The Stage

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 72

The Stage

BOOKINGS. FRINCESS THEATRE. Fullers’ Vaudeville nightly. HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE. February 15, 17, 19.—E. J. Gravestock Concert Company. February 22 to March 3.—J. C. Williamson Company. March 5-10. —J. C. Williamson Company.

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES. By Pasquin. The Hector St Clair Company concluded its Dunedin season at the Princess Theatre on Saturday night, and received a fine send-off. On Monday night the Robert Roberts Bon Bon Revue Company opened a Dunedin season, and created a very favourable impression. There are 30 people in the company, and they presented a wide variety of entertainment. The actual title of their was ‘’Screams and Scenes.” The Bon Bon Company includes Robert Roberts, Mary Webster (vocalist). William Innes (vocalist), June Mills (comedienne), Maurice Jaffey (vocalist), Arline Patterson (dancer), George Edwards, Will Gilbert, Molly Hughes, Nick Moreton, Eileen Moran, and Eleven Rascals (acrobats and dancers), and a number of other artists. The Maurice Moscoviteh Company concluded its season at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday night. The company opened on the previous Saturday night with “They Knew What They Wanted,” an impossible kind of play with little claim to holding the “mirror up to Nature.” The piece, however, was well played, as was the wellknown and popular “Trilby,” and then followed “The Fake,” by Frederick Lonsdale (author of “Aren’t We All?”) The concluding play was “The Outsider,” which was staged by the Moscoviteh Company on its last visit to Dunedin. The Phyllis Lett concert party will open its New Zealand season in the Wellington Town Hall on Saturday, February 5., Amongst those assisting Miss Lett will be Miss Margaret Mac Gibbon, who is a native of Castlemaine (Victoria), and is an accomplished violinist. She has also a serviceable soprano voice, and is a first-class pianist. “The Australian actor or actress is invisible abroad,” declared James Hughes', who appears as the sergeant of the Royal North-West Mounted in “Rose Marie.” “Everywhere you go in New York,” he added, “you meet Australians who are pushing their way to the front. They seem to be able to adapt themselves to any circumstances, and their versatility makes them able to play any type of part. So they cannot fail to succeed. American managers think highly of Australian artists.”

On Saturday night. January 29, the first production in Melbourne of “The Last of Mrs Cheyney” was given. Renee Kelly has achieved something of a triumph in Frederick Longdale’s notable play, and amongst others in the cast were Alexander Onslow, an actor well-known in England and America, Hylton Allen, Reginald Wykeham, Pirie Bush, Leslie Victor, Fred Conyngham, Antony Holies; Jackson Wilcox, Phyllis Best, Dorothy Fane, Gwen Burroughs, Emma Temple, and Margaret Darner. The production is by; Dion Boucicault.

The news that Paderewski is to come to New Zealand for a second tour in June next, after the lapse of more than 20 years, recalls the fact that he had planned this second visit much earlier—about 1915, in fact —but he was obliged to abandon the proposal at the outbreak of the war. He then gave up his concert work in order to devote his time entirely to the great task of organising relief measures for the multitude of his suffering fellow-countrymen in the regions devastated by conflict. Then followed, after the armistice, his entrance into the field of politics, when he became Premier of Poland. All this time it was believed that his career as a concert artist was over. His return to the concert platform aroused extraordinary enthusiasm. When in 1922 his American tour was announced, the chief difficulty which beset Mr George Engles, his New York concert manager, was that of meeting the demands of the vast public which clamoured to hear the famous pianist. The gross receipts of the tour completely dwarfed those of Paderewski’s second American tour, which were regarded in their day as wonderful. That was in 1892, when he gave 67 recitals in 26 cities, and the receipts amounted to £36,000. But on this 1922-23 tour this sum was actually surpassed in 17 recitals only out of the 70 which made up the total programme. For his one San Francisco appearance, in the huge Auditorium, which is estimated to hold 11,000 persons, the takings were £4900, with seats at £1 and Bs.

Leo, Jan, and Mischel■ Cherniavsky, whose recent Queen’s Hall concert was a musical feature in London, have just completed a tour through Great Britain and Ireland under the management of the International Celebrity Concerts. Previous to that, they had great successes in Spain, where they gave six concerts in Madrid. The Cherniavskvs were to sail for an extensive tour of the United States on December 30. They have 81 concerts to give Jrom January until April, and a Trans-Canadian tour of 40 concerts during the months of May and June. They are also engaged to appear for 25 concerts through Mexico next September and October, and they are to tour the United States again in Novem-ber-December, 1927. The Cherniavsky trio have been engaged by Lionel Powell and Holt to return for another tour through England in January and February, 1928. The most interesting theatre event in London recently was ■ the • week-end production of .“Romeo and Juliet.” Jean Forbes-Robertson, in playing ' Juliet, essayed her first Shakespeare ‘role, while Lawrence Anderson was Romeo and, Robert Loraine Mercutio. Neither

Anderson nor Loraine has played these parts "before. All these three players have famous Shakespeare progenitors. Jean is Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson’s brilliant daughter, and was through New Zealand with her mother, Gertrude Elliott. Lawrence Anderson is a nephew of lovely Mary Anderson. Robert Loraine’s father, Henry Loraine, was a great Shakespeare actor in his day. Just on 40 years ago Sir Johnston was Romeo to Mary Anderson’s Juliet. In the forthcoming revival in Melbourne of “Sweet Nell of Old Drury,” Nellie Stewart will have the support of Mayne Lynton (who is her son-in-law, having married her daughter Nancye) and Tom Cannain.

German grand opera, sung by German artists, is likely to be a feature of a season which the Taits hope to launch in Melbourne in September under the direction of J. C. Williamson (Ltd.). John H. Tait said recently that it was intended to produce both Italian and German operas. For the Italian operas some of the favourites of the 1924 Melba company would be brought out again. Granforte, the baritone, would be one of them. Some of Wagner’s works would be produced, if good German artists could be obtained to sing them. Though the repertoire could not be announced until the company had been organised, “Lohengrin,” “Tannhausen,” “The Flying Dutchman,” and “The Valkyrie” would probably be staged. It was hoped to include some of Mozart’s operas, such as “The Ma"ie Flute.” “Don Giovanni,” and “Ze Nogge di Figure.” ° M r E. Brandon Cremer, who was a familiar theatrical figure in Auckland many years ago, is now one of the bestknown cinematograph men in Australia. His daughter, Miss Gertie Cremer, who has inherited a great deal of her father and mother’s histrionic ability, is a bright addition to Ada Reeve’g “Spangles” in Sydney.

The performer who received the most applause at a recent National Sunday League concert in London was a fifteen-year-old boy who had never sung in public before. He works in the pantry of a big London hotel. Thomas Sandilands, the boy, is the son of a Welsh miner. He went to London a couple of months ago. While singing at his work he -was overheard by a musical enthusiast, and was taken to a well-known London teacher. “There are two of us interested in young Sandilands,” said the teacher to a pressman. “We are not yet quite sure what we have found, but we have the highest hopes. , His voice is quite unusual, neither a man’s nor a boy’s. The lower notes are like a contralto, and the top notes sound like tenor.' But it is all in one key; not two voices, mind. I should say it is best described as ‘a boy tenor.’” London is waking up to the fact that American playwrights and producers are taking out of the' country nearly £2,000,000 a year and paying nothing back in taxes (writes a London, correspondent). At the moment there are fourteen American plays running in London, and English agents are now scouring America for more, livery entertainment in the country pays tax, but the Americans behind these plays get their royalties untaxed. The same with American artists, who earn big salaries here and openly boast they pay no taxes to England.

The brilliant new play of Sean O’Casey, “The Plough and the Stars,” has been published by Macmillan and Co., with a sketch of the young Irish author within the cover. The gripping tragedy of the 1916 Rebellion in Dublin is the successor of “Juno and the Paycock,’’ and is worthy to take its place among the best in Irish drama. Anyone who is curious to understand the extraordinary scenes that attended the first production of these plays at the Abbey Theatre, could not do better than read “The Plough and the Star.” The realism with which O’Casey paints the picture of grim death in the streets in Dublin, in those tragic days of 1916, is so vivid that no one can hesitate to label him a pacifist of a powerfully militant type. Yet, without his pointed humour and amazing skill at character delineation, all this pungent rhetoric would be colourless. As it is, the play must rank among the few really great plays of purely Irish origin—a play of infinite pathos and humour, redolent with that picturesque phraseology and imagery which delights the ear in' the works of Synge. As proof that the entertainment business is still holding its end up the most ambitious programme in the history of the world’s theatre building includes plans for 30 new theatres for Broadway within the next few years. Sir Frank Benson recently celebrated his sixty-eighth birthday by appearing in “The Merchant of Venice” at a matinee, and as “King Lear” at night. Not many actors at his age would care to take on two classic roles in one day. Dark-eyed Vera Pearce, of the contralto voice, has been given a good opportunity in “My Son John” at the Shaftesbury, London. She has been very fortunate in her experiences since she left Australia, and is hardly ever out of a London engagement. As a joyous matron eager for the unauthorised love of a gallant youth whom she has lured to the sunny south, she is said to have given a performance of great spirit and greatly pleased the first-night audience. The plot is good, and it has the strong buttress of'Oscar Strauss’s music. Strauss scored the melodies for “A Waltz Dream.” “The Chocolate Soldier,” and other light operas.

In England Bransby Williams is playing . the dual role of Dubose and Tesucques in “The Robbery of the Lyons Mail.” Irving had one of his chief dramatic successes in these parts, but in a different version. The Irving drama, “The Lyons Mail,” was rearranged by Charles Reade, the novelist, from “Le Courier de Lyon.” The play called for great skill in showing the contrast in character and, moods Between the two men, who were so similar in general appearance that one was condemned for the crime of the other.

lhe strong man” (not quite the same ? S vJmu ca^’ e , r H, ns in man y shapes. In The Best People,” the comedy from the United States which was revived at the Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne, on January 15, we find him in unusual form. He is one Henry, the chauffeur of a wealthy household; and-the daughter of the house, after having refused several representatives of the rank and fashion of New York, as well as a peer from England, decides that this motor-driver is her ideal, and nominates him as the first and last man to whom she has proposed or will propose. This may seem unusual and complimentary, but the chauffeur is not wonderfully ready to accept the compliment. He points out to the fair lady that if any family is likely to be disappointed by such a union it may not be hers, but his; for, after all, what does she know about raising potatoes and pigs in far-away Missouri, to which he intends to return? If she is cut off with a shilling or a quarter of a dollar, as the case may be, can she be a convincing dish-washer or house-cleaner’ Has cocktail-drinking or jazzing ’in New York trained her for these traditional activities’ Marion Lenox is not quite sure that she is so qualified, and accordingly she becomes remarkably obedient and subdued. But her courtship develops as she wishes, in spite of severe antagonism from her mother and from others.

WELLINGTON WING WHISPERS. (By Peter Pan.) t, . February 3. Bear Pasquin,—Wellington will bid' a reluctant farewell to the J. C. Williamson Comic Opera Company-, headed by Marie Burke. Last night “Wildflower” was revived, rich in its Lombardian settings, its songs and its fascinating dances. Miss Burke is the very embodiment of the affectionate, wayward, and temperamental Nina, and again her work last night, as it was two years ago, was superb. For a woman noted for her outbursts of temper to refrain from outbreak for a period of six months, acording to a legal requirement is a wonderful feat; Nina does this, but it is no % easy .task, and in repression Miss Burke is admirable. Mr R. BarrettLennard essayed the part of Gabrielle; played here on the- last occasion by Gus Bluett; the contrast is all in favour of Mr Lennard, whose humour is quiet and clever, away from buffoonery. Charles Zoli as Baston la Roche, the “legal eagle” running Nina’s money affairs, is also a complete success, making the most of his propensities for fun-making. Marie Eaton, an old Williamson favourite, brings back memories of the late Florence Young (with whom she had been associated on many occasions), and acts the role of Lucrezia with that artistry that is hers. Linda Foy is a charming Bianca; Frank Hawthorne is Luigi; Noel Bainton, Alberto; Herbert Browne, Guido; and lan Iredale, Antonio. With its wealth of musical numbers, “Wildflower” is a certain attraction anywhere. The company has been busily preparing “Frasquita” for its southern premiere, and Miss Minnie Everett came across from Australia by yesterday’s boat to look after the dancing side of the lavish production. The return of the Cunningham Comedy Company is announced for Tuesday next. Miss Zillah Bateman made a big impression with - her work when she was here last; she is a delightful actress, and has a charming personality. The company will present “Outward Bound,” a remarkable tale of super-physical life. It introduces its characters as dead people, although apparently living and doing what they did in ordinary life. From light humour to tense drama the play, which is by Sutton Vane, goes on to its strange conclusion. The presentation will no doubt cause thought and discussion, as the subject is unusual and highly debatable.

Miss Phyllis Lett, the English contralto, who arrived from Australia this, week and who has been having a busy time as guest of numerous Wellington clubs and personalities, gives her first recital in the Town Hall on Saturday evening. Miss Lett is a very gracious woman, and her wonderful voice is a gift added to an already gifted soul. The way has been well paved tor her recitals here by Mr E. J. Gravestock, and it is safe to predict a large audience on Saturday night. Miss Lett will have the assistance of a youthful violiniste. Miss Margot Mac Gibbon, who, though only 20, has already made a name for herself; Norman Bennett, a tenor of whom great things are expected; Maurice Besly, the distinguished English composer-pianist; and Mr Bernard Page, Wellington’s popular organist. There will be three concerts.

The Humphrey Bishop Company is due here shortly after a long absence in Australia. This talented little band is said to be even better than before, which is saying a whole lot. Santry’s famous band will be hero from February 14 to 22, under the Williamson banner.

The Indians who are putting on the prologue to Zane Grey’s “Vanishing Race” at the Regent Theatre are to proceed through the city to-morrow, following a civic reception at 1 o’clock. Their arrival is abating all minds, particularly the juveniles, who will probably find the visitors shy and quiet, in contrast to the fighting Indian made known to them through the screen. Clem Dawe and his frolics continue to draw amazing business to the Fuller House, and nightly large audiences are convulsed by the antics of the inimitable Clem. This week the family is presenting more of its dancing numbers than usual, and even those turns are all too few. A tennis quartet is a thing of rhythm, while Clem and his brother Eric put on a bell-hop dance that is a joy. Miss Frances Morrison, a contralto who has done wonders with her voice, is due to give a recital in the Concert Chamber this month, on the 17th. The performance of “The Man -With a Load of Mischief” by the National Repertory Theatre Society was quite good; there were three nights of it. and the public was duly appreciative. The costumes were particularly effective, and the acting very good.

Miss Merle Mjller, a Lyttelton girl who did well at the " Wellington Competitions and who was advised to go to Australia to train, has. according to Mr Ronald Foster, done splendidly with her studies, and from a = contralto has. developed mezzo notes, and bids fair to become a dramatic soprano. Miss Miller passed with honours in her first examination, and came out top in the advanced pianoforte test, even beating students who were concentrating on

piano alone. She has unusual gifts and attainments. Mr Foster hopes to yet see New Zealand, with a conservaloriuin of music like iSydney s.