The Stage

Otago Witness, Issue 3756, 9 March 1926, Page 76

The Stage

BOOKINGS.

PRINCESS THEATRE. Fullers’ Vaudeville, nightly. HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE. March 11-22—Guy Bates Po3t Company,

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES. By Pasquin. Monday, March 8. Large audiences witnessed the George Ward Snapshots Revue Company’s offering, “Who’s Next?” The plot concerned a matrimonial mix-up in which George Ward, as General 'Hermie Schultz, was the bridegroom. Hermie was quite happy until lie discovered that he was the lady's fifth husband, and that his predecessors had all been poisoned. One of the brightest spots in the farce was the drilling of the “army” under Hermie, in which Bert Le Blanc provided some good comedy. Miss Daisy Yates pleased greatly in “Dutch Lullaby.” The first half was devoted to straight vaudeville, and the Murfayne Duo (xylophone experts), Alex. Kellaway (tenor), Estelle Rose (song and story), Florence Clifton (comedy gymnasts) all presented turns well above the average. Fuller’s Orchestra, under the baton of Mr Fred Stokes, further enhanced the merit of the programme. In “The Masquerader,” staged at His Majesty's on Saturday night, Dunedin had the opportunity of seeing a great artist in a fine play, for “The Masquerader” is a drama wortuy of the genius of Guy Bates Post. Miss Eilleen Sparks played the p-ineipnl feminine role, and the two chief character roles were in the capable hands of Miss Cecil Haines and Mr Winnington Barnes. Other popular members of tnc company are the Misses Jean Athol, Loye Green, Elsie May, Helen Hayes, Jane Salisbury, Messrs Ashton Jurry, Eric Maxim. Leslie Victor, Richard Webster, Gerald Pring, Cyril Wemler, Fred Francis, William Passmore. Harold Brumfield, Arthur Watson, and “Huskie” (the great Dane). “The Masquerader will be staged for four nights only, as William Archer's famous drama of India—“ The Green Goddess”—will be presented on Thursday, and the amusing comedy, “The Bad Man,” will be the offering for the last two nights of the season. Miss Strclla Wilson is a member of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera company now on the way to Australia. London critics acclaim the success of Miss Kitty Reidy, the Australian uctress, in the leading role in “Wildflower,” produced at the ShaftcJ. jry Theatre. “Kaugnroo Flat” will go to every capital city in the Commonwealth and New Zealand, and will possibly be taken to London, where Mr E. J. Carroll is now

arranging for the production of “The Sentimental Bloke.” Miss Mary Jerrold, who will be Susan in “Qualib- Street,” the opening play of the Barrie season, played the same part in the recent London revival. The Daily News said: —“The most notable feature of the acting was the fragile humour and pathos of Miss Mary Jerrold’s Susan. It was as beautiful as an old mezzotint.

“Quality Street,” by Barrie, will be the opening production in Melbourne, on March 20, of the Dion Bouccie-ult Company. Muriel Starr, having concluded her long season at Sydney Criterion, where

“Secrets” was the most popular offering, will do an extensive tour of the “smalls” in New Zealand. , Martin Brown’s “Cobra,” with Mr Owen Nares and his wife, Miss Marie Polini, was playing in London in December. In the new year Mr and Mrs Nares were to go.to South Africa with a repertory of plays, including “Diplomacy,” “Grounds for Divorce,” “The Last of Mrs Cheyney,” and “Cobra.”

Toots Pound, the clever Australian, sister of Lorna, has accepted an engagement to tour America with an all-English company in “A Night Out.” She will play the lending part. Oscar Asche’s failure with his last play, “The Good Old Days,” has not discouraged him from planning ambitiously for the future. With his wife, Lily Brayton, he will appear in a new Biblical play written around the Crucifixion. The pair will also act in six Shakespearean plays (three comedies and three tragedies, including “Macbeth”), and in two new dramas by Mr Asche. One of these is a modern play, the other is a mediaeval drama written around a certain masterpiece by Franz Hals. In this Mr Asche will enact the Laughing Philosopher. Mr E. Temple Thurston has written a play in which Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson are the chief characters. To watch “The Belle of New York,” which the London Stock Exchange Operatic ond Dramatic Society is giving at the new Scala Theatre, is to have an object-lesson in how musical plays have altered. Twenty eight years ago the piece electrified London and the provinces, and it is regarded us a classic example of its particular sort. But how slow it is compared with “No, No, Nanette,” “Rose Marie,” and “Mercenary Mary.” The tempo of the music, the speed of the dances, the pace of the playing are at least 50 per cent, behind the present standards und fashions. From English sources it is learned that Betty Bronson was due to sail for London at the end of January to make her third Barrie picture under the direction of Herbert Brenon. Incidentally this is the first story that Sir James has written expressly for the screen, and he has consented to do it only because of the treatment which Paramount has accorded to his “Peter Pan” and “A Kiss for

Cinderella.” And, as all the world knows, Betty Bronson is Barrie’s own selection for the parts of both “Peter Pan” and “Cinderella.”

Mr Nevill-Smith, who has returned to Christchurch after an extended trip to America and Europe, says that Titto Ruffo, the baritone, has gained enormously since he altered his style of singing. Mr Nevill-Smith heard him in New York. “The two most satisfying singers I heard at the concerts I attended were Werenrath, the baritone, and Vladimir Rossi ng, the Russian tenor. I also heard the wonderful Jeritza in ‘Fedoro. Everything about her is wonderful —her soprano voice, her acting, and her hair. Her temperament, too, is rather wonder ful. It has been responsible for some pretty displays of temper, and a number of exceedingly nasty moments behind the scenes.

“Well, sir,” asked the musician, “what do you think of my compositions?’’ “What do I think of them?” said the critic. “Well, they will be played when Gounod. Beethoven, and Wagner are forgotten.” “Really?” “Yes, but not before.”

Mr Blake Adams, who played leading comedy roles with the Royal Comic Opera Company last year, has succeeded Laddie Cliff in “Dear .Little Billie” in London.

Miss Nellie Mortyne, the veteran actress, who was a member of the Guy Bates Post Company, has returned to Australia to take part in a revival of “Daddy Long Legs.” During his visit to London Mr Hugh J. Ward bought the entire London production, “Puss in Boots,” for his next pantomime in Melbourne. Allan Wilkie has fulfilled his promise to add “Measure for Measure” to his repertoire. It opened the Shakespearean part of his season in Hobart. The old style of actor who was prone to dissipate his substance and finish his life in a battered topper and an old furcollared coat only exists now in comic pictures (says an Australian paper). The actors and actresses of to day are more careful people who, with the usual exceptions, either bank their salaries or Invest them in something they can show for their money. A Gilbertjan situation has arisen over the production of Miss Gwen John’s play “ Gloriya ” at the Little Theatre. London, by Israel Zangwill and George Owen. Mr Zangwill went into theatrical management as a protest against the custom of cutting’ plays without consideration for the authors’ wishes, and now he says the first play by another author that he has undertaken to stage has been so badly cut by the authoress that he refuses to accept it in its new form. “Gloriana,” which was originally entitled “ The Prince,” is the story of the life of Queen Elizabeth. Mr Zangwill is reported to have said: “I agreed to stage ‘Gloriana ’ because I thought it was the greatest play ever written by a woman. Rehearsals were to have begun to-morrow morning, but at midnight last Mr George Owen, the producer, told me that Miss John had cut lier play terribly. And so she haß. I have refused to accept this changeling, for, in niy opinion, Miss John has turned a beautiful psychological study of Queen Elizabeth into *

cinema play.” Mr Zangwill spent the next day trying to persuade Miss John to restore the cuts she had made, but while she made some concessions she was adamant in refusing to restore many of them. “ White Cargo,” a play which has been an outstanding success in theatrical history, with a record of 13,000 performances, opened at the Theatre Royal, Sydney, on Saturday night, February 20, with Mr Leon Gordon, the author, as Witzel. The plot is based on the novel “ Hell’s Playground,” by Ida Vera Simonton. The entire action takes place in a bungalow on the West Coast of Africa, where “an ever-shining sun breeds a damp rot that penetrates not only the vegetation and inanimate objects, but the minds and hearts of the white men who attempt to conquer it.” This drama is now being performed by 11 companies in the United States, three companies in England, and also in European countries. The present somewhat macabre taste for dissecting emotions and picking human psychology to pieces, to watch the wheels go round, probably accounts for tha success of this play. “ Morality,” says Witzel (one of the chief characters, who is “ sticking it out ” fron. purely mercenary motives), “ is a matter of longitude and lassitude,” and in the fever-haunted region, when everything decays, from the bungalow walls to human decency, one is called upon to watch the rapid deterioration of character in beings who would be normal elsewhere. One would expect that English-speaking men, some of them young, would have shown, even in their unhappy circumstances, some sporting instincts, and have occupied themselves with some form of sport (even if it were only cards) as Englishmen do in every climate. But these unfortunates, among whom are a doctor, a missionary, the plantation manager, and his assistant, do nothing but mop their brows, curse the country, drink heavily, snarl at each other, and go visibly to pieces. Their journey along the road to Avernus is expedited by “ Tondeleyo ” —the lure eternal, a half-caste vamp of the most virulent type. She snares the new chum, and, in spite of the remonstrances of liis companions, he marries her. Sneedilv tiring of her hujband, Tondeleyo tries to poison him, is discovered, and is forced to drink the poison herself. Miss Helen Stransky was picturesque as this dusky belle, but the role is crude and stereotyped, and gives little opportunity for individuality. There is only one scene, the living room of the plantation bungalow (which is furnished chiefly with bottles), overlooking a yellow landscape, with yellow foliage and a molten yellow sky.

Speaking of Pavlova's Melbourne season, Sir George Tallis informed the Herald that it would extend over four weeks, and added that the attraction was one of the most expensive his firm had ever undertaken. “Pavlova’s entire com pany of 42 artists is coming,” said Sir George, “and every detail of the performance will be exactly as presented in London, Paris, and other centres. All the original scenery, properties, and lighting effects are included. The m isic is a vital fact . We shall have a grand opera orchestra of our own instrumentalists, who will be conducted by Lucien Wu miser, Pavlova’s famous musica* director. The company will include the wonderful Novikoff, one of the most noted male dancers of the present day. “Five of the happiest years of my Me,” John D. O’Hara said of his long sojourn in Australia, whence he has ju, t returned to be grabbed by Henry Duffy for his production of “Thank U” at the President Theatre, commencing this afternoon (writes the San Francisco Chronicle dramatic critic in the issue of December 27). O’Hara has produced the nlay n °.nd met with great success there as the gentle old clergyman, the Rev. David Lee. “‘The people there are the most hospitable I have ever met,” he went on. “When you go into a hotel one is sure to ask if you are a stranger and propose a trip around the bay, or M invite you to his home. My wife was ill in one of the smaller towns in few Zealand The Mayor sent his secretary with flowers for her; several of the ladies of the town wanted to take her to their homes to nurse her, and the hotelkeeper’s wife went 85 miles with her when she was able to be moved and was coming to rejoin me. That’s real hospitality.” WELLINGTON WING WHISPERS. (By Peter Pan.) Dear Pasquin,—Musically and theatrically Wellington is at present receiving full attention. At the Grand Opera House a return season of the J.C.W. Musical Comedy Company is being suitably appreciated, the offering being “Whirled into Happiness,” all the principals of “Leave It to Jane ’ appearing in roles just as funny as, if not more entertaining than in the first offering. Nora McManus, a New Zealander, is in the cast, and makes an ideal heroine. The members of the company attended at His Majesty’s in full force on Saturday afternoon last, prior to opening at the Opera House in the even,r ?g, and gave a rousing reception to diminutive Phil Smith, whose daughter Mona Bnrlee is in the Williamson Company. Dame Clara Butt has had to postpone her concort to-night owing to a chill, but is announced to fulfil her engagement for Saturday night. The diva is resting after her strenuous southern tour. On March 15 we are to have a new English comedy company, headed by Frances Cave as Petronell, in “The Farmer’s* Wife.” Miss Cave has come out from England, and on conclusion of her engagement with Williamson’s goes to New York to fulfil a contract with Belasco. A Repertory Plays Club has been formed in Wellington, under the expert direction of Leo dti Chateau, who will bring to aspiring actresses and actors all his stage experience; the club aims to develop the histrionic talents of its members, and in April is staging its first production. “The Devil’s Disciple,” G. Bernard Shaw’s famous play. Wellington elocutionists are joining up fast. With vaudeville at the Fuller House, and pictures at all the smaller houses, there

has been a wide variety to choose from this ' ve^J£ \ Opening to-morrow at the I)e Luxe is “The Phantom of the Opera,” a screen epic of the year which cost thousands to Produce, necessitating the erection of a jpecial reinforced steel replica of the Paris Opera House,