RUSSIAN BALLET

Waikato Times, Volume 126, Issue 21035, 10 February 1940, Page 13 (Supplement)

RUSSIAN BALLET

MAY TOUR NEW ZEALAND

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN Mr John Tait. governing director of J. C. Williamson, Ltd., and J. and N. Tait, Ltd., is on a visit to New Zealand, his first for two years. “I saw the Convent Garden Ballet at the Theatre Royal before I left Sydney,” he said, “and was genuinely charmed with the new organisation which was brought out this time under the personal management of Colonel Basil, a gentleman of mercurial temperament, who knows every turn in the intricate business concerning the Russian ballet, and has been intimately concerned in its organisation for the past 15 years in Europe and America.

“The Ballets I saw were ‘Les Sylphides’ and ‘Swan Lake,’ and for sheer beauty of design and performance these ballets would take a deal of beating. The company, which will come to New Zealand if circumstances make it possible, includes such brilliant stars as Lichine (who was out of action on the last tour through an injured knee), the electric Serge Li far. Nemch inova, Verchinina and Toumanova, all beautiful dancers quite up to the standard of the last company. The company travels seventy strong, and has a fine orchestra controlled, as before, by M. Dorati.

| “The ballet was originally due to j arrive in Sydney in November, but j because of the war and hold-ups by shipping companies it did not reach I Sydney until the day after Boxing Day, and could not open till a week l later. It will probably play ten weeks | in Sydney and as long in Melbourne, j so, if it comes to New Zealand at all, | it will probably be about June or ' July next. ! “We have a new Gilbert and SulJ livan opera company opening in | Sydney at Easter,” said Mr Tait. “Do you know, we are always receiving letters from people all over the country, asking us when another season of Gilbert and Sullivan is likely to eventuate. These operas have the gift of eternal popularity, and even

though there is a war on, I think the public will come to see them again. You will be pleased to learn that we have once more engaged Mr Ivan Menzies to play the comedy roles in the operas. I met Mr Menzies in London recently, and he was sparking as well as he ever did, and is looking forward to seeing all his old friends again in Australia and New Zealand.

“I regret to say that according to latest advices Yehudi Menuhin, the famous violinist, is not likely to visit us this year as expected,” said Mr Tait. “Possibly the exigencies of the war have brought this about, but the last communication inferred that a tour was not likely to eventuate this year.”