THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3514, 19 July 1921, Page 44

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES.

By

PASQUIN.

Monday. July 18. Mr Philip Newbury will make his reappearance at the Princess Theatre this evening. The favourite pair Miss Maud Courtney and Mr O. are also on the bib, and a third attraction is the debut of Mr Donaid (Stuart, who recently appeared at liis Majesty’s with a Digger company. In addition, the Mimi Diggers will appear in a one-act farce, and tne Rev. Frank Gorman and Civaili and his dogs will also contribute to the programme. The Chei niavsky j rio will commence their Dunedin .season this evening. Tile 'Tlumpty Dumpty” Company concluded its. Dunedin season on Thursday night. It appeared at Timaru on Friday night. The New Zealand tour then ended, and the company disbanded. Air W. S. Percy, who is returning to Australia under engagement to J. C. Williamson (Ltd.) will be leaving England with his family this month. In October he will probably open with ‘'The Naughty Princess” and go into pantomime at Christmas. Since leaving Australasia he has played with W. -Savage at the New Amsterdam Theatre, New York, and he has toured the whole of England, Ireland, and Scotland with Sir Alfred Butt’s company in “The Boy” and “High Jinks.” He has spent a year at the London Hippodrome with his ow,n sketch company, and was in the cast of ‘‘Oh, Don’t, Dolly” at the Criterion Theatre, ‘‘The Girl and the Boy” at the Duke of York’s, and “Medora” at the Alhambra. Mrs Brown Potter states that she has permanently retired from the stage. She has taken up what she declares will foe her last abode above earth in the Isle of Guernsey. Miss Marie Tempest and Mr Graham Browne are appearing at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne. They opened their season with “'The Great Adventure.” Dame Nellie Melba handed a laurel wreath to Kreis'er, the celebrated violinist, on his return to London at the Queen's llall i-n May, and his playing caused a great demonstration by the audience. ‘‘He is a king among violinists,” says the Pall Mall Gazette. ‘‘From the commencement of the Vivaldi one was thrilled with the amazing vitality of his playing, and the fidelity with which it reflects the emotion of the music. Here was -no mere exhibition of skill, such as the same building has seen acclaimed in recent seasons. It was masterly interpretation.” Mary Bickford and Douglas Fairbanks celebrated the first anniversary of their wedding by a quiet gathering i-n their Beverly Hills home. Miss Pickford’s mother end her brother Jack, Robert Pairbanks and his wife, Wanda Hawley, and other close friends of the couple were the guests. Mr Benno Moiseiwitsch and his wife (Miss Daisy Kennedy 7) returned to England m May after their long tour of Australia and America. They were to appear in London with other noted musicians, singers, and actors at a performance for a charity. Air John Masefield, at the invitation of the Council of the British Academy, delivered the annual Shakespeare lecture at King’s College recently, and gave a summary of all that had been heard of the poet: since he became subject to speculation. None had bad odder things said about him by his admirers. Books and articles bad been written to prove that Shakespeare was God, the devil, an Irishman, a Welshman, an Italian, and a Scotsman; that he was a butcher, schoolmaster, soldier, printer, and a criminal lunatic, arid that he was an illiterate boor, a political conspirator, a courtier, a lady, and another that he did not exist at all. A sillier thing than all these silly things, said Mr Masefield, was (bat the plays known as Shakespeare s were written by Bacon. He did not know whether any Baconian had died for this theory, but he still hoped. Once more the ‘‘Vicar of Wakefield” is appearing, on the stage in London. Goldsmith’s famous story was first dramatised in 1819, when Thomas Dibdin produced his own version at the Surrey. Later, it became an opera at the Hay market, and then Tom Taylor made a fresh adaptation. Others followed, until Wills's dramatisation was presented by John Hare. This bore the title of “Olivia,” and is the play which is numbered among Irving’s famous Lyceum productions, especially as Ellen Terry then played the name part. In more recent years i 1.0 rights have come into the hands of Normal) Forbes, who, in conjunction with Viola Tree, has revived Wills’s play for a. series of matinees at the Aldwyeh. The new Olivia is Gladys Cooper. While “The Maid of the Mounts ins” was piling up a record in Melbourne, in Sydney another musical play was running well past the century performance. This was “The Lilac Domino,” which, when it- was withdrawn to make way for “Firefly.” had reached its one hundred and fifty -fifth performance. “The Lilac Domino” ran for

three years in London. The book is bv Harry B. Smith (who wrote “The Belle of New York”), the music bv Charles Cuviilier. It is said that during the day of a recital Aliseha Levitzki, the famous Russian pianist who has taken Melbourne by strum, does not stir from his room. During the morning he rests. He eats sparingly of lunch, then rests, alter which he practises for at least tv. o hours. lie remains in his room until shortly before the time at which the recital is to start, and arrives at the concert hall about 10 minutes before his first item. On off days, however, Levitzki is a cheerful, natural young human being, fond of outdoors, and with a partiality for the picture shows. It is expected that Dame Clara Butt, who, with Kennerley Rumford, is to tour Australia and New Zealand under the J. and N. Tail direction in two or three months’ time, will give from 30 to 40 concerts before she returns to England. The 23 weeks’ run of “The Maid of the Mountains” in Melbourne has put up a record in that city. It is interesting to recall some of the musical plays which have previously scored runs that were regarded, tn others years, as phenomenal. “Florodora” ran for 16 weeks, “Going Tip” 15, “Forty Thieves” pantomime 14 weeks. Katinka” 13 weeks, and “Our Miss Gibbs” 12 weeks. It is safe to say that “The Maid of the Mountains” could have easily added another four weeks to its season had not managerial exigencies required the comic opera to be withdrawn earlier in order t-o allow of its transport to Adelaide. At 3 o’clock on Friday afternoon, May--13 (writes a London correspondent), every picture theatre throughout the kingdom had a solemn pause for two minutes, during which the pictures were switched off. This was a tribute to Mr Fries* Greene, the man who invented the kinema, who was buried that day in Highgate Cemetery. The funeral service itself was held in Red Lion square, just behind the old New Zealand Military Headquarters, off ITolborn. There were many wreaths, the most impressive one being in the shape of a model of a kinema projector, while the film renters sent a “screen” of white flowers. It was a great tribute to the man whose work has brought pleasure into millions of humble homes, to a man, too, who kept on, undaunted by hardship and poverty 7, towards the goal he had set before him. WELLINGTON • .- rtliiStt.H.% By Li-.i-.ii pax July 15. Dear ‘‘Pasquin,”—The Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company is meeting with the success it deserves. The productions as they come seem better than the predecessor. Thus “The Mikado” was better than “The Gondoliers,” and “The Yeomen of the Guard” better than “The Mikado.” It ,s most satisfactory to learn that the Wellington public is appreciating this musical feast to the full. The audience-s have been large, and on Wednesday the big Opera House was full to witness “The Yeomen.” I am quite sure that the season could be extended to the profit of the management and the public. When the opera company moves on “Chu Chin. Chow” will come in, opening on the 2-6th. Already Mr Russell is here to see to the preliminary arrangements. “Chu Chin Chow” broke all Auckland records, and it should do the same here. That cultured entertainer Mr Alexander Watson is due here on sth August, and will give his recitals in thp Concert Chamber. Through the Moeraki's being taken off the Sydney run at short notice it somewhat upset Mr Watson’s arrangements, but he has managed to secure a passage on the ’Frisco boat Tahiti, and will be in Wellington on time, though the dates for Blenheim and Nelson have had to be cancelled. Nellie Foster, the clever violinist, is back at Fullers’, and delighting the audiences with her artistry. To-night Louis Loudon makes his reappearance, and the Whimsical Wades make their first appearance. On Monday next a pantomime-revue, “Robinson Crusoe” is to be staged. Jennie Hartley, here with “Sinfcad the Sailor,” has joined Fullers’, and will tour the New Zealand circuit in due course.