Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIX, Issue XVI, 18 October 1902, Page 1003

Music and Drama.

Mr Orchard, of Palmerston North, New Zealand, has been appointed conductor of the Sydney Liedertafel.

Miss May Yohe, the actress, has married Major Strong at Buenos Ayres.

Madame Melba had a brilliant and enthusiastic reception at her opening concert in Sydney last week.

Dora Rignold, who comes to Australia under engagement to Mr. Musgrove, is William Rignoldi’s third daughter, sister to Bessie Rignold, and niece to George Rignold. She is the beauty of the four daughters of the family.

The exhibition of fancy dancing by the pupils of Mrs Malcolmson Boult, which will be given in the Auckland Opera House on Thursday, the 16th inst., promises to be both novel and good, to judge by the capital programme which has been arranged. A copy of the latter is published elsewhere in this issue.

At the Mayoral reception to Mme. Melba in Melbourne a brilliant affair, the diva wore diamonds and pearls valued at £200,000. Detective McManaway has been detailed to convey the jewels to Sydney when Melba leaves for that city.

'“The Messenger Boy,” which ran for over two years at the Gaiety Theatre, London, and which has proved such an immense success wherever the Poliard Opera Company have staged it in New Zealand, will be introduced to the notice of Aucklanders at the Opera House on Saturday, after having met with one succession of triumphs right along the line from Dunedin, where Mr Pollard staged it for the first time in Australasia some four months ago. The music of the musical comedy, which is by Ivan Caryll and Lionel Monckton, is of a bright and catchy nature throughout, and full of swing; and the concerted pieces are admirable; but what makes the comedy go more than anything else is that’ it is genuinely funny and full of comic dialogue and situations of hilarious absurdity—all framed in the most appropriate of settings. There are some very fine scenes in “The Messenger Boy,” that depicting Brindisi at the end of the first act, and Cairo in the second act. calling for high commendation. Mr Leader Williams is responsible for the scenery, and Mr J. P. Thomas for the mechanical effects. The most popular numbers in “The Messenger Boy” are “In the Wash,” “When the Boys Come Home Once More.” “Hold Tight. Mother,” “Maisie,” and ‘They’re All After Pott.” Mr Pollard’s next novelty here during the present season will be “'The Toreador,” now running with great success in London, and staged by Mr Williamson at Adelaide last week for the first time in Australasia. Mr Pollard, who left Sydney for New Zealand last Saturday, is bringing back several novelties. “The Toreador” has been in active rehearsal for some weeks, and Mr Pollard went from Melbourne to Adelaide to be present at its initial production by Mr J. C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company.

Madame Melba has somewhat tender associations with the late Queen of Belgium, for she was the first Royalty to predict a great future for the young Australian. Madame Melba made her debut as “Gilda” in “Rigoletto,” when the Queen sent for the singer to her box. After congratulating Melba, the Royal lady added, “you have one of the most beautiful voices I have heard, and I predict great things for you.” These kindiv words of encouragement were recalled to the now world-famed artiste when the news of the Royal death was published.

No remarks can be made in this issue concerning the performance of "Our Boys" by the amateurs of the Auckland Atom Club, the performance having taken place last night after we went to press. The production had been in rehearsal for some time, and, as it was in aid of the School for Maori Girls, good audiences were both last night and this (Wednesday) evening, when the comedy is to be repeated, hoped for.

The Musgrove Comic Opera Company, which might with more truth and modesty have been described as a burlesque or musical comedy company, closed in Auckland on Monday, after one of the most amazingly successful seasons from a financial standpoint on record. The credit for this achievement lies not with the company, but with the advance booming of Mr Barnes, and the fact that the public were rampant for a theatrical entertainment of any sort, after a long course of vaudeville, as it is the fashion to term variety entertainment now-a-days. The general feeling both with regard to “A Chinese Honeymoon” and the company performing it was one of profound disappointment. The production itself is poor, save in staging, and apart from Miss Beatty and Mr Lauri there is nothing extraordinary in the company. Mr Piddock has a pleasant enough voice, but it is nothing to enthuse about, and his dancing, when he does dance, is of a somewhat elephantine order. Mr Hallam, whom we know already over here, is in good voice, but has very little opportunity to use it. Miss Stanton, who greatly pleased when over here with her own company, must, one imagines, be seedy. A private friend of hers asserts that this is so, and that her voice is only just returning to her. Certainly she lacks the brightness and vivacity which so deservedly made her a favourite on the occasion of her last tour through the colony. The rest of the company call for no special notice one way or the other, but it should be mentioned that the chorus is an excellent one, and both sings and looks welk

“The Thirty Thieves*’ which is the second production of the Musgrove Company, is an immensely superior entertainment to “A Chinese Honeymoon,” and created a much more favourable impression in Auckland. It is not ambitious in any way, but it is replete with pretty music, and the plot is fantastic and distinctly amusing, while there are some refreshingly new jokes scattered here and there. Staging, dressing and the grouping of colours, etc., are very fine,* and, to be brief, "The Thirty Thieves” affords a very agreeable means of spending an evening. The Porcelain Ballet, or, rather, grand procession and march, is alone well worth going a long way to see, and may be warmly commended to all theatre-going readers down South. There are some exceptionally pretty songs of a light and flighty nature in "The Thirty Thieves,” and the whole production is a very welcome change from the ‘"Honeymoon.” Theatre-goers in ■Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin only able to patronise one of the company's productions can easily decide, from the above remarks, which to patronise. It is curious how tastes differ in these matters, by the way. What will go down in Melbourne will be a frost in Sydney. What will chill Auckland will be received with rapture in Wellington. Brough once informeel the writer it was quite impossible to judge from the reception of a play in one city how it would be received in the next. That was. he said, one of the puzzles and anxieties of managerial life. In melodrama, the vagaries of public taste appear less marked, for speaking td Bland Holt on the subject once the actor-manager said in answer to a question that the successes of Sydney usually prove the favourites in Melbourne and right round the beaten track which he tours every two years or so.

As Mr. George Musgrove has takes £ll.OOO cash for the five Melba concerts in Melbourne, and the diva has sacrificed her Australian tour for £ 10.000 (aaya “Melbourne Table Talk”), the spirited manager stands to make a profit of at least £30,000 from the 20 Australian concerts, a* £4OOO would be not only ample, but extravagant for the expenses of the tour, everything having been done in a most cheeseparing manner. Even the programmes were not advertised in the newspapers, which is treating the public with very scanty consideration.

• When Madame Melba was in Vienna about three years ago (relates the same journal) she invested a large amount of money in Rio Tintos and Ana contas, both Spanish copper mines. The transaction was earned out through the Rothschilds of London and Paris, who are the financial advisers of the prima donna. It is known that Madame Melba has been extremely fortunate in her investments, which is scarcely surprising, as she has placed herself entirely in the bands of the Rothschilds, ’who have undertaken to look after her funds. It is rather doubtful if great profits, at least for the present, can be made out of Rio Tintos and Ana contas. Three years ago copper stood a great deal higher than now, and shares for all copper concerns have suffered a rather serious decline, but as Madame Melba is in the enviable position to nurse her shares, she will perhaps ultimately realise a good profit. In the meantime Australia seems to be anxious to help to fill her coffers; and should the diva require any advice as regards her Australian earnings ‘Table Talk” strongly recommends Melbourne tramways for a safe and remunerative investment.

Mr. Cuyler Hastings, who has made a tremendous hit as Sherlock Holmes in the play of that name, and who comes over this way early next year with Mr. Williamson's Dramatic Company, has been interviewed by the “Melbourne Herald.” Says the Victorian scribe: A dark, handsome man, tall, and of splendid physique, is our visitor. His finely cut features, large, luminous eyes and broad forehead, proclaim at once the man of intellect and refinement. An impressive face, albeit “sicklied o’er with the pale caste of thought,” and somewhat melancholy. A face which most men. and all women, would look at twice or thrice, or oftener. Face, figure, manner, everything amazingly like what readers of Conan Doyle’s famous stories would suppose Sherlock Holmes to be; nay mere, an embodiment singularly like the Sherlock Holmes pictures of the illustrated magazines. This strikes you as soon as you see the man. “What would you call the play which bears the name of Sir Conan Doyle's great character?" Mr. Hastings was asked by the pressman. “I should call it." replied the actor, reflectively, “a melodrama reduced to e classic." “Why a classic?” “Well, perhaps, you may question the term, but I use it. because in its way there is really nothing to eqnal •Sherlock Holmes.’ It is the creation of a man who is. in my opinion, the greatest play-constructionist — by which I do not mean the greatest dramatist—of this or any other age.” “With Conan Doyle's material, I presume?” “Yes, and no. For the suggestion he stands indebted to Conan Doyle, and some of the incidents of the well-known stories are used—presumably in accordance with an arrangement with the distinguished story-teller. But it was reserved for the genius of Gillette to construct a drama perfect in all its parts, to do a piece of work quite original in conception, in order to put the character Sherlock Holmes on the stage. The stories, I think, are eelipsed by the play, and I am by no means alone in holding that opinion. lam more than professionally interested. I am personally anxious now to ascertain what a public so celebrated for its judgment and critical facnlty as the Australian pnblic is known to be will say on that subject.*'

The Brough Comedy Company is enjoying an excellent season at the Perth Theatre Royal, where their ehief success so far has been in ‘"The Second in Command.” "Mrs. Dane's Defence’’ and other pieces new to the Golden West followed, and the repertoire is so strong that Mr. Brough finds it easy to sustain the general interest. Mr. Allan Hamilton, who writes that during the four weeks as many as fifteen plays may be produced, leaves Perth in advance of the company for Calcutta, and after the Indian season has been well started journeys on to Hongkong and Shanghai.

Apropos of the extraordinary fact that it was for gagging in "A Chinese Honeymoon” that Lionel Rignold was sacked from his position in London, and ultimately recovered £4OO damages as a consequence, a writer in the "Bulletin’’ observes: The gag is an ancient and honourable institution. Musical comedies are written, or left unwritten, for the benefit of the smart gagger. The French, the most scrupulous and punctilious of all mummers, would never dream of gagging in a serious work, but they have absolutely full license in works of a light and frivolous order. Arthur Roberts and Dan Leno gag their whole parts. George Lauri is a great but not particularly witty gagger, most of his wheezes being verbal eccentricities. Claude Bantock gags freely and genially, and Hugh Ward’s many gags have a distinctly brainy flavour. Carrie Moore is the only Australian actress who is not afraid to gag. “Teddy” Lauri is an incorrigible gagger, and has managed to pull through two hopeless parts, the Secretary in “Thirty Thieves” and Pineapple in the “Honeymoon." There were some strange gags in “Robin Hood” (period, the 13th century). Lauri wanted to know if Robin played bridge: Bantock called for a tripe sandwich, and referred to Ward as “Little Lord Fauntleroy," and Hugh Ward wanted a milk shandy. In the Elizabethan drama most of the eotnie stuff was pure (or impure) gagging; even the First Gravedigger in “Hamlet” gagged his part. In "The Rivals” Acres’ misquotation of Sir Lucius’ letter —“To prevent the trouble that might arise from our both undressing the same lady”—is a gag that has become classic. It is impossible to dissever the gag from rhe theatre. It belongs to the comedian as rant to the tragedian. It is probably as old as the drama itself, and when it is kept to its own province it sometimes serves to relieve the monotone of a dull play.