THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3864, 3 April 1928, Page 72

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL.

Pasqvin.

By

Mr John Fuller is expected back in Australia this week. He will be met by Sir Benjamin Fuller at Adelaide, and after consultation a decision will be come to regarding the renovations at the Princess Theatre. The Returned Soldiers’ Choir, under conductor J. T. Leech, gave a very successful concert at His Majesty’s Theatre on Tuesday night. The choir sang Gale's arrangement of the National Anthem, Maunder’s “ Border Ballad,” the part song “Good Night,” “Oh, Isis and Osiris,” “Rataplan,” “The Song of the Volga Boatmen,” “ Hark the Curfew’s Solemn Sound,” “ Eriskay Love Lilt,” “ Sylvia," and “ Comrades’ Song of Hope,” and in each item earned the hearty applause of. the large audience. Mr A. J. Parker, one of the soloists, sang “A Night Idyll,” land Miss Winnie Fraser was heard to advantage in “ To the Forest,” Strauss's “ Devotion,” “ The Tryst,” and Bainton's “ The Joyous Wanderer,” offering as an ■ encore the charming “ Cuckoo Song.” Mr M. O’Sullivan sang “ The Lute Player,” and Miss Eva Judd contributed several enjoyable violin solos, including Kriesler’s “Liebesleid.” Miss Madge Yates was the comedienne of the evening, and charmed the audience with a number of light and amusing recitations and character monologues. She struck a graver note in “ The Barrel Organ ” (Alfred Noyes) and was equally' successful. In “ Daylight Saving,” a locally composed comic recitation, she did her best with mediocre material. / The musical comedy “ Tip Toes ” was staged at His Majesty’s Theatre on Friday night. > The cast includes Cecil Kellaway and R. Barrett-Lennard, two popular and brilliant comedians, Miss Thelma Burness and Miss Byrl Walkeley,- who have, on former occasions, proved themselves highclass musical comedy artists. Miss Billie Lockwood, a talented young Australian comedienne; Mr Leyland Hodgson, Mr Roy Russell, and Josephine Head, Albert Hugo, and Mlle. Ramona, wonderfully clever dancers, also played their parts well in a very successful presentation. “ Tip Toes ” boasts a particularly interesting and well-constructed story. Tip Toes is the central figure. She is a member of a vaudeville troupe, and in the first scene she arrives in the company’s travelling trunk to save the fare. ’Wealth, in the form of a lOOOdol billj suddenly descends on the troupe, and they decide to spend some of it on pretty little Tip Toes, dressing her up in the style of a millionairess, so that she may catch a millionaire husband. Sailing under these false colours, Tip Toes meets her million- ~ /aire, but she falls in love with him, and then finds she cannot go on with the deceit. The interest is sustained right up to the fall of the curtain, and during its progress ’ there is an abundance of bright comedy. The company’s second production will be ,“ Queen High.” Sir Benjamin Fuller arrived in Dunedin from Melbourne by the Manuka via Bluff. He left Dunedin last Tuesday morning for Christchurch, and went on to Wellington and Auckland. His present visit is in connection with the New Zealand itinerary of the Gonzalez Opera. Company, which opened its Sydney season under Sir Benjamin's direction a fortnight ago, playing to packed houses. The company will open at Invercargill on July 9 for a season of five nights, and will then come to Dunedin for a fortnight.’ It will tour NewZealand and return to Sydney-Ju time for the Eucharistic Conference in that city -im September. The first concert of the season was given'by the Dunedin Orchestral Society in His Majesty’s Theatre on. Thursday before: a very large audience. The National Anthem haying been played, the orchestra presented the overture to the opera “ Raymond,” which was w-ell played. The orchestra also played “Au < Bord’de la Mer,” by Emile Dunkler, in delightful fashion. Unfortunately the orchestra cannot be complimented upon the part it took in Listz’s “ Concerto in E flat major,” to which Miss Maisie Macdonald supplied the piano part. The four movements —allegro maestoso, quasi adagio' allegretto vivace, and allegro marziale animato—were given. It was not until near the end of the final movement ' that the orchestra recovered; too late to obliterate an unfavourable impression. Miss Macdonald played the piano part decidedly well, . q.nd it. may have been due to this fact, and also to the fact that the last few- bars were much bettet- played by the orchestra, that the audience made the demonstration it did. Schubert’s overture “ In Italian Style ” followed, and in it the orchestra scored a big success. Wagner’s opera Rienzi ” and Reckling’s march “ Hungarian ” concluded the programme. Mr Reg. Richards’s first vocal contribution was “Don Juan’s Serenade,” by Tschaikowsky, which he sang very well; Later, he gave Maud Valerie White’s “ The Devout Lover.” Mr Richards was recalled o” both occasions he sang. Miss Winnie MTeak chose “ The Arrow and the Song ” for her first song, and gave a very pleasing rendering of it. Towards the end of the concert Miss M’Peak also sang Mallin- «°«- s by the Clock ” and German’s Bird of Blue,” and was honoured-by a*

recall twice. Mr James Coombs conducted the orchestra, Mr J. A. Wallace led the first violins, and Miss Maisie Macdonald played the accompaniments to the songs. Cable advice just received from London states that the famous pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch will sail for Australia by the Naldera, and will commence his third tour of the Commonwealth early in April. The famous instrumentalists Leo, Jan, and Mischel Cherniavsky, are to commence their Melbourne season in the Town Hall, on Monday, April 9. It is interesting, in view of the revival of Gilbert and Sullivan operas, to recall the cause of the estrangement of Gilbert and Sullivan. The cause was absurdly trivial, especially coming after so many years of happy co-operation. At the time of this estrangement, the Savoy Theatre was jointly run by Gilbert, Sullivan, and D’Oyly Carte—Gilbert providing the librettos, Sullivan the music, and D’Oyly Carte the theatre; and the net profits were divided equally amongst the three. Gilbert went abroad for a holiday, and during his absence Sullivan and D’Oyly Carte purchased a new carpet for the theatre foyer. When Gilbert came back he refused to pay his share, for some unexplained reason, of the cost of the carpet. And this was the origin of the severance of one of the most fruitful artistic partnerships the world has ever known. Neither of these brilliant men did any good apart, as Sullivan could never find another Gilbert nor Gilbert another Sullivan. At Adelaide recently Messrs Richard White and Erie Edgeley had two theatrical combinations in competition. At the Theatre Royal they were presenting “ The Last Warning” and “The Alarm Clock” by arrangement with J. C. Williamson, and at the Majestic the Midnight Frolics, under the direction of Sir Benjamin and Mr John Fuller.

After his Queen’s Hall concert in 1924 a noted London critic wrote: “There is something unusual about Alfred O’Shea’s singing. Possibly it is due to the sweetness of his tone, the warmth given him by the Italian school, the Irish temperament or the indefinable something called personality; more likely it is all these features combined which give to his singing that sublime effect of sweetness and passion which made John M'Cormack immortal. Great as is Alfred O'Shea as an operatic artist, nevertheless it is into the songs of the people that he throws the fullest expression of his heart and voice, and in this he is becoming supreme.” There is a poignant allusion to Marie Lloyd in Mr Shaw Desmond’s “London Nights of Long Ago.” The author recalls the last time that he heard Miss Lloyd sing. It was at the Palladium, and she sang her last success, “ I’m one of the ruins that Cromwell knocked about a bit.” The audience frantically applauded, and Mr Desmond says: “ She came back from the wings, did Marie, without her wig, an old grey woman, wiping back her frowsy, blousy hair from her poor, worn face. 1 will always believe that, with the premonition of those about' to die, the real Marie, contemptuous of convention in that dread instant, deliberately showed herself to her audience as she was, knowing the end of the road in sight.”

Sydnej r received the Gonsalez .-Grand Opera Company with great enthusiasm at the St James’s Theatre. The first production was “ Il Trovatore,” the second “ La Traviata.” the third “ Rigoletto,” and the fourth “ Faust.” In a speech at the conclusion of the first performance, Sir Benjamin Fuller announced that more than 20,000- seats had been applied for, covering the season of seven weeks in Sydney. According to present arrangements, the company will open in Melbourne on May 5. There is general praise of the high quality of the voices, and the operas are finely- staged.

Signor Guiseppe Gonsalez, in Sydney with Fullers’ Grand Opera Company, states that Capelli, star of his previous company, and who was well known in New Zealand, had died in Italy a iew months ago. “ And Dani, the delightful tenor of a quarter of a century ago, the goodlooker that smashed so many feminine hearts, what of him? ” asked the interviewer. “Poor Dani,” said Signor Gonsalez, “ he died in a madhouse some years ago.” Dani, sang in Dunedin many years ago.

Mr Frank Harvey, for 12 years a popular leading man in Australia and New Zealand, continues to get comparatively small parts in London productions. Mr Harvey is in the new comedy, “White Arms,” which stars Owen Nares. ‘ The London Era says: “Mr Harvey made an amusing vulgarian of the garage'proprietor.” James J. Jeffries, the former heavyweight champion of the world, has been signed up to-play the role of the hero’s father in “ One Round Hogan,” a tale of the ring, in-which. Monte Blue will star.

A review of- the Timaru Operatic Society’s activities states that last year the musical comedy, “ Our Miss Gibbs ” and the comedy, “What Happened to Jones” were produced. Both these productions were of a high standard. Financially, “Our Miss Gibbs” was a. great success, £42 being ’ made. Unfortunately; owing to counter attractions and a visit to Oamaru, there was a loss of £39 on “What Happened to Jones.” This loss, with £3 owing on the “ Floradora ” production, made the profits nil. However, the society was pleased to be able to record a credit balance of 13s 2d on the year’s working, and as the assets showed an excess over liabilities of £26, the position was considered very satisfactory.; A North Island man had taken his daughter to see a play which, to his perturbation, developed alarmingly modernist tendencies. At the interval after the second act he said diffidently, “I’m sorry jI brought you here; my dear. This is hardly 1 a play-for l a girl of your age.” He received- an ! tinex-' pected rejoinder, “ Oh, it’s all right, dad,”

she said, “ I expect it’ll liven up a bit in the last act.” , J. C. Williamson, Ltd., reports net profit of £79,684 for the year ended June 30, against £62,935 for the 1925-26 period, and £61,654 for 1924-25. Dividends of 8 per cent, on the £150,000 preference shares took £12,000; while dividend at the usual rate of 10 per cent, on ordinary shares has been supplemented by a special bonus of 6d per share, together absorbing £46,875. To the reserve fund £20,809 has been transferred, making, with the special reserve of £20,000, a total of £345,154. Assets at June 30 were £1,277,185. Paid capital is £525,000. The bank is owed £72,061, and sundry creditors, mortgages, and sundry credit balances total £315,409. Nellie Bramley and her dramatic company are at present in Hobart. Pat Hanna’s Diggers have finished a successful season at the Gardens Theatre, Adelaide, and have gone to Perth. Old theatre-goers recall D’Orsay Ogden and Helen Fergus. Their daughter, Miss Nellie Fergusson, is a member of Miss Betty Ross Clarke’s company, which is playing in “ Tarnish,” an American “ problem ” play, at Princess Theatre, Melbourne. Miss Fergusson has been on the stage since childhood, and has had experience in Australia and New Zealand. She has appeared in Australian-made pictures. Miss June Mills takes the comic part of the bootlegger’s bride. There was not a seat to be had in the Old Vic. on Monday night, February 6, when the theatre was reopemed after having been closed since last May for reconstruction. The inside of the theatre has been greatly improved, and so has the outside, for the old coffee stall has been done away with, and in its place is a stately vestibule with a dignified facade giving on to the New Cut. Inside the pit has been enlarged, and is built up on a steep grade even from the back row. “ Tip-up ” seats have been put into the stalls, but the stage, which is the only apron stage in London, has remained unaltered. New. refreshment rooms have been added, and the whole place has been cleaned and repainted. After the performance on Monday night Mr Ben Greet presented Miss Baylis, the manager of the theatre, with a portrait of herself. This portrait, which shows Miss Baylis in her robes as an h6norary M.A. of Oxford, was subscribed for by patrons of the theatre, many of whom were present on Monday. After the presentation the 1800 members of the audience joined in singing “ Auld Lang Syne ” with an enthusiasm which permitted of no doubt as to the future success and prosperity of the Old Vic. Theatre.