THE CRITIC

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 13, 11 December 1880, Page 111

THE CRITIC

lima de Murska is singing in Berlin. Antoinetta Link is singing with Mapleson's company in New York. Salsbury's Troubadours have caught it hot from the London critics. The Lynches commenced a farewell season at Christchurch on the 29th. ultimo. The Lingards will be here a week before Christmas. They play at Napier on the way up. Charles Raymond, the one-legged pedestal dancer, is one of the features of English Music Halls. "Robinson Crusoe" and "Ivanhoe" are the stock dishes of the Lydia Howard troupe this season. Before she became an actress, the late Miss Neilson served as a barmaid at a city restaurant in London. The divorce which Tilly Andrews applied for has been granted, and Harry Simons is now once more a bachelor. Mr. J. C. Williamson backed Grand Flaneur for the double event (Derby and Cup) to the extent of £1000. Lucky man ! " Olivette," the new opera bouft'e by Audran, is a great success at the Strand Theatre, London, where it promises to run us long as " Madame Favart." Messrs. Cooper and Bailey, circus proprietors, have dissolved partnership. The former retires into private life, and the latter will, in future, carry on the circus alone. According to the New York Despatch, "Agnes Robertson, Kobert McWade and Alice Oates are booked for Australian engagements before the end of the current season." The Soldene Company were to make their first appearance, or rather re-appearance in America at the Park Theatre, Boston, on November Bth. They will travel America, and then revisit Australia, and possibly New Zealand. While the farce was being played at the Princess's Theatre, Dunedin, the other night, a scene representing the front of a house fell on Mr. Lingard. The Butterinan did not seem the least abashed at the incident, quietly remarking, after the laughter had subsided, that every actor could not " bring down a houso." The story of Henry J. Byron's new comedy, " Bow Bells " arises out of a city tradesman's fancy for retiring to some sequestered spot far away from the sound of those famous chimes which are supposed to define the circuit of cockney associations. The hero's attempt to escape from the contamination of ixrban holiday makers, and his yearning to surround himself with all that.is rustic, simple-minded, pure and Idyllic, is attended, as may be expected, with some degree of disappointment, and a certain amount of what are known as humorous complications. That tremendous tragedian, the " Great I Am," supplied straw for the manufacture of a very neat conundrum about himself some years ago when playing in " Narcisse " at the Eoyal, Melbourne. As usual, Herr B. was " carried all von vay by de excitement of de blay," and ran a real instead of a property dagger into the unfortunate person of that well-known and talented actress, Miss Adelaide Bowing (Mrs. Steele). Hence the following : — "Why is Bandmann the cleverest man iv the world ?'* " Because he can draw blood out of Steele !" "We" (Canterbury Times) "understand that a number of gentlemen amateurs in Christchurch are arranging a holiday trip, during which they purpose giving dramatic entertainments at each town they visit. Should the affair come off, we can promise those who may be asked to patronise the amateurs a first-class evening's amusement. The gentlemen concerned have all appeared in performances of the first degree at the Theatre .Royal, Christchurch, and invariably with success. In their respective lines they will bear very favourable comparison with professional actors of the better class." During her short season at the Theatre Royal, Napier, Madame Franzini appears to have come out in a new character, for in addition to her performances on the bicycle — which by the way are of a marvellous character— she sang several ballads " with a good deal of taste and expression." Madame Franzini was supported each evening by Mr. C. Monteith, Mr. Hayes, and the Thornton Family. The latter do not appear to have made their peace yet, with at least one section of the community, for we are told that their appearance in " The Drunkard's Child" was the signal for a disturbance by persons whom the Herald term larrikins. The Simonsen Opera Company commenced their New Zealand tour at Invercargill on the 29th inst., playing there six nights. Madame is supported by her two daughters ( Misses Martina and Leonora), Miss Eugene DeLaes (a stranger), and Miss Carry Godfrey (the contralto of the Froliques Company). Of Signor Paladini, Mr. Eiccardi, and Mr. Cram it is unnecessary to speak. Signor Bianchi (the second tenor), Messrs. St. Clair and Wentworth (bassi), have yet to make their reputation in this colony. I notice that the prices at Invercargill are rather stiff— half -a guinea in the circle, and five shillings in the stalls. The New York Dramatic Neivs of October 7th. has the following, which throws a lurid light on poor Joe Einmett's death : " A curious story comes to us in connection with Joe Emmett and his continuous drunks. It is that a certain person that shall be nameless, but to whom he did serious injury once upon a time, has set about accomplishing his ruin. Wherever Emmett goes, this man follows and tempts him off. When drunk, Emmett is like a child. This person was seen in Baltimore on Saturday when Emmett got drunk, and again in Pittsburg on Sunday. It is known that he invited Emmett to drink on the night in New York when he broke his Grand Opera House engagement. If this continuous debauch is the result of a conspiracy, surely some one should be with Emmett who would restrain him by physical force, if necessary. Otherwise his death is merely a question of a few weeks." "Ere this" (says an Australian exchange) "you have no doubt heard that the bushranger Ned Kelly has ended his career on the scaffold. On the evening (last Thursday) the " Kelly family" (Kate and her brother James), assisted by Ettie Hart, a sister of one of the outlaws who was shot, appeared at the Apollo Hall, which had been let to them by the Minstrels now playing at that establishment. The three shameless persons (the Kellys and Hart) there sat and showed themselves at one shilling admission. Crowds attended their levde, the bulk of the visitors being the scum of the city. On the Friday a notice from the Chief Secretary's office to the lessee of the building prevented a second exhibition, and the niggers were compelled to resume occuption. These dusky persons, I am glad to say, are nearly played out, the audiences they draw being very scanty, and generally composed of the lowest class of the population." "Leap Year," Mr. Buckstone's farcical comedy in two acts, originally produced some twenty-five years ago, has been successfully revived at the Haymarket Theatre, London. The piece is founded upon an extract from an old volume entitled " An Act to Amend the Laws of Courtship and Matrimonie," the said passage running as follows :— " Albeit it is now become part of the common law, in regard to the social relations of life, that as often as every Bissextile year doth return, the ladyes have the sole privilege of making love unto the men, which they doe either by worde3 or lookes as unto them seeineth proper ; and no man will be entitled to the benefit of clergy, who doth refuse to accept the offer of a lady, or who doth in any wise treat her proposal with neglect or contumely." A young widow's property goes to a certain Sir William Willoughby, unless she marries by a certain date, and having tried a Mr. Dimple, who gets intoxicated, she eventually falls in love with her footman, who turns out to be Sir William in disguise. Mr. Dimple finds a wife in Miss O'Leary, who cahnly proposes to him, and the very servants pair off, the ladies taking the initiative. Thus the curtain falls as the old advertisement of the play tells us, on four happy Couples.

Apropos of Luscombe Searrel's forth coming work The Wreck of the Pinafore," "Puck" in the witness writes:-"The opera is a continuation of 'H.M.S. Pinafore, the first act representing the quarter-deck of w£ P Ai£ * + ! characters in Gilbert and Sullivan's work about to take a pleasure trip, preparatory to entering the bonds of wedlock. A hurricane sets in, Sv&s£if W I« lR ? ; Ral i )l1 Eack3t *™, instead of proving himself the foremost man ' on the shiw neslects. Josephine and looks only to himself; while the Admiral succeeds in ingratiating himself into the lady's good graces The Captain, now that time for reflection is permitted, likewise discovers that Buttercup is an ill" bred woman and beneath his station, and marries Hebe. Buttercup when taxed, admits that her story about mixing up the babies was untrue, and the absurdity of it is shown by the fact that the Captain is so much Eal h ! SSKgTescuet ° pm * the **«««&"*