MUSIC AND DRAMA

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19268, 3 January 1931, Page 23 (Supplement)

MUSIC AND DRAMA

“ The First Mrs Fraser.” For nearly two years, “ The First Mrs Fraser ” has been running in London to enormous business, and the Morning Post ” recently expressed the opinion that it would run indefinitely. St John Ervine’s comedy has also taken New York audiences by storm — achievement for a play of English origin. Particular interest, under these circumstances, attached the first production in Australia of ‘ Ihe First Mrs Fraser,” which was staged at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, on Boxing Day by J. C. Williamson, Ltd. A special company were carefully selected in order that each character should be true to type. The principals included Ethel Morrison as Mrs Janet Fraser (the part played in the London production by Marie Tempest), J. B. Rowe as James Fraser, John Wood as Ninian Fraser, Roger Barry as Murdo Fraser, Noel Boyd as Mrs Murdo Fraser, Leslie Victor as Philip Logan, Mary Macgregor as Mrs Ethel Fraser, and Eileen Morris as the maid. The play, which is in three acts, was produced by George D. Parker. Interesting Feature. An interesting feature of the cast of the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., pantomime, “ The House That Jack Built,” at Melbourne Theatre Royal is the appearance of father and son in the same production, for on the programme appear the names of Arthur Stigant and Arthur .Stigant, jun. This production brings to fruition a boyish ambition that young Stigant nurtured from the time he was young enough to go to school, and this was, to appear in the same production as his father. Young Stigant has made a name for himself as a cricketer. Recently, he scored 109 not out for Haththorne in a sub-district second match against Camberwell, and he is said to be a mighty hitter. However, his cricketing career has been suspended for the time being owing to the demands of pantomime matinees. “ Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” This was the cast of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin ” which commenced on Boxing Day at the King’s Theatre, Melbourne: Will Jnnes as Uncle Tom, Gertrude Boswell as Chloe, Fred Macdonald as Sambo, Vincent Scully as Mr Selby, Rutland Beckett as Simon Legree, Norman Wister as George Harris, Dorothy Stanward as Eliza Harris, John D’Arcy as Mr Wilson, D’Arcy Kelway as Marks the Lawyer, Ida Gresham as Mrs Shelby, Herbert Lancaster as Solomon Jude, Tom Sutterbv as the Captain of the Mississipi boat, Reginald Roberts as Mr St Clair, Nellie Mortyne as Miss Ophelia, Jeanne Beinkie as Little Eva, Pat Fallow as Topsy, Marion Marcus Clarke as Mrs St Clair, Beth Mackey as Emmeline, Marjorie Carr as Cassy, Ivan Squirrell as Quimbo. There were four acts, which took place in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a toll house oil the way to the river, Mr St Clair’s southern home, and on Legree’s plantation. The piccaninny dances, etc., were arranged by Minnie Everett; the musical director was Gustave Slapoffski, and the whole production was produced under the direction of Gregan M’Mahon. Indian Actors in New York. In its striving for novelties, the New York theatre has passed through the stage of the Russian dancers, the Japanese “No” dramas and the art of

jSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSB: the Chinese players. New York theatre-goers recently had the opportunity of seeing the Hindu drama as displayed by the Brahmin, Sisir Kumar Bhaduri, an actor-manager of Calcutta, India. He brought his own productions, his company of players and musicians, and with them, strangest of all, a bevy of Nautch girls who, being the dancing girls of the temples of India, have never before been allowed to leave their native land. Opening at the Biltmore Theatre during November, the company presented “ Sita,” a Hindu spectacleplay based upon the “ Ramavana,” one of the great epics of India. In spite of the general illiteracy of India, it is said that virtually every child knows the story of the great king “ Rama ” for it has been handed down from mouth to mouth for generations. When some fifty years ago, Sir William Jones published a translation into English prose of the “ Sakuntala ” of the Hindu poet, Kalidasa, the western world secured its first knowledge that the Hindu possessed a national drama. The Hindus ascribe the invention of dramatic entertainment to a Muni or inspired sage named Bharata. The art was supposed to have been -gathered from the sacred Vedas by the god Brahma, who revealed it to his servant. Throughout the ages the Hindu drama has carefully preserved the classical spirit, and the Hindu stage is distinguished from every other by the remarkable fact that its drama is not in the vernacular

tongue. “ Sita,” which is the first Hindu play ever presented before the western world, is based on the long epic “ Ram Charit Manus,” written by the great poet of medieval India, Tulsi Das, who found his inspiration in the life of the legendary hero, Rama. It was composed in Sanskrit some 500 years before the Christian era, and is contained in seven books, aggregating 24,000 verses. Concertina Liked Best. A French radio journal, having asked for a general expression of opinion as to the instrument most favoured by its readers, says that in France the bestloved instrument is the concertina, followed in order by the violin, ’cello, guitar, cornet, flute, bugle and saxophone. Amusing Incident. A well-known conductor tells of an amusing incident that happened to him early in his musical career. At one time he was the leader of a trio in a restaurant. One day the manageress came to him and said that the customers were complaining that his combination jvas too loud. “Well, what can I do?” he asked. “ I can’t very well reduce our number. The manageress pondered deeply for a few moments. “ O, I have it,” she exclaimed brightly. “ What if all three of you play half a tone lower.” Perhaps she was accustomed to use “ half tone ” needles on her gramophone ! Toscanini’s Power. A player who recently resigned from the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, after a long connection with that body was asked what, in his estimation, was the secret of Toscanini’s power. He replied with a direct quotation from the maestro: “In the beginning was r-h-y-t-h-m.” Toscanini, he aid, in common with all pre-eminent interpretative artists, has a predominant sense of rhythm. By the broad beat that characterises his conducting, he is able to impart his idea to the orchestral players. Simple, as told, is it not? but one conductor at the Metropolitan, not unknown to fame, and really a fine musician, has such a choppy beat, it is said, that, under his baton, there is a continual tendency to hurry, and yet hurry. Of course there is a technique of the baton, and Toscanini seems to have it. Success In Paris. Alfred Savoir has written the big success of the new Paris season, a play called “La Petite Catherine,” dealing with the early days in Russia of Catherine the Great. Savoir is a Pole, who has lived in Paris so long he seems ,like a native Frenchman. He changed his Polish name for that of Savoir. He is known in America for his “ The Grand Duchess and the Waiter,” in which Elsie Ferguson and Basil Rathbone acted. Another of his plays produced in America was

“ Banco.” “La Petite Catherine ” deals with the arrival in Russia of the Princess of Anhalt to become the wife of Peter. The marriage? was arranged by the Czarina Elizabeth, who had ascended the throne after murdering her husband. Peter doesn’t want to marry. With such an example before him, he fears assassination, but Elizabeth commands, and he . yields, declaring the marriage shall never be consummated. Poor little Catherine plans to escape, but learns that Peter E] HO ®I!S S 1! 113 S®S S ® Sl® EE! HD HI Hi ID E

m in si in in mm mu is is mm ns® mm® ® is watching and would trap her and imprison her for life. Then Elizabeth dies, and Catherine, with the aid of Potemkin and Lanskoi, both of whom are her lovers, forces the abdication of the weak Peter, who later is murdered, and she becomes the ruler of Russia, dismisses her old lovers and takes new ones. Marguerite Pierry was the Elizabeth in the Paris production, Mile. Cocea, a Rumanian actress, who has had successes in musical plays, the Catherine, and Rollan was the Peter. Long Tack Sam. Long Tack Sam, Oriental magician, who will be remembered for liis weird illusions, is now on his way to Australia. He will probably open his tour of Australia in the new year at the State Theatre, Sydney. It is possible that Long Tack Sam may visit New Zealand at the conclusion of his Australian tour. Colin Clive in America. Colin Clive, who, perhaps, will hereafter be forever spoken of as the original Captain Stanhope in “ Journey’s End,” although, as a matter of fact, he did not create the role, which was pla}'ed in the Arts Theatre production by Laurence Olivier, has arrived in New York to play the lead in the late William Bolitho's drama, “ Overture 1920,” which Bela Blau is to produce with Marc Connelly directing.

NOTED PRODUCER SEES REVIVAL OF THEATRE. CHARLES COCHRAN HAS NO FEAR FOR FUTURE. Only a few months ago the prophets were foretelling once again the death of the theatre. The talkie was going to kill the living art of the stage once and for all. “Canned goods” were to be the fare henceforth and for ever, writes Charles B. Cochran, the noted producer, in a London newspaper. Meantime, I was almost alone among the optimists. In the theatrical ventures which kept me exclusively occupied I saw no sign of decadence, but I had observed, moreover, that radio, far from destroying the people’s love of music, had made a wider public for good music than had ever been known before. I question whether the Promenade Concerts have ever drawn such crowds as they have since the 8.8. C. took a hand. I am quite certain that the gramophone has enormously’ increased the popular prestige of Wagrner, Beethoven, Liszt and the rest, And as for modern music, how many people who have delighted in the works of Lord Berners, William Walton, Constant Lambert and Arthur Bliss this season, would ever have come by any knowledge of the live school of younger English composers, but for the “ canned” music over the ether? That was the basis of my calculation in regard to the effects of the talkies on the theatre. The silent film was, in its way, more of a menace than ever the sound-film can be. But when canned noises were added to canned sights, I realised that a great step had been made in bringing the more alert of the great cinema public (which was a new public, unused to the art of the stage) a big step nearer to the box-office of the theatre proper. A new public familiarised with the technique of the theatre will still want to go one better and see actors and dancers in the flesh, hear singers and orchestras in the operahouse and find the personality behind the mechanically reproduced performance. The most superb sound-film, even though it be in three dimensions and colour and with the most wonderful approximation to actual vocal and musical tone, will never give us the thrill that a Chaliapin, a Leslie Henson, a Guitry, a Peggy Wood, a Grock, or a Gertrude Lawrence of flesh, blood and personality, give us in the theatre. All the same, producers, authors, actors and designers of the theatre must not weary of well-doing. They must keep before them the fact that the entertainment public is a Gargantua greedy for novelty. My decision to present my forthcoming production “Ever Green” on a revolving stage was, I confess, the outcome of a desire to give the playgoer something of the rapidly changing impressions that the film provides so easily. Amateur Scene-shifters. Theatre directors and stage managers at the Opera Comique, Paris, took off their coats, rolled up their sleeves, and converted themselves into scene-shifters one night recently, when the stage hands struck during a performance of the comic opera “ Le Roi d’Yvetot,” demanding an immediate increase in wages. New hands were engaged, and the strikers summarily dismissed. E gj [*j [*] (*] [g S! @ Eg §] gf j*j gj EE ® ® ® gj E ® j

iminmm®mmm®m m m m m ® n ® ® ® e Interest Aroused. Quite a lot of interest has been aroused by the recent announcement of the Williamson firm that there is to be a revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas in Australia next Easter. Curiously enough much of this interest is being manifested among the younger generation to whom Savoy traditions mean little. One can understand the enthusiasm of those to whom these works are a joyful memory and to whom the music is an abiding feast of colourful melody. But the new generat,on sprung up with little or no knowledge of the operas to excite them, except for long separated performances of a lew of the works. Perhaps their interest has been stimulated by the gramophone companies who have been enterprising indeed in producing single specimens of the most popular ballads as wen as complete sets of “The Mikado, “ The Gondoliers.” “ The I irates of Penzance,” “ lolanthe,” “ Yeomen ot the Guard,” and “ Trial bv - |u . r >* . t le hearing of which must inevitably whet the appetite for the stage presentation. Bv the wav, more than one singer heard on the gramophone records of the Savoy operas has been engaged for the Australian season. Fritz Kreisler. The world-famed violinist, Fritz g ‘Y' n K ;l long series of xecitau at the Larnegie Hall, New Yolk.