, and showed a most remarkable resourcefulness in the designing of costumes and a very nice taste in the choice of colours. The modern dresses throughout were also, I gather, a source of consioorable interest. But I imagine that it is a risky experiment to run a revue on its costumes and colours alone.''

In aid of the Edith Cavell Homes and St. George’s Orph mage a rew play. “Dr James Barry,” written by two exceptional women —Miss Olga Raoster and Miss Jessica Grove —with an exceptional woman as its leadmg character, has been staged in London at St. James's Theatre A woman who went through the greater part of her life as Dr James Barry lived in England more than ICO years ago. She ros» high as an army surgeon, ending her career as Inspectorgeneral of the Army Medical Forces, and her sex was not discovered until her death, when past 60 years of age. The drama shows her flying from the brutal tyranny of her husband, Siv Thomas Marrymore, with the aid of a loyal friend. Lord Charles Somerset, who, as Governor of Cape Colony a centurv ago, assisted her to reach Capetown, where she merged her identity in that of a dead anny surgeon. The play represents her as a man of handsome face and figure. who unconsciously works havoc with the hearts of the garrison belles. Dr Barry, however, is at all times a. noble fellow. devoting his life to the betterment of gaols and lospitals, and restoring To her betrothed a foolish girl who fell in love with him. and for ■whom he fought a duel with a bullying rogue who insulted her. There is a touching final scene in which, as a lonely, white-haired man, he dies as the shadows gather in his shabby London lodgings, strong and faithful To the end, tended to the last by his faithful Malay servant.