MUSIC AND DRAMA

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18380, 4 February 1928, Page 25 (Supplement)

MUSIC AND DRAMA

That enchanting musical comedy “Rose Marie,” which broke all London and Australian records, bids fair to set a new standard for New Zealand. At Auckland all previous figures went to the board, and in the North Island provincial tour just concluded, the success achieved by “Rose Marie” bordered on the sensational. Wanganui, Hawera,

New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Napier, and Hastings in turn received the musical comedy and the artists with a cordiality rarely extended to stage celebrities; and the manner of their support was such as to warrant their permanent inclusion in all provincial tours, where the exigencies of time will allow this to be done. The Wei lington season opened most auspiciously on Friday, January 27, and will extend to Saturday, February J.B. 1 he company will then visit Christchurch (February 20 to March 3), Timaru (March 5 and 6), Oarnaru (March 7) Invercargill (March 8 and 9), and Dunedin (March 10 to March 21) —one of the most comprehensive tours ever accomplished by a company of the calibre and dimensions of the “Rose Marie” star combination. Mr Bert Royle (New Zealand representative of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., and J. and N. Tait) announces that a New Zealand tour of the musical and dancing comedy, “Tip-Toes,” has been arranged. This, the latest New York success, will open at Auckland on February 15, and will be interpreted by a specially selected company in which several famous comedians and specialty dancers direct from London, who introduce some amazing performances, will be included. There are also some noted singers in the cast, which will be a particularly strong one. The striking ballets are arranged by Miss Minnie Hooper. The Christchurch season will open on April 7.

Having completed the reconstruction of the Opera House in Christchurch, the Fullers will shortly commence similar work in connection with the Princess Theafre, Dunedin, the estimated cost being £30,000. It is also announced that within a few years a new His Majesty’s Theatre will be built in Dunedin by the firm, on a site which would be available in two or three years’ time.

“ Without doubt there are two outstanding performances in ‘ The Ringer,’ which New Zealanders will see shortly and enjoy,” writes a Sydney correspondent. “These are given respectively by Maurice Moscovitch (Maurice Meister) and Patric Curwen, from London, who plays the part of Dr Lomond, Divisional Surgeon at Scotland Yard. Moscovitch you have already seen—and admired. His acting' is most powerful, and whether swaggering in braggart moods or cowering in. trembling fear of the awful vengeance of the Ringer, who stalks his prey like the deadly panther, Moscovitch is gruesomely impressive. The eerie scene in the room of mystery < where lights flicker up and die out with unexpected suddenness, where doors open in the walls, and strange noises send shivers through even the guiltless, is one of the most gripping ever staged. Patric Curwen’s role is ap extremely difficult one, but he plays it with consummate artistry, and one soon realises the reason why his temporary departure from the London stage was so universally regretted. It is a wonderful play by a particularly good company.”

, The musical comedy combination of Miss Elsie Prince and Mr Jimmie God ! den has become most popular with [ Sydney audiences, and after the season , of " Archie ” at St. James’ Theatre, these ' two delightful artists are to appear in “ Mercenary Mary ” for four weeks. Then there will follow their New Zeaf land tour, opening at the new Fuller Theatre at Auckland in the vicinity ot f Easter. { *’* *'* The London fogs and cold weather of f November-December or the warm »un . and blue skies of the lands beneath the j. Southern Cross? Harriet Bennet, the t charming “ Rose Marie ” in the great J. C. Williamson production, answered the ’ question by quitting Drury Lane (where the musical comedy has shattered records) for Australia and New Zealand. The doctors advised Miss Bennet that her mother (who accompanies her in her travels) could not stand another winter among the fogs, so when the J. C. Williamson management approached her with an AustralianNew Zealand offer the famous musical comedy star quickly accepted. Mr Frank Harvey, for so long a great favourite in Australia and New Zealand in drama and comedy, continues to get small parts in London productions. Recently he appeared in the Jewish Drama League’s production of “ Uriel Acesta.” Dame Nellie Melba has joined J. C. j Williamson, Ltd., for the Grand Opera season which is expected to begin at Melbourne at the end of March. The company will be known as the MelbaWilliamson Grand Opera Company. Melba will not sing—except once or twice for charity or special occasions. Her chief work will be producing, the choice and direction of the chorus, and attention to the hundred and one details of perfect organisation. It is characteristic of Melba that she should waste no time. She heard the first, voice trials the morning after the combination had been effected. :> Lilian Davies, the famous London comi’c opera star, has been offered by J. C. Williamson Ltd. the record salary for any comic opera artist to come to Australia under the management of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., to appear in the leading roles in “The Vagabond King” and “Princess Charming” (says a Melbourne paper). Miss Davies, who is now the leading comic opera star in London is said to have the best “comic opera voice” in England. It is claimed by J. C. Williamson, Ltd. that the completion of these negotiations for the appearance in Australia of Miss Lilian Davies will mark a new era in stage history in this country. Among the girls of the “ Robinson Crusoe ” pantomine at the Princess Theatre there is one who is a decided athlete (says a Melbourne paper). To Phyllis Amery it does not matter what is the challenge—she can always be guaranteed to effectively represent the company in whatever is under way. The tennis court is naturally a close favourite with the beach, though, just to vary matters a little, the slim and sinewy one would not say no to a willing boxing bout or a few rounds with the foils. And there is little doubt but that a stage artist these days requires a good deal of exercise to keep in the best of health. A merry, lively girl, is , Phyllis Amery, and quite a big asset in , the pantomine, where her solo dancing , u» a. big feature. S* Sri « Theatrical management, looks the « easiest thing in the world, but amateurs who blissfully butt in mostly get ! nothing out of it except scorched ■ fingers (writes a Sydney “ Bulletin ” : correspondent). The partners of a i city printing firm and a Sydney boys’ i schoolmaster who backed the Grand ; Guignol venture at the St James are 1 the latest to put their fingers in band- : ages. Like the shows arranged last 1 year by Concert Tours, Ltd., it deserved t

success, and, also like them, it failed through lack of knowledge in the steering of theatrical craft. The classic Australian example of amateur failure was the crash of Stephenson, who organised a first-rate musical comedy ; company that lasted only six months. In learning that theatrical management isn’t easy he spent £30,000. M 22 25 Murray, who performs feats similar to those associated with the name of 1 Iloudini, has been engaged to appear on the Tivoli circuit in Australia. About twelve months ago he performed a stunt in London that held up the traffic in Piccadilly Circus for nearly fifteen minutes. The crane on the top of the new Swan and Edgar Building, 150 feet above the ground, lifted Murray feet first and well-trussed up in a strait jacket, into the air. For 1 fourteen minutes he struggled with his bonds; then he removed the strait jacket, swung himself upwards until he could reach the chain, and released his feet. A moment later and he was low--1 ered to the roof, amidst the cheering of the enormous crowd that had collected in the street below. He has given performances all over* the ' world. The search for voices for the MclbaWilliamson grand opera season, to begin in Melbourne in March, has extended to Sydney. Dame Nellie Melba, ' accompanied 1 ; Mr Fritz Hart, direcL tor of the Melbourne Conservatorium, 1 Mr Andrew M’Cunn, musical director ' for the firm, Mr John Lemmone, and > Mr E. J. Tait, attended at Her Ma- » jesty’s Theatre, Sydney, to hear the • female voices, and give judgment on 1 their quality. Twelve young ladies ; presented themselves, and of these nine ’ were accepted—four sopranos, one 1 mezzo-soprano, and four contraltos. The sopranos proved to have voices of good range and quality, and each 1 sang with ease and confidence. The ’ contraltos pleased the experts beyond expectation, the soft, velvety quality ' of the voices being generally admired. “ L think the voices we heard are wonderful,” said Dame Nellie. “ They are 1 delightful—much better than we listened to in Melbourne. Nowhere in the l world would better voices be heard in the chorus. I am 'charmed with them.” • A portfolio containing letters from Governors of the forty-eight States exr pressing regret at her retirement was ' presented to Mme. Ernestine Schur mann-lleink at the end of her farewell song recital on December 10 in • Carnegie Hall, New York. The singer • announced she would devote her time • to the discovery and cultivation of girl ' singers. t 1 The most unusual announcement I’ve ■ heard made in a theatre marks Robert f I.oraine’s management of the Apollo, 5 where he is playing “ Cyrano de Ber- • ge'rac.” (writes a London correspon- ; dent). The gallery is always filled 5 with lovers of the romantic drama, l scores of them young girls, and the ; janitor cheerily announces in a voice 5 to be heard all over the theatre: “You f may swoke, ladies! ” And they do. t The Minneapolis Orchestra (U.S.A.) ‘ costs something to run. The sum of • £35,000 per annum is guaranteed, prin--1 cipally by the Minneapolis Civic and " Commercial Association, for a period r off three years. Of this amount the salary of the conductor, Mr Henri Verbrugghen, who was in New Zealand with the New South Wales State Orchestra, absorbs £6OOO per annum. • 1 Miss Renee Kelly, who was in New : Zealand last year, has returned to Lon--1 don travelling through America, after ■ an absence of nearly three }-ears, and with her husband, Hylton Allen, reappeared at the Colisseum. Miss Kelly hopes to make another tour of Australia and New Zealand before long, and it is her ambition to appear m some of the one-act plays of Barrie and Milne, in which she has achieved con- : siderable success in England.

Because Petrolini, actor-author, came before the footlights and publicly scolded Romolitti, critic of the newspaper “ Momeyto,” for his review the newspapers of Turin (Italy) have decreed a boycott against the actor. Critics in Rome recently threatened to avoid mention of any play whose producers talked back. Managers and actors in the capital have been careful since then lest the threat be carried out. Pre* viously a critic for “ Popolo di Roma ” had been verbally attacked for his review of a certain production.

The well-know r n English actor, Wil ■ Ham Farren, has gone in to retirement 1 after fifty years on the stage. His 1 great-grandfather was born in 1725, and was on the stage until he di'ed in 1795. His grandfather, born in 1786, died in 1861, after a lifetime in the theatre; and his own father, who was born in 1825, died in 1908, having worked right up to his last illness. The last of the line has retired after fifty years, and in this way the Farren family has given. 200 years’ service to the public. Another musical centenary falls this year—that of Franz Peter Schubert, who died in November, 1828, just twenty months after his great contemporary Beethoven shook his fist at the skies and breathed his last (says a writer in a contemporary). It isn’t certainly known whether they ever met, or whether Beethoven realised that here was a composer whose promise was almost as great as his own. Sch-übert was the usual precocity. By the age of twelve he had turned out songs, sonatas, overtures and masses in abundance. His songs,, many of them glorious, numbered nearly 600. He died in obscurity at 31, leaving tilteen operas, seven symphonies and a bagful of concertos in manuscript. It was reported by cable from London a few weeks back that Sir Harry Lauder had been granted the freedom of his native city, Edinburgh, amid remarkable scenes of enthusiasm. Dressed in kilts he defied a civic edict, and sang the ditty, “Take us back to Scotland when the bluebells are blooming in June.” The casket with which he was presented recorded recognition of his services for the Allies during the war, for charity, and his labours to cement ties of kinship with the Dominions. Sir Harry Lauder declared that he felt prouder than when His Majesty the King said “Sir Harry.” Arrangements are being made by Sir Harry to return to the stage, although when Lady Lauder died at the end of July | last year Sir Harry Lauder is reported to have announced that he would not do so again. s Mr Robert Atkins, a leading London actor .and stage director, recently took a Shakespearean company to Cairo for a season of ten weeks. Apparently, Alexandria rather prides itself upon its artistic leanings, for great was the indignation and disappointment of its population when it was learned that Mr Atkins and his players would not visit fhe city. The “ Egyptian Gazette” regarded the matter as of sufficient importance to justify a leading article, in which it asked plaintively, “ I s Alexandria not to be permitted to see them? Can it be really true that Shakespeare will pass the city of Alexandria by? Has she no syrens which the can station oil her quays to charm Mr At-

kins and his comrades on their return from Cairo, which possesses a large community whose native tongue is English, and a much larger community well versed in the English language?”

Twelve years ago, when she was thirteen, Miss Betty Blackburn, who has been charming London audiences with her singing, was getting up before daybreak and going to the mill (says .a London paper). For five years she was a mill girl in Blackburn, with a profound interest in singing. Then a concert in aid of repatriated soldiers was announced. A singer was wanted, and a schoolmaster who had given her some singing lessens nominated her. She created a sensation at the Concert, and a subscription was raised to send her to the Royal College of Music in London. One day she saw that Mme. Calve, the prima donna, would take as protegee any girl who would “ make a Carmen.” Miss Blackburn applied. She received a letter telling her to present herself, but when she- announced her name Mme. Calve was surprised. The letter which Miss Blackburn had received had been misdirected. However, Mme. Calve consented to hear her, and was astounded, and accepted her as her pupil. At that time Miss Blackburn was a contralto. Now —as the result, of an- operation to» her. throat—she is a fine soprano.

“The Squall,” . which was, presented at the Globe Theatre,.London,' recently, is another importation from the United States. It has run for a year in New York, but, unlike so many American plays, it makes no reference to prohibition, bootlegging, or party politics. Neither has it any of the familiar Broadway slang. But it does contain a kind of super-vamp compared to whom Fata Morgana was a mere novice. On a night of storm there comes to a quiet rural home a young girl who has run away from a band of gipsies. She is dark and pretty, and suggests the vamp of stage and cinema with every movement. In turn she lures from the paths of virtue the head of the family, the son, and the manservant. Miss Rosaline Fuller, very dark and very slim, and very lissome, who moves like a snake and smiles like The Worst Woman in London, plays the super-vamp. She speaks, for stage purposes, broken American, and those who mistake violence for power may hail her as a great actress. But while she is physically supple she is not artistically subtle. Yet she is theatrically effective.

Among the problems with which the French National Theatre, Comedie Francaise, finds itself beset are the recent departure of several of its finest members and the immediate demands for higher pay by the remaining troupe (writes the Paris correspondent of the New York Tribune”). The institution owes its origin to Moliere who, two hundred and fifty years ago, managed to gain the favour of “King Sun,” as Louis XIV. of France was nicknamed for his magnificence. Since that far day the theatre has weathered many storms, not the least being the French Revolution, out of which it emerged greatly shattered. It was reorganised by Napoleon Bonaparte, who granted a special decree now famous as the Decree of Moscow, which he sent from headquarters while on the disastrous Russian

campaign. This decree of Napoleon has been invoked several times of late as unruly members of the company have attempted to elude the terms of their contracts. Members of the company are forbidden to appear outside the National theatre unless permission is given, and consent is never withheld when circumstances permit. The present trouble is due to a number of the leading members of the company claiming that they are underpaid, £BOO a year being the highest income earned by the principal artists. Salaries, however, are considerably augmented by State players being permitted, at intervals, to accept foreign engagements.

In this effete old country of ours those who write on theatrical affairs are getting quite out of date, for a perusal of American newspapers dealing with the theatre will'show that a new language is springing up of which we writers on this side do not avail ourselves (writes a London critic). Just to prove that I keep abreast with the times, may I bring to your notice some Yankee theatrical phrases which have stuck in my memory after reading them? Let me, just for once, call a press agent a “ publicity snatcher ”; let me call myself a “ pinch hitting critic,” even though I may not be a “ regular first stringer,” and regret that actors pay no attention to my “ panning slating.” May I in future weeks record a success by saying that it “ should stick around quite a while,” and deplore a failure, by regretfully prophesying that

it is “ likely to go down the toboggan ”? If an actor on a first night has an argument with the audience at its conclusion I feel I should like to say he is “ getting rough in his curtain harangues,” and regarding a coming production say it is “ slotted ” for a certain theatre. There are lots of other phrases which would, I am sure, brighten this weekly page, and, of course, everybody would gather that an inferior production “ would not make the grade,” while a winner “ maintained a high standard for grosses.” All these are as plain as a pikestaff, but when it comes to talking about “ the switch of his bookings,” that some thing or other “ was under his by-line,” and that something else was “ passed up,” I own myself completely beaten. I can only make a guess at the last phrase, which sounds as if a critic was thoroughly sick of some performance! You don’t like these Yankee idioms, and prefer “ English as she is wrqte”? Well, perhaps you’re right!