“OLD MOTHER HUBBARD”

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10511, 5 April 1927, Page 5

“OLD MOTHER HUBBARD”

COMEDY OF THE BEST. “Old Mother Hubbard,” the pantomime presented by Stanley McKay's English and Australian Company, in the King’s Theatre last evening, was just a means to an end, so to speak, as is the- way with all prmommies. Tnc thread of a farcical story was w von round the old nursery rhyme but it was almost forgotten tit times when the three c-ome. diant' had charge of the stage, r which y/a; in -re often than not. The company played to a capacity bouse and seldom, it ever, has a Pallia tun- audience been so convulsed with laughter &s it was last evening. From a comparatively quiet beginning, the show worked up to a great pitch of merriment and the antics and bufoonery of “Sally Horner” (Alaudie Stewart), “Mother Hubbard” (Arthur Meredith), and “Archibald” (Will Rayner) was responsible for burst after burst of unrestrained laughter. Alaudie Stewart as “Sally” was a show on her own and she only had to poke her head round . the, stage scenery to set > the audience simmering. As the dame, Arthur Aferedith was a perfect scream and “her” hen-pecked hmSh;ind, “Archibald,” was little less funny, while having the singular advantage of ’ ljelng the possessor of a very fine tenor voice. The second half, in particular, was just a riot of laughter. The jokes were clean, and what was even more to the point, they were new. Local celebrities were worked in with artless guile and this never failed to have the desired effect on the ones who were fortunate enough not to be singled out.

But of all the acts, that contributed by the four little Kellys stood out supreme. They are a musical quartette (a piano and three violins) and there is artistry in their playing. They compose a juvenile orchestra that would put many an adult combination tq sham©. Starting with a classic, the girls went on to “The Prisoners’ Song,” “Swanney R iver,” and then to jazz, switching from one popular piece to another with a facility brought about by long practice. Some of the pieces that set the toes tingling were “Roll’em Girls.” “On Mother Kelly’s Doorstep,” “That Certain Party,” and “Susie,” and the reception accorded the quartette at the conclusion of each item was wonderful. Time after time the children endeavoured to bow themselves off but the audience would have none of it and applauded irenziedly till their wishes were gratified yet once more. Leone Kelly, the oldest of the violinistes, was a player of exceptional talent, but her youngest sister, little Daisy, was a trick, and delighted the audience tfhen she played “That Certain Party” on her miniature violin and did a, C harleston at the same time. An item of particular charm was a violin solo. “Meditation” Ibv Leone Kelly, _ accompanied beautifully on the pipe organ by Aliss Maureen Bourke. For encore numbers the girl violinist played Guonod’s “Souvenir” and “The Rosary.”