THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3829, 2 August 1927, Page 72

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL.

By

Pasquin

George Wallace and his versatile company continue to provide good fare for patrons at the Princess Theatre. Last week the revue “ Some Night,” written by Mr allace himself, was staged, and proved quite a success. Mr Wallaco took the leading character, and was ably assisted by Marshall Crosby, Letty Craydon, Ada Scaddan, Marie Nyman, Tom Lincoln, the Six Cuties, and tho other members of the company.

It appears that the Polish pianist, Ignaz Friedman, is not to come to Dunedin after all.

“ Henry VIII,” with which play the Allan Wilkie Company commenced its Dunedin season at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday, was very capably acted and nicely staged. Mr Wilkie, as the great ardinal, gave a fine study, and richly earned the applause that rewarded his ■ efforts. Miss Hunter-Watts showed a wonderftl conception of the part of Queen Katharine, and Mr Frank Clewlow presented the part of the King in admirable fashion. “ Henry VIII ” will bo staged for the last time to-night. On Wednesday “A Midsuirttner Night’s Dream” will bo presented, and then follow in quick succession “ The Merchant of Venice,” “As You Like It,” ■' The Winter’s Tale,” “ The Tempest,” “ Macbeth,” “ Twelfth Night,” “ Antony and Cleopatra,” “ Measure for Measure,” ‘■Julius Caesar,” and “Romeo and Juliet,” the season concluding on August 19 with Hamlet.”

Jascha Heifetz, the famous violinist, is scheduled to commence his New Zealand tour at Wellington on Thursday. August 11, with a second recital on Saturday, August 13. Tho other dates are: Christchurch, August 16 and 17; Dunedin, August 20; and zkuckland, August 25, 27. and 30.

wo young New Zeealanders, Mr Jack Morris (calling himself Doret) and Miss Joan Becro (Desiree) are making considerable progress as dancers. They have recently toured in America, and are now engaged on contract by the Devonshire Restaurant under the title “ The Famous Continental Dancers Plastique.” They are less violently acrobatic than many dancing couples, and a good deal more graceful. One dance in which Desiree extricates herself from the meshes and folds of a fishing net is a real novelty, and is very charmingly done. Doret poses as the fisherman and Desiree as the swimmer, and the process of extrication is accomplished while the girl is held aloft by the ankles by her companion.

Timaru has two operatic societies. One is rehearsing “ Boccaccio ” and the other “ Our Miss Gibbs.”

A cable from London intimates that Dion Boucicault and Miss Irene Vanbrugh, in association with Sir George Tallis, are busy selecting the repertoire and engaging artists for their forthcoming return visit under the management of J. C. Williamson, Ltd. Amongst the plays will be “ The Happy Husband,” by Harrison Owen, the well-known Australian journalist, who has achieved success as a playwright. According to present arrangements the Vanbrugh-Boucicault Company will be the opening attraction at the new theatre to be occupied by J. C. Williamson, Ltd., •which is now being built opposite His Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne.

Nazimova, stage and film actress, left London 20 years ago unknown and almost penniless. Last month she returned to appear at the Coliseum Theatre in a 20minutes’ sketch at a salary of £6OO per week.

The Humphrey Bishop Company left Auckland for Sydney last Friday after a successful eight, months’ tour of New' Zealand.

Sybil Thorndike, leading English actress, was invited to represent Great Britain at the International Dramatic Festival in Paris, which opened on June 20. She played “Saint Joan” and “ Medea.’’ “ I do feel that we should make the occasion a real help in promoting the good feeling between the two nations that we all so much desire,” said Miss Thorndike on her departure for Paris. “ The venture is not a commercial one. We are meeting all our own expenses, and if the week is successful its profits will be shared among the company. ’ M. Gemier, the distinguished French actor, arranged the festival, which took place at the Champs-Elysees Theatre. Rin - Tin Tin, the famous dog film actor, figured largely in a divorce suit brought by Mrs Charlotte Anderson Duncan, a Californian horsewoman, against her husband, Mr Leland L. Duncan, in New York recently. Rin Tin Tin, who is familiar to audiences in ever.v part of the world because of his exploits in hundreds of thrilling films, is the property of Mr Duncan, and his salary is £4OO a week. Mrs Duncan testified that her husband did not love her or her horses. He cared, she said, for nothing in the world but Rin Tin Fin. Out of the dog’s colossal salary he contributed only £lO a •week to the family budget. The court, on hearing this story of domestic incompatibility, instantly "ranted the aggrieved horse-loving wife a decree of divorce. °

Of unusual interest and attractiveness is the delightful entertainment presented by Miss Bathie Stuart and her four Maori Melody Maids at the new Regent Theatre (says the Dominion). Miss Stuart sings and dances with charming grace, her soft voice intoning the quaint Maori chants with appealing effect. In “ Pokarekate,” the Arawa love song, Miss Stuart gives a rendering it would be hard to equal, while the minor tones of “ 'The Sentry Chant ” are most impressive. The traditional Arawa greeting “To Powhiri,” is also effectively rendered by Miss Stuart and her four maids, and haka dances are vivaciously presented. A beautiful setting, picturesque and appropriate, adds further to the success of this clever feature. Little more than a month after he had won the English Derby with Call Boy, Mr Frank Curzon, the theatrical manager and racehorse owner,-died in London, aged 59 years. Mr Curzon had a long and successful record in theatrical management, and was associated in the presentation of sonic of the most popular plays of the last 25 years. Mr Curzon’s real name was Francis Arthur Decley, and he was born at Liverpool in 1863. Among the distinguished actors and actresses with whom he was associated were F. R. Benson, Charles Hawtrey, Sir Gerald du Maurier, and Miss Gladys Cooper. Tyrone Power, the English actor, who is known for moving picture as well as stage appearances, arrived in New York recently, and is, according to reports, recruiting members for a repertory company he will lead on a tour of the world. Power visited New Zealand many years ago with his wife, the late Edith Crane, playing “Tho Only Way,” “Trilby,” and other dramas. “ Flo ” Ziegfeld, of Follies fame, has just revealed her amazing good luck on the American stage. “I suppose I have made on an average 50,009 dollars (£10,000) a year since I left England,” she writes. She has spent colossal sums on the decoration and upkeep of her magnificent house. Her husband is as well known in Wall Street as in the theatrical circles. “ While he will bet on anything in the world, ho has sound judgment, and wins more often than he loses,” she writes. But the two things which contribute most to his happiness are: His lifelong search for sheer beauty for the stage and the enjoyment of his wonderful home on Hudson River. One reason for her success is that “ she has been prudent. “ Many actresses have made enormous sums and died penniless. They invest foolishly, spend large sums on jewels and clothing and travel.” Heifetz possesses two violins, two masters of the golden age of violin making. The first is a valuable Stradivarius. The second was purchased recently, and it is a magnificent Guarnerius, one of the few existing perfect examples of this great master’s art. Giuseppe Guarnerius, called “del Gesu,” had a rather adventurous life, but very little is known concerning his activities before he reached the age of 42. He had a hard strugggle, and led a dissipated life v>,ntil he married a Tyrolean girl, who not only wielded a wonderful influence on him, but inspired him with a desire to out-do his previous efforts. Hence his violins of this period are amongst the finest ever made, but unfortunately Guarnerius suffered a relapse and resumed his former careless life, resulting in imprisonment and death in abject poverty.

The theatre-going public that depends on Broadway for its entertainment menu each season may expect an era of clean dramm beginning immediately (writes a New York correspondent). This prediction was made after a luncheon, given in honour of Cardinal Hayes by the Catholic Actors Guild, at the Hotel Astor, recently. The speeches of the Cardinal and Mayor Walker gave the idea. The affair was non-sectarian so far as the distribution of invitations went. Mayor James Walker deplored the necessity for political intervention as regards the presentation of offcolour plays. He said that he ivas against the censorship idea; in fact, were the law to call for a censor fop the stage, he Mould be at a loss to know where to get a man qualified to act skilfully and fairly. He extolled the fact that America offers personal liberty, but he said that liberty’ was right and proper only until it encroached on the preserves of the other fellow Mayor Walker frankly predicted that the staging of dirty plays would not be tolerated by the authorities.

The death of Edith Cole, noted for her P erf °rmance in “A Royal Divorce,” recalls the fact that certain old plays still tbnnfri' Ie /° tOUI th< h P rovinc es (says the theatrical correspondent of the London r ai vv n lai h ? ,ay ’ wrifc ten by W. IVl? +i nd xr‘ G - n^ ollln g 1 >am> was produced at the New Olympic Theatre, London, 36 years ago. But “A Royal Di-

vorce” is young compared with “The Silver King,” which continues to be played in some of the lesser English provincial theatres. Henry Arthur Jones and Harry Herman wrote “ The Silver King” 45 years ago, and it was first played at the Princess’s Theatre, London (now a furniture department), with Wilson Barrett in the famous character of Wilfred Denver. “ The Private Secretary,” which regularly crops up in London at Christmastide, is only two years younger—it was produced in 1884—and “ Charley’s '.unt ” narrowly escaped the ’eighties. Its.date was 1892. “The Belle of New York” came in 1898. This makes “ Are You a Mason? ’’ (1901) and “ When Nights Were Bold” (1907) comparatively modern plays. All these plays are still being toured.

The advisability of the cobbler sticking to his last has been quite astonishingly brought home to Sir Harry Lauder at Birkenhead (says a London paper). The most popular music hall artist in the English-speaking world has actually been faced there with a hostile demonstration by apart of his audience. The exasperation was not due to any failure of that mellow baritone voice, or to any less studied hitch of the shoulders, swing of the kilt, or twirl of the knobby stick. Nor does Sir Harry fail in the least in his choice of song. The lilt is there, and with it the appeal to common sentiment and kindness in the libretto. Sir Harry’s trouble is that, in obedience perhaps to some ineradicable Scots sermonising strain, he will insist in latter years on lecturing his audiences after he has entertained them; and the didactic is a role which the public rightly abhors in its entertainers. Nowadays the music hall is every man’s theatre; and Sir Harry, in the sarcasms about the dole which he appended without music to his turn, discovered this to his cost. It is to be hoped that he is not so dour a Scot as to persist in mixing unwanted homiletics with exceptionally sound entertainment.

SPECTACULAR ENTERTAINMENT. The local entertainment organised by Mrs R. Hudson for the benefit of Dunedin free kindergartens, which was Riven in His Majesty’s Theatre on Wednesday evening, proved an unqualified success from every point of So far as the attendance went, His Majesty's Theatre could scarcely have held a larger audience, and as a consequence the object Mrs Hudson desired to achieve must have been realised, and a substantial sum netted. The programme was of a most attractive order, and was largely composed of tableaux, of which 15 were placed before the spectators. The remaining portion of the programme was made up of songs, choruses, scenes, sketches, and dancing. In some instances the performers approached the professional standard in what they did, and, so far as costumes were concerned, these exceeded the wardrobe usually carried by many touring companies. The “ Twinkiers ” —a party of seven young ladies—opened the evening’s entertainment with a chorus entitled “Planet lie” which proved a bright and merry production. They also presented the opening number to the second portion of the programme with a chorus concerning bather s Little Short Shirt,” with which the audience was very much amused. Besides this, they appeared by way of supA° r -x M )SS Roma Buss and Miss Anita Wmkel. Miss Buss sang “I Never ’ an , d Miss Winke l sang “ Bouquets of Roses very effectively. A Hawaiian scena presented by the “Twinkiers” was quite a feature of the evening. The final appearance by the “ Twinkiers ” was made at the end of the evening, when they gave a musical sketch called “ Tulip Time.” lhere was a great deal of intermittent dancing of an interesting kind, but all the dancing was eclipsed by the rhvthmic dance supplied by Miss Dorothy Dean. Of the tableaux placed before those in *'l® auditormm, that representative of Staffordshire’ was notably good, and ” and ‘ nlay ke classed A small but efficient orchestra supplied the music during the evening. DUNEDIN PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY. The concert given by the Dunedin Philharmonic Society on Thursday in His Majesty s Theatre mav be classed amongst the best the society s orchestra has given over a lengthy period. The taste of the audience had evidently been studied to a gi eater extent than usual, and that the careful selection ..iade was appreciated was made evident by the continuous ..applause. The attendance was very and those present thoroughly enjoyed the concert, as was made abundantly plain, two or three new pieces were introduced, and these should be a welcome addition to the society s already fairly extensive repertoire. Signor Squarise controlled the orchestra, the members of which attended in strong force, and it was with one of his compositions that the concert opened This was the march “Our Boys,” a stirring piece of music, which was spiritedly played. Quilter’s ““A Children’s Overture —an attractive collection of nursery rhymes—was well rendered. The big piece of the programme was Beethoven s symphony “Eroica” in E flat, of which the first movement (allegro con brio) only was given. It was written by Beethoven as a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte—the “Little Corporal,” as he was called. Though the symphony presented perhaps more intricacies than anything else on the programme, it was’ remarkably well rendered. Elgar’s Bavarian dance', Lullaby ” proved a most enjoyable item, the first, violins, which take a prominent part, being conspicuous in a very successful performance. The concluding orchestral selection was “La Fille du Contrabandier,” by Mouton, and this prettv, light, little overture was one more addition to an evening’s good orchestral nr-sic. j There were two vocalists, and both -arned the hearty approval of the audience for their singing. Mr W. G. Hillikcr gave a very satisfactory rendering of Gounod’s “Vulcan’s Song.” He had the equipment m a vocal direction to a greater extent than most amateurs to sing what is by no means an easy operatic excerpt, and his conception as to the method of interpretation was fairly correct. His encore item was “ Within These Sacred Bowers ”

His second song was “ The Son” of , Hybrias the Cretan,” another taxing piece of music, which he icnderexl very well. The lady singer was Miss Eva Graham, whose selection was Thomas’s “Far Away Lies a Land,” which was rendered pleasingly but she showed a disposition to become mechanical. Her recall, item was better sung. Later in the evening Miss Graham contributed Oscar Rasbach’s “Trees” and Spross’s “The Wind’’ quite nicely.