THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 62

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL.

By

Pasquin.

Jan Kubelik will make his appearance Dunedin on November 12. “ The New Moon ” Company is to tour New Zealand, and it will open at Wellington at the end of this month. The play abounds with colourful scenes, the fight at sea between a pirate vessel and a lordly pleasure boat being most realistically depicted. The Christchurch- Musical Society is actively rehearsing “ Cavalleria Rusticana.”

Madame Winnie Fraser is to be a Soloist at the Christchurch Made Choir concert this month. Miss Airini Karenara, hailing fro.m the Chatham Islands, is a soprano whosd vocal gifts are exploited to the full by sound musicianship and artistry. She gained her musical education in Christchurch, and her attainments include the L.A.B. diplomas for' both singing and pianoforte. She has recently been singing with the Maori Mission Party. That old-time play, “ The Bells,” which made Irving, has been successfully revived by Henry Bayhton in London.

Florence Glossop-Harris, the daughter of Sir Augustus Harris, of Drury Lane fame, has just concluded her eighth tour of the West Indies. Fifteen plays were presented. She is the only woman who has continuously been in management since 1900, playing seasons in Canada, Newfoundland, the West Indies, and South America. Her repertoires consist of current London successes, Shakespeare and old English comedies. Ernest Lough, the famous choir boy of Temple Church, states the London Daily Mail, is not to sing for two years. His soprano voice has cracked, and it is possible it may never come back; in the meantime young Lough is “ a business man ” to quote his own words. Mr W. J. Montgomery, well known to theatrical audiences for many years, died in Sydney after an illness that caused his retirement from the stage. His real name was M'Clelland. and he was a native of Geelong, Victoria, receiving his early training from William Hoskins, the Shakespearian actor, who was a favourite of the older generation of playgoers. Mr Montgomery was with George C. Miln in a long repertoire of Shakespearian plays; returned to Australia with Kyrle Bellow and Mrs Brown Potter; was in association with Herbert Flemming, playing “ The Mummy and the Humming Bird " and “ Peter’s Mother,” in which he was Dr Blundell, One of his last Sydney appearances was with Meynell and Gunn's management in “ The Gay Gordons.” Drinkwater’s comedy, “ Bird in Hand," is now being played at Sydney Criterion. The old generation, represented by Thomas Greenleaf, the proprietor ot the Bird in Hand Inn, is, it will be admitted, very obstinate. Greenleaf, rigid in his ideas about social caste, objects to the attentions paid to his daughter by a wealthy man’s son, Gerald Arnwood. But in adopting this course he becomes a domestic tyrant, and incidentally makes a great deal of fuss about the mere fact that the girl has gone out with young Arnwood in his motor car, and has been caught iu a storm. The author adroitly draws into this family drama three lodgers who have come to the hotel out of the storm —the amusing Blanquet, a traveller in sardines,” the staid Ambrose Godolphin, K.C., and the flippant young Cyril Beverley. The scene in which these tliree join in’ the family conference, and endeavour, with Greenleaf’s wife, to induce the angry old man to regard the affair more reasonably, is exceedingly laughable. Frank Bradley takes the part of Greenleaf, and others in the cast are Leonard Stephens, Campbell, Copelin, Harvey Adams. Agnes Doyle, Leal Douglas, John Wood, and Arnold Cornell.

The names of Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove suggests a true story (says a writer in an article on wellknown comic operas published in a northern exchange). An Australian local paper received a cablegram from London relative to an acquisition by the firm for Australia, and the dispatch appeared in print—“ Messrs Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove have secured the brilliant operatic artists Signors Cavalleria, Rusticana, and Pagliaeci for an Australian concert season.” -

This was the cast of “Mr Cinders” at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, on Saturday night, October 11: —Josie Melville as Jill. Hindle Edgar as Jim, Frank Leighton as Lumley, Leonard Stephens as Sir George Lancaster, Maidie Hope as Lady Lancaster. Sonny Ray as Guy, Ellen Percival as Phyllis Patterson, Edwin Bertt as Henry Kemp, Jack Dunne as Burroughs, ’Kathleen Fallow as Minerva Kemp, Lal Fallow as Lucy Smith. Eileen Ogden as Donna Lucia D’Esmeralda. The ballets' and danees have been arranged by Minnie Everett, William Quintrell is musical director, and the play is produced by George A. Highland. There are no fewer than 21 items in the two acts. These include such popular song successes as “ I Want the World to Know,” “ One-Man Girl,” “On With the Dance,” “ Spread a Little Happiness,” “ Every Little Moment,” “ I’ve Got You, You’ve Got Me,” and others.

Many people who have seen Ethel Morrison’s brilliant performance as Mrs Boucicault in “ Let Us Be Gay ” at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne, are curious whether Miss Morrison really omokes the cigar in the play, and whether it is a genuine cigar or merely a stage “prop.” For the information of those who are anxious to know the facts, the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., management states that the cigar is a real one, of a mild flavour, and that Miss Morrison smokes it without any subterfuge. “In the cause of art one must make a sacrifice,” as she put it. Miss Morrison mentioned that previously she had smoked an occasional cigarette, and that she found it rather difficult at first to become accustomed to the pungency of the cigar, but that once slie got over

her first feeling of nausea she found it quite pleasant! “However,” she said, “ once ‘ Let Us Be Gay ’ is over I shall emoke no more cigars!” There is a good deal of' discussion amongst Melbourne theatre-goers as to the correct pronunciation of the name of Edith laliaferro, the popular comedy star who v is appearing in “ Let Us Be Gay ”at the Kangs Theatre. “Yes, it is a terrible name, isn’t it? ” said M:ss Taliaferro, and I can readily forgive anyone for mispronouncing it. I believe it should be pronounced like this: Talya-ferro.” The actress added: “In spite of my name, I am not Italian. I was born in Virginia, which was the birthplace of mv father. And my mother was English. My ancestor?, however, were Italian. You can blame them for my name!”

. , t j Pl , Gr ® is something radically wrong with Australian theatrical enterprises at “"® P r ® sen | time when such a comedy as By Candle Light,” presented by the Independent Theatre in Sydney last week, is leit to an amateur company to produce " says a writer in the Sydney Referee. # • , ri spark !‘ng three-act comedy by Siegtried Geyer has enjoyed a phenomenal run throughout the United States, and yet it is ignored by the head? that be in Australian theatricals. Why? The story is set in the Vienna flat of Baron von telson, who returns early one evening to • Va et . impersonating him and entertaining a lady of seeming rank. The barron falls into the role of servant with ra ™° roUB results. The lady in the case turn out to be the maid of one of the S aad there is a general unY hol e thing is absolutely lefreshing and it is little wonder that it has scored so consistently in the United 1 1 -’ as not been produced on hensiTfle ” Cy leßltlmate sta S e is incompre-