COLLEGE REVUE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17350, 15 May 1924, Page 6

COLLEGE REVUE.

WEAK SINGING, BUT GAY COLOURING. PRELIMINARY REVELS. Half the fun at the college rerue last night consisted in going early to watch the impromptu part of the entertainment—the “ We see you ’ ’ salutations awaiting each new’ arrival, tho shafts or wit directed at any vulnerable point, the absurdities of the programme sellers, the jazzing up and down the aisles, the climbing into boxes, the indecorous mock marriages of scantily attired femininity, the racing up and down, the arrests, ejections and general alarums and excursions with which these annual extravaganzas are heralded. If the walls of the dressing rooms could have fallen suddenly before a blast of the trombone player, what a comic contrast would have presented itself! In deadly anxiety the dramatis personas of the play sweated under grease-paint and wrestled with unfamiliar gear in preparation for that great and fateful moment when the curtain would rise, for better or worse, on the work of weeks. A casual observer might have remarked that behind the scenes the objurgations were painful and frequent and free, especially in the presence of the occasional ladies who strolled in and around the dressing rooms, but a closer acquaintance with these “ ladies ” showed that th&y liad bass voices, and gave evidence of recent shaving. Serenely indifferent to these backstage anxieties, the audience packed it self in and joined in the general hilarity. Each new arrival was an event in itself. A well-known racehorse owner, whose colours have flashed to victory in many a classic event, found his box invaded by a species of piratical programme sellers, dressed in facing colours. who laid down the law as to the number of programmes that ought decently to be purchased by anybody who had the price of a box. Upstairs, a ragtime trotting trainer found that he could just manage to stretch from the balcony of the dres3 circle into an upper box for the purpose of canvassing the occupants. A fellow conspirator from behind obligingly gave him the necessary impetus for a pose dive irto the box, and his heels gracefully disappeared over the plush balcony. . A young man who unwarily* gbt as far as the centre aisle without uncovering. got a blast from the “ gods ” that was calculated to last him for a lifetime. A smiling old gentleman with a Vandyck beard smiled more deeply and hurried to his seat as a broadside of “ beavers *’ raked him mercilessly. An intermittent fire smote the orchestra as heads appeared from the mysterious underground receeses. “ Hello. Sidney.” “ Got his dinner jacket on, too.” “"Poor old Sidney!” “ He's not poor, don’t he per- ‘ ‘ Well pi ayed. Si dney.” The arrival of a local celebrity yclept “ Bras so ” lifted the barrage from the orchestra. It descended a moment later on a blushing young man who escorted a pretty girl into a front seat, but just- then the rise of the curtain stilled the tumult. And what about the play? Well, there were times when the criticalminded might have thought of changing the title from “What Ho!” to “ What Next?” due to the fact that for quite a while the prompter wa« not functioning, Ipit the principals put .a determined front on it, and carried the “first flutter” along so confidently that the loss of a few lines was neither here nor there. There was certainly not the crude amateurism that has disfigured some of the scenes of past college revues, and if the songs were a little bit weak, it was a fault partly attributable to nervousness arid partly to a failure to get down to the footlights and “put it across” heartily, come weal come woe. The heaviest work fell on Mr M. J. Burn 3, whose acting, gestures and stage presence geaieraly were surprisingly good If his singing voice*had carried further, his performance would, have been beyond criticism. Nervousness in Mr A. A. G. lleed wore off speedily, and in his song, with Miss Neta Billcliff he got “every hand in the house.” Miss Billcliff, by the way, was quite the most piquant figure in the revue, graceful, smiling and self-possessed . The succession of catchy little songs in the first act helped the revue out, and the orchestra, under Air Sidney Williamson, can be credited with sympathetic assistance. Mr P. H. Hall, the unexceptionable butler. Arise O. Owen, as Bebe, Mr W. A. Price, as Vodka, Mr W. B. Harris as Colonel Cordite, and Air L. R. Palmer as Major Rooit dovetailed into their parts well. During the time usually occupied by the first interval Messrs C. E. Beeby and W. R. Harris held the audience very closely in a neat little sketch that gave ari opportunity for one or two local allusions that found their mark fairly. The third and fourth acts, which carried the play on until nearly eleven o’clock, gave wider scope for some delightful grouping of a very graceful and shapely ballet, and some Oriental dances and poses, in which Aliss Af. Sowden sang charmingly. Miss Rose Reynolds* danced most captivatingly and Miss Nancy Ives led the chorus. Then finally came a bright cabaret background for a succession of songs, choruses and ballets, topical and otherwise. These final acts introduced two other capable principals in Messrs A. T. Slocombe as a “ dame.” and Mr -T. Pickles as a very saucy daughter. The impression left by the whole revue was that it was bright, lively and tuneful, and the blemishes were almost negligible and quito certain of elimination in the two final showings of the play to-night and to-morrow night.