THE MERRY WIDOW.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume LX, Issue 9346, 17 April 1909, Page 6

THE MERRY WIDOW.

Masterfcon is to bo afforded the opportunity of making a fleeting acquaintance -with that charming personality. "The Merry Widow," ou May :>rd. Tlio opera, wln'ch at the present time is breaking all previous records in Wellington, has become a vogue all over the civilised world, aud its enchanting characters aud fascinating music—including the seductive waltz—must in due coarse mako their impression on the Mastertou public. Of the opera, the Domiuiou says:— After a two years" absence, the Royal Oomic Opera Company—a much stronger organisation than when it last visited Wellington—made its reappearance at the Opera House ou Saturday evening iv Frank Lehar's delightful creation, "The Merry Widow," before an audience that for size and enthusiasm was a record- So marked has been the success of "The Merry Widow ,, —much more so than that which attended any of the hue works written by Gilbert and Sullivan, Andrau, Offenbach, Plauqnette, Victor Herbert. Ivan Caryll, Paul Rubens, or the hnudred and one modern writers for the lyric stag*—that it disarms criticism to a great extent, aud leaves the critic to the more limited task of probing for the cause of it all. Though it cannot be conceived that Lehar's opera wlil survive the test of time as long as rho works of some of the writers mentioned, there is that in the music which must keep it before the public for a long time. It is a contradictory work. The librettists have provided a "book" that is nothing more (sometimes a little less) thau racy musical comedy in its general atmosphere, its characters, and action, and whilst listening for a score in keeping one is amazed aud delighted to hear music that would fit a work somewhere between comic and grand opera, a score that is enhanced by a brilliant and altogether unconventional orchestration of singular completeness aud undeniable clmrxn. Here, one is forced to conende. lies the success of "The Merry Widow." On the oue hand there is ultra-up-to-date matter for the merry-minded, and cv the other compelling music of strange beauty that lends itself to bizarre effects and commands aural homage. Otherwise the scenes are bright, the colour schemes in the dressing are gorgeous in the extreme, aud the opera is performed by a company of artists of accepted capacity.