THE LARGNETTE

Observer, Volume XXI, Issue 1196, 30 November 1901, Page 6

THE LARGNETTE

By Pexdennis

Opera House Bookings,

November. Ist to 30th,— The Pollard Opera Company. -■■.■'•'■ December «6tb to January 22nd. — Brough Comedy Company. . : . v January 23rd to February 3rd.— W. F. Hawt my a Comedy Company. February '*t|j to 26tn.— WilHamson'H Italian Qpera Company. '--'.-

AT "the Opera House, the ''Casino Girl" is no more, but the

"Geisha" girl has taken the place of the departed one. And the change is very agreeable, for the "Geisha has no weariness of plot, dialogue, or music, except in one instance, which i«r bfca't the overture appears to be ar dfuin' solo. Taken as such, it is excellent, but not interesting. The drum is good, the drummer is better, and the overture all druminy. The curtain rises upon a seene — a lovely, Jappy, happy-girl -and i chappy seene — which is quire charming: The Jappy toddle is exquisite, the Jappy fans are Jappynistically wriggled, arid it recalls to mind the old hymn of childhood where it says, "There is a Jappy land, faß,.> far -away. " But on Monday it wasn't far, far away. Before writing of details, let>»fi'^eak -of the v '- altogether, "as the French call >t.

The scenery is exquisite and the eo&tnmes are oh ! so graceful, and so are the artistes wrapped up in them. Tt»e enunciation of words i« not any too. clear, and the actions of the chorus need some improvement so as to ensure simultaneity. There Are two or three in the chorus who have dyed their eyes to such perfection as to give the impression of sun-goggles. But these are easily retnedied defects.

From start to finish the whole opera has a dash, a swing, a "verve" in it that binds the attention. . J t fascinates the eye and the ear, and you pass the time partly in craning your neck to see what is going on all over the stage, and partly in shaking your sides with laughter. W'un-hi is simply a bag of fun. He Smiles all over, Even his loose trousers seem to laugh — in the the same place every time, as he observes. Katana was the most unjappy character in the lot, but he made up ftfrihis defioieucy by the extraordinary richtless and force of his beautiful voipe. '

The '- kissing duet is a dream of beauty, ' Every man in the audience wished he were Fairfax to «how the little Jatfpaninnie how to kiss. It's a beautiful lesson — and. so wonderfully e^asy, Didn't Mimosa Sun learn it qrtickly, too ? Miss Beatty's solos were beautifully rendered, aavefor the everlasting kreraolo, " This tremolo re, quires very careful handling, and, to be effective, should be very rarely used, The choruses were very excellent, The precision of the voices and their perfeot coherence with the orchestra merits the greatest approbation, and mast have entailed much careful trainiiig.

Of course, the funny part,, pur excellence, was provided by Wun-lii. How lie managed to bounce about all tRe evening, smack and get smacked, attrftforae tip smiling at tqe finish it in not easy to day. Hut .be did it. Not ivi otic instant did he let l»isliuri>our dro^ — tiot o;ij«e did he appear l/tit the a'ndietieo was convulsed, and Mr Percy, yt\l6 took'this* character, ni nut have a srteeial mention all to himself— WfteW eJverythiiig wan so jLjood, It rs u«eleAß to' keep on particniariHing. Tonight, (ThUrsd«y) the fJeiwha wfir he »ap)Vlanted by the "Belle of New York." and' on Monday

tfce 2nd ftecemlwr, " La Poup'ee" is to b^#**hr«e;nigh^ «pell. A grturd tnfitHlee, is ; twt. <\<QJFb "to* • £s*o '?eVBirV Sftthrday aitemodn. - ' '

..At Dix'a Gaiety, the fre«h features wince, last week ace the Liujmrd Sisters, Miss May Lewia, and Madame Bobe, Before referring to these ladies, t should ljke to pay a tribute to the marvellous skpt br the t)e \\Nrriiies, who have studied the real art of walking; Th^y wane on their feet, heads, hands, backs and shoulders ; they walk sitting down, standing still, and lying down ; they walk upside down, horizontally, obliquely-, and every other ;wiy ; they sometimes walk like Hies feet " uppafds," and we expect to see th&ui crawling about on the ceiling soon. The Ling&rd Sisters sing and skip very gracefully.

But the. great musical treat of f lic evening is provided by the exquisite French artiste, Madame JJobti. It is quite au education in music to nee and hear Madame Kobe's performance on the xylophone. The execution of the "Hell Song" from " Les Cloche* de (Jorneville " produced n thunderous enc6te, and the audience would not be content with a bowed acknowledgment. They knew what was good and meant to have some more — and they got it. Again, as a violinste, Madame displays a mastery of technique. The first toorceau "11 Balen," from Verdi's " Trovatoxe," was very tenderly rendered. The first part was just the delicate caress Verdi meant it to be, merging to passionate entreaty, and again fading away like the light of a summer's eve. It's worth all the money just to hear this ' clever Parisienne artiste. The other artistes on the programme have been fully alluded to in previous notices.

Lionel A. Lewis, who passed the pharmacy exhibition, " A " section, was coached by Mr Maurice It. Keesing, professor of dassical and modern languages, and examination coach. The pass was a highly successful one. We have received a book entitled "Clinical Experiences, '" by Drs. Freemari and Wallace It contains chapters of interest to numbers of persons in the community. As its title expresses, the experiences are nearly all clinical. The opening of the new Unitarian Chord i in Ponsonby Koad taken place on Wednesday, the' 4th prox. There is to be a dedication service at 4 p.m., and a public meeting at 7.3<f, at which addresses will be given by the minister and other gentlemen, Messrs Archibald Clark and Sons have scored a very great success with their famous " Zealandia " shirts. Thousands wear them in the^ colony. But now they have introduced even a greater boon — especially for travellers — in what they term the " Wanderer" shirt. As its name _ implies, it is especially suitable ' for travellers. There is a patent detachable cuff arI rangement, and the cuffs may be bought separately. The great value to tourists of this invention is obvious, and there will probably be a great run on shirts of the "Wanderer 1 brand.