Stageland

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 61, 18 April 1914, Page 3

Stageland

In season —"Aladdin.'' ' April 20 to 2u—Wi Hough L\y Dramatic Company. j .May 13 to 15 —Christehurch Literary and Musical Com- ! petitions Society. May 18 to 22 —Maud Allan Company. I May 2.". to 30 —Kennedy's Musical Company.- I The "Laud of Nod," the show which had perhaps: the largest amount of prophesy and the record number of paragraphs as to when it was coming, did not do good business at the Palace, Sydney. It has now given : place to Allen Doone. Thinking back awhile, this ' < Land of Nod'' was run as a deep, and dark, and rather joyous i mystery for many moons. It was too good to tell. It ; was to be a new affair entirely; and it has shown for the first time that (using poker terms) the "show'' game is the only one that pays in Australasia. Here the management must put its good in the shop whitlow — nobody bothers to walk inside. I' The great news: Nellie Stewart comes back again. Since the days when she played in "Tambour Major" there has been none to stay beside her. At drama, at .light comedy, at frank farce, she has been Nellie Stewart, not the i'lol of the public, but the accomplice in their pleasures. The audience has always been her friend. Under George Musgrove's management she is to open at the Theatre Poyal, Sydney, the supporting company being a new one, imported purposely. They will play in the King's Theatre, Melbourne, at Cup time, and will be in Christehurch for Chr'stmas. Mr Fred Niblo has rather more than made good in the comedy, "Never Say Die." Its season at the Criterion, Sydney, has been extended. Seats at £1 ]/- per head were booked for Mr Harry Lauder's opening in Melbourne. "Joseph and His Brethren," the more or less scriptural melodrama, has not done brilliantly at the Theatre Eoyal, Sydney. Apparently another Wilson Barrett must come before the people will submit to that sort of thing. The quotidian vires certainly appear to be getting due attention in the plays which come to Australia. ]n "Madam X," Miss Muriel Starr takes the part of an ether drinker. Vvil!ou"'hbv's new show, "The Tenderfoot," opened at Kaster. Its production was all that was wanted.

Two new shows —very new shows—may come to New Zealand. The pantomime "Blue Beard" is suggested, and an extravaganxa, ".lam of Catspaw, •" stays as a possibility. I.indley and Stephenson have them in hand, and are talking already as to the wonder of the ballets concerned. Both pieces are from the hand of Harry Taylor, who did "80-peep."

The big management announces that it has engaged Mr C. H. Workman, the creator in London of "The Chocolate Soldier," to play out here in "The Girl in the Taxi," one of its more recent purchase*

Next to the Press as an advertising medium comes personal talk and the argument of friends; and in this connection Miss Maud Allan appears to have all that the best of players could desire. Her season in Christchurch is to be short, merely from May 18 to 22, yet already she is more discussed, more criticised, more anticipated than any who have come before. Of course, it is not good to be prejudged, but in her case it seems to do little harm. The' Quinlan Grant! Opera Company has scored a great success in Montreal, Canada. The work done there was as hard as in Australia, changes of pro-

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Leading lady in Mr George Willcughby's dramatic company, which opens a season at the Theatre Royal on Monday with "The Beggar Girl's Wedding."

' Bv this week's mail Mr Fredk. Shipman, the imipresario who Ims the enviable record of having brought i here only shows whirh were as good as he said they were, wriles about Mischa Flniun. By the same token iit appears that Mr Shipman has an enthusiasm for this .artist that is by no mean* merely businesslike. He takes a personal pride in having "got" .somebody much better than the average "best." On May .3 Elmau leaves San Francisco by the Sonoma, to os>en in Melbourne on the i'.Oth. The curious point comes here. New |Zealand has before been on Mr Shipman's plan; in this , vase it may not be; the question is one of £ s. d. for 'artist and manager, and this man may lie too valuable I for a population of a mere million all told. 'Vet, from what I read, I believe both will take the risk.

The tango is upon Sydney town. The whole people appear to have fallen to its charm, and the skating rinks turn to tango dance halls. As in the theatres alone can it be learnt, seen, and inwardly digested, 'the tango show makes good.

The Kennedy Concert Company, which is working northwards through New Zealand, closed its season in Dunedin with a good house and a good concert. The "Otago Daily Times" declares that their giving, of chamber nrusic was amongst the pTeasantest things the town had known for years. "The instrumental quartet —to mention only one feature of the entertainment — performed on the 'cello and comet, violin and viola, such compositions as 'Le Quatour au Salon' (Kulau), Rhapsodie No. 2 (Liszt), and "The Lost Chord" (Sullivan), the performance of each of which' will without doubt be carried away and treasured in the memory of those who heard them. Both vocalists anil instrumentalists were recalled time after time, and, the audience was manifestly loth to allow them to depart." The Kennedys take this colonial tour with a confidence in themselves as being the winners of the 1912 Oswald Stoll Musical Act Competition, Middlesex Theatre,

The George Willoughby management is about to bring here "The Beggar Girl's Wedding,':' a melodrama that attracted much attention at Home on account of a law suit as to infringement of copyright. All the scenery and fixings that were used in the Adelphi Theatre, Sydney, are to be used here. The caste will include Misses Vera Remee, Fanny Erris, Gwendolyn Dorise, Oriel Hotson, and Messrs George Cross, T. E. Tilton, Rutland Beckett, Ward Lyons, Frank Keogh, and Frank Albert. Mr George Buller is in charge, and Mr J. A. Matheson touring manager.

There is by me a booklet touching "The "Warning," a melodrama with a purposeful way of showing the evils of sin as typified by the' White Slave trade. I note that the Kev. S. D. Yarrington, secretary of the Anglican Mission Zone Fund,, declares that the p?.iy vill not injure tlie minds of the innocent, but ratht * sh; 11 teach them the ills that have fallen to the lot of otLois. Mr Wilton Welch produced it at the Little Theatre, and made a success of it there. S Each song in the Williamson revue. "Come over jlTere," is backed by suitable business by the chorus. 'There are 120 in the chorus, the greatest number the .big firm has yet had on in one show. The idea is that !while one lot are getting ready for backing up a song ithe others shall be at work on the stage. ''No waiting, 'no delay." the American theory is lived up to all the time.

; Already J. C. Williamson, Ltd., is making arrangejments in connection with its next Christmas pantomime, which is to be "Cinderella." Some important engage:meats have been made in the way of artists and specialties. It will be good news to those who have seen Barry 'Lupino in "The Forty Thieves" to learn that the firm dias exercised its option on the services of Barry Lupino ; for the '' Cinderella '' pantomime.