THE LORCNETTE

Observer, Volume XI, Issue 751, 20 May 1893, Page 7

THE LORCNETTE

Evebybody is talking about Maggie Moore's ' Lizzie Stofel.' It wonld be ungallant, perhaps, te ask how long Maggie has been playing this part. One thing is certain: She plays it as well as she ever did. The touches of humour and of pathos are just as fine as of yore, and her voice — what a wonderful voice it is ! — is as fresh as a young ingenue's, as musical as a lark's. She hadn't been five minnfees on the stage before she was in sympathetic accord with the audience, so to speak. And this was her first appearance on the boards of an Auckland theatre, remember. But her reputation had preceded her. Not to know Maggie Moore is to argue oneself unknown. Her acting charmed and delighted the audience as it has charmed and delighted she only knows how many audiences elsewhere. And her songs! How the people laughed at and applauded ' My Fader Keeps a Brewery,' 'Don't You Make Me Laugh,' and 'Pretty Wilhelmina,' and how hushed the house was when she sang the sweet and plaintive ' Lizzie's Farewell.'

The piece is well-staged and the details are all carefully looked after. As to the acting, well — to be candid, it was somewhat disappointing. I do not refer to Maggie Moore's acting, of course. That is beyond criticism. But capable actor as Mr Forde unquestionably is, and identified as his name has come to be with the part, I cannot say his John Stofel struck me as particularly remarkable. His scene with ' the officer of the day,' in which poor John arrests, as a spy, his own superior, was perhaps his best bit of acting in this piece. That, and his farewell scene with his wife and Lizzie. The latter little bit of acting was distinctly good. Bnt Stof el's return ; when, broken, gaunt, haggard and half-witted, he wanders back to seek his wife and daughter — this was very muoh overdone, and drawn out to a wearisome length. And what an opportunity for pathos it offers ! But Mr Forde did not rise to the occasion. He tried his best, doubtless, but his best was not good enough.

And Oily Deering's Deacon Skinner : Oily is a favourite of mine. He is one of the very best low comedians on the colonial boards. But I think his conception of the rascally Deacon's character is hardly that of the author. Skinner was surely intended for a sly, unctuous, hypocrite ? a mixture of Chadband and Pecksniff. Mr Deering makes him too farcical. He is too anxious to make us laugh. Everything is sacrificed to that. But this is not true art, Oily.

The rest of the cast do not call for individual notice. They had but minor parts to fill and filled them as well as might be expected in the case of such artistes as Mr Holloway, Miss C. Deorwyn, &c. The stage effects were very good. The guardroom scene with troops marching past the window in the background to the music of the regimental band was first-rate, and when the curtain fell on the return home of John Stofel and the discomfiture of the sneaking Deacon, the curtain had to be raised again and again in response to the applause from ail parts of the house. * #

' The Chinese Question,' the farce which followed, was one of the very best we have ever had in Auckland. It was certainly very funny. Here Maggie Moore, in the dual part of an Irish help and a Chinese girl, shone again. She sang * Maggie Murphy's Home' dehciously and was loudly encored, and her burlesque of grand opera singing later on, with Mr Forde, was simply admirable.

If Messrs Forde and Deering failed, in some important respects, in ' Struck Oil,' they certainly made up for it in the ' Chinese Question.' A better bit of character acting than Mr Forde's tragic butcher is seldom seen on any stage. .It was a remarkably clever performance and fairly delighted the audience. Oily -Deering, top was quite in his element as ' Mr Freewill,' who, tiring > of white servants, replaced them with Chinese ones — with lamentable results. Oily can be very funny indeed if he likes, and he was certainly very funny

indeed on Monday night. The people screamed with laughter. The . Chinese concert between Maggie Moore and Mr Forde was alone worth a visit to the Opera .House to hear— and see ! Many people left the. theatre at the conclusion of the *

drama. They missed a good thing. Farces are seldom worth waiting for. This farce was_more than worth waiting for.

Tho Bhort season is passing rapidly. T^o-night ** Struck 0i1,'., and ' The Chinese Question' will be performed again. Tomorrow (Friday) and on Saturday the comedy drama 'Forty-Nine' will go on. It has never been performed in Auckland yet, and as it has made a hit elsewhere, it ought to be worth seeing.

# * # Condensed items : Fillis' Circus opened at Wellington on Monday.. ..Somebody has started shiliing Thursday pops at the T.R., Wellington.. ..Collett-Dobson Co. still at Dunedin Princess's.. ..Misses Albu's Concert Company at Oity Hall, Dunedin.... Gaiety Co. at Christchurch". Season only lasts nine nights there. # # #

Hundreds turned away, a grumbling, excited crowd of people on the pavement in front of City Hall, anxious but unable to get in, letters in the papers, about overcrowding — why what more does Mr Ashton want ? The fame of his Sixpenny Pons is made. Not very far short of 2,000 people paid for admission to last Wednesday's concert. Harold Ashton, got up in faultless evening dress, stood on the circle stairs and let the crowd hustle him. Seemed to like it. The second programme was even better than the first, and the encores came fast and furious. The artistes were, with one exception, (that of Miss Short, a pupil of Mr Towsey) all wellknown to the audience. The orchestral selections by Hunter's band were very good Tom Jackson ' farewelled ' on this occasion. He vocally invited Maud to come into the garden and the audience seemed so interested in the performance that they insisted on an encore which took the form of * Good-Bye Sweetheart, Good-Bye.' Was this a poetical way of Tom's of saying* ta-ta? Looked like it. Miss Rnby Clifford repeated her recitation of the previous week 'Jealous Peterkin Peep.' It went better than before, if anything. Got an encore anyhow. This was ' A Rustic Kiss,' and was very yummy yummy . # * #

Herr Zimmermann and his violin received a warm welcome. That goes without saying. Harry Stebbing sang ' The Powder Monkey,' an old friend, very acceptably, and in response to loud demands for 'more' gave 'My Little Queen.' Mr White was once again on hand and sang ' Gone ' with characteristic humour. 'He has a way with him ' as somebody says of somebody. (Quotation wanted.) And it is a taking way. Mr P. Dufaur was in fine voice. Of course they encored him. The trio from 'Princess Ida,' by Messrs Jackson, Reid, and Dufaur, was first-rate.

The accomplished Towsey presided at the piano. It is astonishing what a large audience and plenty of applause will do for amateurs. The excitement of singing or playing to a crowded and enthusiastic house refreshes the soul of the amateur even as the summer shower freshens up the drooping roses, or a glass of — er— water revives the man who has tramped twenty miles in the hot sun without a drink.

Paddy Doran's Saturday night entertainments at City Hall are rapidly increasing in popularity. Last Saturday night's bill was full of ' stars ' of th 9 first magnitude. Bernard's performing dogs were a great draw, and Ethel, the boneless phenomenon's ' turn ' made a hit. The ' Man Serpent' would have made an excellent '

boa constrictor if he had been born in that station of life. Dick Hayes, premier clown and acrobat, got a great reception, and in short the show was a success from start to finish, and to employ a new and original phrase, 'gave pleasure to all.' Paddy has prepared a tempting-bill-of-fare for next Saturday night, including the Tankard troupe of real live Japs., who will introduce the famous ladder act. The latter troupe appear subsequently in the suburbs under Paddy's able management.

The AHAerald rushes to the defence of the Austrian or Bussian Slav gumdiggers, and shrieks frantically against any interference by the Government with the rights of capital and cheap labour. Of course it does. That is the policy of the Herald, and of the .party that the Herald represents. But other people have rights beßide the greedy capitalist aud these hordes of half-starved aliens who are content to work for a fourth of the wages of an ordinary labourer. The people at large have rights, and these must be insisted upon.