THE STAGE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16555, 14 October 1921, Page 6

THE STAGE.

NEWS AND NOTES. (By “THE LIMELIGHT MAN.”) Sam Stern, the well-known character comedian, will appear at the Opera House in a few weeks' time. The General Manager for New Zealand of Fullers’ Vaudeville says: “ A lew more comedians like Stern would put vaudeville on a much higher plane.” People were waiting at the London Pavilion from midday in order to be present at the final performance of “ London, Paris, and New York,” at which Aliss Violet Loraine, the popular revue artist, took her farewell of the stage. The whole house could have been sold twice over. It was a night of wonderful enthusiasm, and at the end of the evening the stage was banked with the flowers which earlier had made a floral bower of the artist’s dressing room Before the last scene of all Aliss Loraine told a representative of * £ The Observer ” that she had received many delightful letters, and said she was retirng with the nice feeling that she is leaving the stage the best of friends with everyone in the profession. She felt overwhelmed, she added, with the house, and when asked whether she did not feel just a little sad at the thought of retirement, she answered, “ One always gets a tear in one’s throat when one is exceptionally happy.” Aliss Loraine is arranging to give, after her marriage, a matinee on behalf of the Theatrical Girls’ Hostel, and she hopes to appear from time to time at other charitable performances. “ The Trump Card,” a new farce from the French, freely adapted by Air Arthur Wimpens, opened in London in August. It bears the hall-mark of one of London’s wittiest writers of revue. The cynical dialogue bristled with topical allusions, from Airs Asquith to the Dolly Sisters, and some of the acting was brilliant. The adapter received an ovation, but on coming on a second time, with Air Arthur Bourchier, the well-known actor-man-ager, a hurricane of booing broke forth in the gallery—but not in any other part of the house. Mr Arthur Bourchier took it seriously to heart, and by advertisement begged to be informed of the reason for the outbreak. He has, it seems, received a sheaf of letters protesting against the increase in the price of admission to the gallery, although he points out that, in common with ether West-end managers, he only bowed to the pressure of heavily increased expenses. Any * way, he promised to revert to the traditional shilling toll on his gallery patrons, from the following .Saturday onward. Signor Cacialli, the Italian, basso, is seriously ill, and is an inmate of a private hospital in Sydney. His illness is the result of a complete nervous breakdown, and his condition is so serious that not even his intimate friends are allowed to see him. His medical advisers, however, think that if all goes well, he will bo able to resume his duties at the Conservatorium in about a month. Signor Cacialli came to Australia as the principal basso of the Gonzales Italian Opera Company, which, during war time, enjoyed wonderfully successful seasons in Australia. “ Lightnin’,” which holds tho American record for consecutive performances in a single playhouse, has come to an end in New York. The first performance at the Gaiety took place on August 26, 1918, and since then the play has run on with but a single break—a hiatus of four weeks when the actors’ strike came along. The run, accordingly, is three years and a day, or 1291 performances. Grace Torrens, the pianist with Dame Clara Butt and Kennerley Rumford in Alelbourne, had a unique experience. She travelled all the way from England and was able to visit a theatre and hear some of her own compositions. For Aliss Torrens is a composer as well as a pianist and she was responsible for several of the principal numbers in “Chu Chin Chow,” the J. G. Williamson revival of which Her Alajesty’s she greatly enjoyed. Aliss Torrens also composed for Air Oscar Asche the music of “ Eastward Ho,” which was staged in London. Mischaj Levitzki was bom near Kieff, i*} Southern Russia, during a return visit of his parents to their native country, and his intense musical nature manifested itself at an early age. When barely five he began to play the piano, and three months later so* amazed his parents that he was placed under the tutelage of Sigismund Stojowski, with whom he remained for four years. Progress was so extraordinarily rapid that he was sent to complete his studies with Dyonnanyi. This renowned teacher, whose pupils were all of maturer years, wan astounded when the new arrival turned out to be a lad in knickerbockers. One hearing satisfied the master that Levitzki was a genius. His interpretative gifts were so remarkable that they leoalled the story told of the precocity of Handel and Af.ozavt, and the miraculous results which they obtained. Four years lator, during the winter preceding the outbreak of the European AVar. he toured Belgium. Success was so instantaneous that, despite war conditions, he continued to play in Y ienna, Leipsig, Btidapest and Christiania. His unheralded entree on the American concert platform in the autumn of 1916 was one of the reallv sensational happenings of that season, in the intervening years he has become established by a long chain of triumphs. *.» Alias Buckman, of Wellington, is in receipt of information from her sister. Miss Rosina Buckman, the prim a donna, that she and her husband will bo visiting New Zealand next winter. As there does not seem to be any prospect of a grand opera company yet, Aliss Buckman’s relatives assume that the visitors are to tour in concert. As an operatic soprano, Aliss Buckman is nt the head of her profession in England, and nil recent arrivals from Home say that she is singing peerlessly. The latest information is that she has accepted an engagmnt to sing at La Scala, in Alilan, where she is to appear in the French opera “ Arianne et Barb© Bleue ” at its first performance in Italy. M. Feodor Chaliapin, the famous Russian singer, who lias arrived in London from Moscow, under leave of the Soviet Government, until December, was born in 1873, and is the son of a Kazan rnoujik. For a time he was a “vagabond ” performer, but he eventually reached the Imperial Theatre of Moscow, and developed not only into a great singer—he has been called “ the world’s greatest- basso ” —but also a pnreat aotor. He appeared with brilliant success in the Drtiry Lane Russian onera seasons in 1913-14. His fee waa said to be £4OO a night. Ho has been several times reported “ killed by the Bolsheviks,” but as a matter of fact he has become a sort of “musical Tsar” under the Bolshevik regime. Tho Babes in the Wood,” which J. C. Williamson, Ltd., are to present in Melbourne at Christmas, is to have a titled principal boy. Well known on tho stage as Nora Delany, the famous pantomime artist in private life is Lady Maxwell. W>' husband being a Baronet.

Good theatrical news from London is the promise of a revival of Ruddigore during the Gilbert and Sullivan season at the Princes Theatre from October to the end of January next. The opera has not been plaj’ed in London since its original presentation in 1887; and lovers of Gilbert and Sullivan have often asked why. It used to be said that the title had proved a barrier to success. Sir William Gilbert’s reply to a correspondent who asked him his reason for giving so offensive a name to an innocent piece of work is an old story. This “ entirely original supernatural opera ” was first called “ Ruddygore, or the Witch’s Curse.” In deference to public opinion ,the title was subsequently changed to “ Ruddigore.” Produced on Saturday, January 22, 1887. the opera had 283 consecutive representations. All the “ old Savoyards.” Rutland Barrington, George Grossmith, senior, Durward Lely, Richard Temple. Leonora Brahnm, Jessie Bond and Ilosina Brandram, took part in it. The jest which Shakespeare employed for his induction to “The Taming of the Shrew ” is carried to tragic completion in “ Christopher Sly,” the play produced by Air Matheson Lang at Manchester last August. Sly, in the person of Air Lang, is a romantic vagabond, who combines the habits of the tavern with the instincts of the poet. He is discovered at the inn by the earl and his mistress, Dolly, who is impressed by the romantic situation. Sly is carried in a drunken sleep to the castle, and when he awakes he is subjected to persistent suggestion that he is really the earl. Dolly is induced to masquerade as his wife. When they are alono she is carried away by his passionate eloquence, but as he kisses her the whole trick is exposed. The dupe is then cast into a cellar, where, after a poignant soliloquy, he opens his arteries. Dolly comes to ask for forgiveness, and gives him a kiss of love as he expires in her arniß. The dominant feeling inspired bv the play, which is well staged and well acted, is one of intense sympathy for a cruelly deceived man.

Joseph Coyne, the famous comedian, who has made a big hit in the snappy farce-comedy, “His Lady Friends,” confesses that though he has been on the stage quite a few years, 110 has never yet been able to get over his nervousness. “ When I hear the opening bars of the orchestra and I realise that the curtain will soon be rising, a shiver —almost of despair—runs through mo from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. I’m always nervy. Every night’s a first night to me. I simply can’t help it—l’m highly strung. The first night of a new piece is worst— I never like first nights. Everjbody is too highly strung, so the company never does itself justice. The second night—the reaction— evervbody’s a bit fagged. The third night-—if all goeH well—you get the performance. It’s just the same the whole world over.”

No wonder that critics call Dame Clara Butt’s contralto “ the voice of a century.” In the early ’nineties Clara Butt’s name was beginning to figure in the Press. Her phenomenal voice had won her a scholarship at the Royal College of Music under Henry Blower, and in this school of training she went from success to success with an ease that demonstrated how uncommon were her gifts. Her first appearance was raa do in “The Golden Legend ” at the Albert Hall, London, and the critics wrote columns of praise regarding the sumptuous richness of her singing and the amazing range of her voice. After that, there was increasing competition for relative powers added to the greatness of her work. She has sung in every oratorio of note in England, and has since appeared all over the Englishspeaking world. It is of interest, by the way, to note that Dame Clara Butt is a native of Sussed.