THE STAGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16413, 29 April 1921, Page 6

THE STAGE.

NEWS AND NOTES.

(By “THE LIMELIGHT MAN.") As an early attraction here, Messrs J. and N. Tait promise an extra elaborate production in the shape ot their “Sinbad the Sailor,” pantomime Miss Jennie Hartley (Duchess of Dullwater in “ Bing Boys on Broadway ) will bo ‘Sinbad” (principal boy), Mr Dan Agar, dame, and Mr Jack Cannot “Sinbad” A troupe of clever acrobats mav be expected in the Littlejohns, :md a diverting vaudeville team m Messrs Edgeley and Dawe. Mr Agar a comedian who has played in no fewer than twelve pantomime “ dames during his theatrical career. There are twenty scenes in the two acts, and LOO people engaged in the production. O! the costly environment of the pantomime an Australian critic writes : —lt is customary to expect elaborate and beautiful settings, rich dressing and catchy music in pantomime, and in these departments Messrfe J. and N. Tait have kept faith with their patrons in “Sinbad the Sailor.” The technical staffs have not previously such an alluring fabric as is the case this year. The costuming features an infinite variety of colour tones which have been deftly blended with a view to enhancing the spectacular effect of the ensemble, and many -novel designs have been introduced that will be of particular interest to ladies. Tho scenic artists have also achieved many striking clothes and tableaux, notably the Coral Cave, the Diamond Valley, the Caliph's Balance and Butterfly Land.

“ Tho Maid of the Mountains ” has succeeded in what is computed to be a record for all times as far as Australia is concerned, nnd that is to have every seat in the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. including dress circle, stalls and gallery, booked prior to the rising of the curtain at each performance for the ninety-one evening performances which it has completed.

The piano that accompanies Ja3clia Heifetz on his tours has to be perfect in pitch and tone or the young artist soon notices it. The brilliant genius, who is opening an Australian season under the J. and N. Tait management next month, was about to play in a recital in America a fe\v months bock when he heard n note sounded, and said immediately that it was A, and was under pitch. His ear, which must be one of the most- delicate possessed by musicians, instantly detects the slightest fault in an instrument, and until it is corrected he cannot play to it.

Dorothy South, the leading lady of “Irene,” has had such a delightful time in Australia, she says, that when she leaves this country she will be one of its most enthusiastic advertisers. * Australia certainly needs a lot of advertising in America,” she says. “ The only people who really know anything about it are the theatrical people who hnve visited this country—and every one of them would be glad to come back here. They tell the story in New York of a man who walked into a. shop ta buy something, and mentioned that he came from Australia. ‘ Gee,’ eaid the attendant behind the counter, ‘ you’ve picked up our language quickly.’ ”

Mr Frank Rigo, says the Sydney “ Daily Telegraph,” is again stirring up operatic interest. This time making a beginning in Svdney. He is laying the foundation or an efficient chorus by tho of an operatic school, t-o be established at the Repertory Theatre. Promising applicants are coming forward. All are required to have passed through their vocal training, for the scheme is to get to work at once on one or two operas. Stage experience will bo gained in the first place by performances of acts from various operas at the Repertory Theatre. These will merely be private auditions, giving opportunity for both chorus and any solo talent that may be discovered. I/a ter a season will be ventured at one of the big theatres, when everything is in apple-pie order.

One of the most notable engagements made by the J. and N. Tait firm for many years is that of Signor Antonio Notariello, the famous Italian tenor, who arrived in Sydney recently, accompanied by his personal manager, Signor A. P. Truda, who is well known in Australian and New Zealand musical circles. Signor Notariello comes in his very prime, for he is still well on the right side of thirty. Clippings from recent Italian newspapers show that the quality of his voice found full recognition in his land, and enabled the cognoscenti in his audiences to predict a great future for him in that he was following in the footsteps of al Ithe great tenors from Max Alvary, Jean de Reske, Tamagno and Caruso. The Dominion tour of Signor Notariello will commence at the beginning of next month at liV ellington.

It is computed that “The Garden of Allah,” which reached its 30Oth performance at Drury Lane Theatre, London, in February, has been witnessed by close upon 900,000 people. The longest previous run there was “ The Whip,” with 276 performances. The credit for tho extraordinary success of “The Garden of Allah,” which has brought its two authors as much as £3OO a week in royalties, is due partly to Sir Alfred Butt’s insistence on the play’s production, in spite of its failure in Nev/ York, hut otherwise to the brilliant production, for which Arthur Collins was responsible. “ lan Hay,” whose books and plays have aimed chiefly at amusing, considers that most theatregoers may fairly quarrel with the realistic dramatists, for the reason that though they create many tragic or depressing situations they seldom suggest a way out. They Ica<i the audience into the Slough of Despond and leave it there- “ This maybe drama, but it is not cricket. There will always be a way out so long as the springs of human charity flow and common sense lingers on earth.” He suggests that no dramatist should bo permitted to write a problem play without making an honest attempt at solution.

Ten years ago (says an American paper) an estimate that the people of the United States paid 100,0GQ,0O0doI a year for theatrical amusements was considered extravagant. Now the Secretary of the Treasury predicts a yield of 70AX)0,()00dol annually from a 20 per cent tax on theatre admission. This is necessarily based upon box office receipts of 350,000.000d01, plus the war tax, which is paid by tho purchasers, making a total of 420,000,000d0l a year. The aggregate, of course, is vastly swollen by the returns from the moving picture houses. A decade ago this avenue of expenditure for indoor entertainment was relatively small.

Vaudeville is reaching out for concert and operatic stars in the United Sattes, and the ethics of vaudeville for concert singers are being thrashed out at great length in the musical publications. From time to time harpists, pianists, ’cellists, singers and chamber music organisations have done well in the two-a-day houses. The principal difficulty in the cast has been that vaudeville audiences like a highly Individual interpretation of what is familiar to them, and until lately the kind of music that figures on a concert programme has not been generally known to the public, says a commentator. According to observers, however, the player-piano and the phonograph have now made good music familiar in most homes, and the result is an increased opportunity for the musician on the vaudeville stage.

A spirited defence of revne ivas puv forward recently at the London Playgoers’ Club. Speaking on tho subject under debate, “ Aro revues ns black as they are painted P” Mr d€f Oourville said revue was perfect in every senseHo did not see how a revue could be imperfect if it was a success. The only standard of success was the box office. Revue was originally intended to bo a satire on current events, but now there had to be an entertainment, and on th© variety of that entertainment success depended. Ve could not compete withi the French in the art or T.he&trical costume. The world was open to tho man who wanted to put on revue. Mr Philip Page saul adverse critics charged the revue with being inane and vulgar. But if anything improper was heard over th© footlights in London it was not over the footlights of revue. London was the home of revue.

English reviewers, in their notice of her biography, are not over kind to Patti. Sir Charles Stanford writes : “ Patti, with all Europe at her feet, had the power in her grasp of being a priestess in her art, and she became a servant of the public, inducing them to hear In her Mozart, not Mozart in her, and popularising, as tile highest form of art, “ Home, Sweet Home. ’ and “Coinin’ Thro’ th© She had a perfect instrument, on which she played witli perfect technique, but the results musically wer© equivalent to those of a first-rate violinist who confined his efforts to fantasias of de Beriot and Ernst. If only singers of the first calibre who hold the public in their hands, no matter what they sing, were to use the great power they hold to disseminate the best music, instead of wrapping their talent in a napkin, how different would the taste of the public become P k

If th© Benda masks which have been introduced in “ Tho League of Nations,” at tho Oxford (writes a Sydney “Bulletin” London correspondent), should ever be available at reasonable prices, “producers” of musical shows will no longer have to worry about the beauty of the chorus, but will be able to select its members on their voices, provided their figures are not altogether impossible. These masks, designed by a New York artist, are the most remarkably life-like things of th© kind yet produced. By wearing them a dancer appears successively as an Oriental girl, a Japanese doll and a modern flapper. They are made of paper an.d moulded to fit the face of the wearer. There are no eye-slits; carefully painted representations of the human eye form part of the design. The masks suggest wonderful possibilities, but the fact that they are alleged to cost £S(XJ each will prevent, the average theatrical producer rushing to obtain a few dozen.

Mr George Grossmitb. who has followed a successful acting career by successes in management, considers that great clmnges will be caused in the British theatres by the new methods which managers are gradually adopting. “ One may expept,” he says, '* to find Shakespeare, revue, comedy, tragedy, and grand opera played successively in the same theatre. Hitherto the London stage has been, practically speaking, of single importance. Under present conditions when a play has been successful in London a provincial company has been sent out to play for a week or so in the chief provincial towns. A very different sort of procedure is adopted in America, where a play may be primarily produced in Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, or elsewhere. It may run for three weeks in New York and twelve months in Chicago. I think we shall find within the next few years, that plays will be running for six, or even twelve months in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Glasgow before they have ever been seen by a London audience. Again, the distinction between London and provincial actors should, and will, disappear, and when a magnificent piece of acting such as Mos-eovit-ch’s 4 Great Lover,’ has concluded its run in London, the provinces have a right to demand him. and not someone else, in the part.”

There is some difference between -a title and a label, and most dramatists employ both, savs a writer in the “ Daily Telegrapli.” In tragedies, as a rule, authors seem to fight shy of titles, and to content themselves with labelling the play with the name of some, principal or prominent character. Shakespeare invariably did so with his tragedies. Perhaps he was wise, not wishing the public to know beforehand that they were tragedies, or perhaps he did not trouble himself to give them names at all. He was almost as casual in regard to naming his comedies, but the result was magnificent. “As You Like It.” “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “ All’s Well that Ends Well.” “ The Comedy cf Errors,” and some others are all perfect, practically interchangeable, and breathing the very essence of natural, light-hearted, unselfconseious comedy. To- judge from the titles of melodramas, virtue nnd homeliness w’ere more attractive in the Victorian days than they are now, or were until quite recently. for at the present moment the kinema appears almost to have driven melodrama from th© stage. Some of the old melodrnnias had grand titles, in their way. “ The Lights o’ London,” “Harbour Lights,”

“ One of the Best,” “ Cheer. Bovs, Cheer.” surely sound more attractive than “The Worst Woman in London.” “The Bad Girl of the Family,” “The Sins of Societv,” or “The Marriages of Mayfair!” Perhaps the best title among modern plays, and one of the best- among those of all time, belongs to Sir James Barrie. Lives there a man who would not wish to go and see “ What Every Woman Knows,” or a woman who would rest until she had found out if Barrie really knows? And who would not admit that he does, after seeing the play?

An important production of the week is “ Sybil,” a typical musical piece of tho type associated wtih Daly’s Theatre, with Jose Collins in the chief part (writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne “Argus”). The setting is Russian, and .there is a neat plot Sybil, the singer, is mistaken for the Grand Duchess. When the Grand Duke arrives, followed by the real Grand Duchess, all the ingredients for a comio opera plot are present. But the real strength of “ Sybil ” is Jose Collins. As singer, dancer, and actress alike, she proves herself in a class alone among comic opera prime-donne. “ Sybil ” will doubtless run for a year' or two. Whether it will be a moneymaker is another question. Nowadays a. run of a. year may well mean financial failure. A comic opera, with an expensive cast awd a. costly production, has to run to “ capacity ” houses for months if the first outlay is to bo made good. Fortunately the management had the luck to discover Jos© Collins, a daughter of the well-known dancer Lottie Collins, of “ Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay ” fame. Sine© then, all has gone well. Miss Collins is a really pretty woman, with a voice of rich beauty and a personality full of charm. Such a conjunction of gifts cannot bo found in any other light opera star in England, with th© possible exception of Delysia. With such an asset, a theatre can meet the highest rises in rent. Nevertheless, managements which have not had the good fortune to discover a Jos© Collins are what can be done to meet the crisis. Th© price of seats cannot b© raised. There are not enough war-profiteers to keep thirty West End theatres open. As a consequence, theatrical management in London, is ©very day becoming more of a gamble. Theatres can still be let, even at £SOO and £6OO a week. Indeed, some managers argue that it really doesn’t much matter what is paid. If the play is a success, the difference between £2OO and £SOO a week is not. of prime importance; if it is a failure, the management is faced with bankruptcy any way