“KATJA”

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1927, Page 15

“KATJA”

BRILLIANT MUSICAL PLAY. MISS MARIE BURKE’S SUCCESS. “Katja” is a musical comedy. But it is different’. A bold, long step has been taken into modernity. It has caught and bottled the restless, syncopating spirit of the age. It is the essence. It is an idea expressed in striking colours and gowns, in fascinating musie and song, in brilliant wit and comedy. It hurries along through its story, never pausing, always fast. That is the impression one retained last night after being courted and captivated by Miss Marie Burke and her musical comedy company. The Opera House was crowded, and not one was there who missed being caught up and carried rapidly along from one delight to another, past tunes and songs that lingered in the ear and colour combinations that stamped themselves on the memory. Like most musical comedies, the story in “Katja” is of only secondary importance. It is a peg that could almost be done without, for the play is borne up and along by its own characteristic impetuosity. “Katja” was a Russian dancer who, with a partner, gave performances for money. In reality they were both exiles, banished from their country and reduced to poverty and humiliation by the treachery of a prince. She was a princess and now she and her friend lived for revenge. She met the object of her hatred and planned to make him pay for his actions. He was fascinating, and she fell in love with him. She discovered he was a mere figurehead, not responsible for her misery. She forgave him and saved him from taking a poisoned drink. Then the play ended happily. In the name part Miss Burke achieved a success that will long be remembered. She was the magnet about which the play revolved, and when she first entered the stage in the costume of a Russian dancer her personality at once made itself felt. Then she sang, with a brilliancy that enthralled, songs that had an Eastern colouring and dramatic appeal. Her mobile voice was well suited for the difficult passages and she seemed to get from them the maximum effect and charm. So it was with her dancing and deportment. She had the graceful stately poise to carry her part through with a conviction that dominated and impressed. She changed from one gorgeous costume to another, each one the subject of more admiration than its predecessor and then came the time when the restrained tenseness of a Russian nature found an outlet in dramatic situation. It was at the end of the second act, when Katja was torn between her inborn hatred and the knowledge that the man she loved had been merely a helpless tool in her humiliation. Right won out, and in the melodrama that followed Miss Burke rose to the heights of the actor’s art. She had a very able support in Mr. Herbert Browne, who took the character of Prince Karl of Koruja, the gay but dignified Russian aristocrat, whose voice blended well with Miss Burke’s in the haunting melodies “Just For a Night” and “Those Eyes So Tender.” The soubrette, Miss Thelma Burness, as Pat Orpiteh, and Miss Babette Odeal, as Maud, had responsible roles which they filled most creditably. The latter delighted particularly with her vivacity and gaiety, though she had less to do than Miss Burness, whose love affair with the eecentrie Leander occupied a very large part of the evening. Leander Billdroff! That character will long be remembered in New Plymouth as it was interpreted by Mr. R. Barrett-Lennard. His cheerful, childish idiocy infected one with a resistless desire to laugh at things that, done by other less gifted persons in other circumstances would merely have raised a sympathetic smile. His speaking part abounded in brilliant witty passages in •which satire and nonsense were strangely mixed in a manner that made him the most popular male member of the company. His appearance was always the signal for an outburst of laughter, and when he simulated the madness of Ophelia and distributed vegetables in lieu of flowers the audience let itself go in unrestrained mirth. Mr. BarrettLennard was an outstanding success.

Humour was also provided in plenty by Mr. Cecil Kelieway, the pompous Count Orpiteh, who, despite his dignity, had a most discerning eye for womanly charms and a habit of slyly gratifying bis love for flirtation. His methods were more orthodox than those of Mr. Barrett-Lennard, but in contrast they made a very pleasing combination. Of the many others in the cast Mr. Noel Dainton, as the embittered Ivo, and Mr. Frank Hawthorne, as the elderly servant Simon, were worthy of mention. Of the songs, one that will surely be whistled on every street corner and sung in every house was the lilting “Leander” by Miss Burness and Mr. Barrett-Lennard. It was set to the kind of refrain that sets the feet tapping and makes an indelible impression on the mind. The scenery and dressing throughout were on a lavish scale, and the playing of the orchestra was a very, large contribution to the general success of the performance. To-night the company will revive the comic opera “Wildflower.”