Music and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue X, 5 September 1903, Page 668

Music and Drama.

“The Fort une-Tellvr” has been drawing remarkably good houses during the past week. Miss -May Beatty has lost none of the charm which made her such a favourite from Auckland to Dunedin, and though her voice is hardly equal to some of the music, she more than makes up for it by her winsome grace and really clever acting. Mr. Pringle has been encored nightly for more than one solo. The tuneful “Gypsy’s Love Song” is a particular favourite. Although “The Fortune-Teller” could run for another week (to judge from present audiences), it has been decided to put “'The Serenade*’ on next Friday. September 4th. The new piece is by the same composer as the present opera. It is said to be Herbert’s masterpiece, and contains several airs which are sure to catch on. The “Serenade” will be presented for six nights, and will be followed on September 11 by Donnizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment.” Lovers of stage pictures must be really grateful for the vharacteri-tic and beautiful setting of “The Serenade.” the Spanish opera at the Princess’s theatre (says a writer in “The Argus”). Everything harmonises so well, and is so artistically posed in striking groups, that the feeling of sunny, romantic Spain diffuses itself like an atmosphere. One seems to hear tin' rustle of the olive trees, and get a whiff of garlic. There is a fascinating old book about the country of the dons, the tirst edition of the handbook “Dick” Ford wrote for John -Murray, (he publisher, which imparts exactly the same impression. To a reader of Ford, the atmosphere of the opera is most markedly Spanish in dress, s-enery, setting, everything except the music; tor except for a little obvious clatter of vast a nets and jingle of mule bells, the opera is colourless. But what lovely tints there arc in the ragged tenors tirst dress. Soft brown velvet and grey, with a tender bloom like cold gravy,” and faded blue cloak, lie is a caricature, but a caricature such as one remembers in Jan Steen’s pictures in the Brussels gallery. As for the muleteer, his is a most convincing garb, picturesque and yet workmanlike, the huge knotted rod handkerchief round his head is so real, t’sually the stage Spaniard wears a scarlet inch or two. showing under his black cart-wheel hat: his velvet bolero, tan leather leggings and breeches arc all true to life, it was a cunning idea, too, to get exactly that shade of brown for the monk's cowls. One brother with a narrow face, bright eblue eyes and fuzz of red hair, is quite old masterly. Then that sunny-paved courtyard in front of the red and white old monastery walls, Ihe tine wrought-iron gait*, the drowsy abbot: the sound of the angelus, and the monks' chanting as they pace under the trcllised vines, all make up the impression of a place where it is always aft••rnooon. And perhaps the most Spanish touch of all is given in the last act by the three ragged, dirty, but perfectly picturesque brigands, ported, for no other purpose but to be picturesque, among the mountain fastnesses in the background. The somewhat unexpected return of the Woods-Wiliam.son Company to Auckland has been bailed with pleasure by drama-lovers. The company lias bc n n doing remarkably good business at the Opera House. in spite of opposition. “The Gates of Bondage”—Mßs Wiliamson’s

dramatisation of Hall Caine's "The Deemster” —is a fine play, well acted. The piece to follow, a dramatisation of Conan Doyle’s sporting story. “Rodney Stone,” is very well spoken of in Australia. Mr John Sheridan, who opens at Auckland on the 19th inst.. has been on the stage for - some 40 years. It is said that the directors of the Wellington Opera House contemplate spending close on £3OOO in altering the theatre in such a way as to enable it to rank amongst the finest theatres in Australasia. After a season which has been successful from start to finish, the “Are You a Mason’.” Company has returned to Australia. Miss. Ada Crossley will pass through Auckland by the next ’Frisco steamer. Herr Ilenno Schereck meets the famous: singer here, and goes on to Svdnev witli •her. Legal proceedings have been instituted by Air J. C. Williamson against the amateur operatic clubs which recently produced “Pinafore” at Oakleigh and Armadale (Victoria) for the recovery of royalties. Herr and Madame Slapoft'ski, instead of shaking the dust of Australia from their feet, as at first expected, intend to remain, and follow a musical career among us at least for a time (says ’Table Talk”). Teaching and professional engagements are their aim. George Rignold, back in Sydney, told an interviewer the other day that, while in London. Klien Terry wanted him for Sigurd the Strong in Ibsen’s "Vikings, ’ but it was lucky he didn’t accept, as the piece failed. Also that Gordon Craig's new system of lighting only from the top -—no footlights nor sidelights—placed the artists’ faces in shadow, and would have ruined anything. And now we know it’s the same old George: ‘‘Throw the limelight on me, d you!”—"Bulletin.' Miss Nellie Stewart, on her return to Australia, may play a round <f oil English comedy—“ The School for Scandal.” ’’She Stoops to Conquer,” "The. Country Girl,” and ’’Masks and Faces.” But she is ambitious to make a name in tragedy. She intends to see. Sara Bernhardt and al! the great tragic actresses on her next trip to Europe in order to get a few lessons. She says that in comic opera her favourite character is "Ma Mie Rosette,” because it is a good acting part. She says that Peggy, in "Mice ami .Men,” is a more difficult character than Sweet Nell. because of the age developments that take, place in the former. Writing from London, under date July 24. to Mr. R. G. Tardy, Mr. D. McKinnon Bain, the manager of the New Zealand Band, states: The band has by this time practically finished their tour, which, musically, has been a great success, but I am very sorry to say. financially a failure. We have all lost, one and all; in the band, and myself not the least bv »t long way. We have one consolation that Sousa’s great band has been struck likewise. so also has the band from Rome of 75 performers. They lost £2OOO in less than, three weeks, and had to return back whence they came. So, take it all through, we have been able to pretty' well hold our own.’more than the other two combillations could say. We all feel it very much, ns we would have liked to have returned some of the subscribers’ monel'. Some of the bandsmen hold as many as five shares. Everything that could be done was done, but, the patriotic feeling is now dead in England. The band ami myself leave on July 31st in the Gothic. Mr J. L. Toole is. perhaps, the sole survivor of the old school of comedians who acted Diekenian parts during the lifetime of the great novelist. It is interesting to know, seeing that there is such a boom in Dickens’ plays, that

Dickens was one of the first to see Toole as an actor, and to prognosticate to him a successful career on the boards. It was in 1852 that “Boz” went to Walworth to see a rehearsal by Toole, who was then a novice and suppo-ed to have talent for the stage, and the novelist gladdened the young man's heart by kind and encouraging words, which acted as a great incentive to him who was destined to achieve distinction as a delineator of Dickens’s own creations. The singing of Mr. John Prouse, the New Zealand baritone, with the Dolores Company in America is very highly spoken of by the critics. The Winnipeg Daily Tribune of July 14 says of a concert in that town: “ The Two Grenadiers,’ by Schumann, is a word picture, set to graphic music, and climaxing with the stirring strains of the ‘Marsellaise.’ It was very finely sung by Mr. John Prouse, a baritone from the City of M ellington, New- Zealand. The rules of aspiration and inspiration arc traced down by the accuracy of the poet and composer, almost in periods so strongly are accented, which the vigorous anl manly style of the singer still further emphasized to such a degree of dramatic power that it aroused the audience to enthusiasm. If New Zealand grows many such admirable, vocalists as Mr. Prouse, then is that country blessed. His voice is quite evidently of natural formation, and unspoiled by the of teachers. He has received just sufficient training to enable him to hold his own even in such exalted company as Mlle. Dolores, and the satisfaction of the audience at hearing a fine voice, with clear enunciation, expressed itself in unmistakable tones.” The Australian manager, Mr J. C. illiamson, is well-known as a man of charitable instincts. He has, in Melbourne, quite a number of pensioners, old time actors who have got past work, but who are in receipt of a regular weekly allowance from Mr Williamson. They come along every Monday morning and receive their allowance from the treasurer. On a recent Monday one of these pensioners arrived promptly, .but the treasurer was very busy at the time, and asked him to come back the following day. This suggestion did not find favour. and with a reminder that “Monday is treasury day” the recipient of the managerial bounty announced his intention of reporting the matter to Mr Williamson. This incident servos io show that the pension has ceme to be regarded as a right, just as much as if the actor had done his six nights a week on the boards. It is stated that Mr J. C. Williamson disposes of about .45 1000 a year in allowances to old servants. I have had some very curious incidents happen to me, ami some very amusing ones (says Mrs Brown Potter). Once in Capetown I was playing ’T'rou-Frou.” There were two carpenters engaged at the theatre, one a white man, and the other a black man. The white man allowed his little child to play “the child” in the piece. One day it went home from rehearsal with a violent cold. That night I, as the wife of the jealous husband, had as usual to place the child in his arms; being rather hurried, and the wings being dark, 1 snatched up the

child standing there, rushed on to th® stage, placed the child in his arms, and he held it, face towards the audience, high above his head, saying, “You, you at all events are mine!” It is a thrilling situation, but, to Mr Kyrle B'lkw’s amazement, the child was greeted with a roar of laughter which soon became perfectly hysterical. Lowering the child to see what was the matter, he discovered to his horror that it was a negro,, pot-black! Apropos of the dispute between Arthur Henry Jones, the playwright, and the “London Times,” over that paper's critic, Mr. Walkley, who did not criticise Jones’ play according to the management’s liking, and was refused admittance at the recent first-night of “Tho Whitewashing of Julia”—Jones’ latest—it is said in a contemporary that the most notable instance on record of a theatrical manager kicking against the press pricks is the historical fight against the “New York Herald.” A combination of New York managers objected to the “Herald's” critic, and so expressed their opinion to the late Mr. James Gordon Bennett, the founder of the great paper in question, and asked him to suspend his critic. Mr. Bennett ■was a terrible autocrat when he chose, and he firmly refused to make any concession. The managers uttered the dire threat of withdrawing their advertisements, and ultimately did so. Mr. Bennett chuckled. Time went on, and no notices of any theatre in New York appeared in the “Herald.” The managers squirmed, and finally decided to restore their advertisements. Then came a period of great consternation; Mr. Bennett refused their patronage at any price, and for more than a year not a line of advertisement or notice appeared in his paper. Eventually, when the proprietor thought he had grilled his victims sufficiently, he allowed their advertisements to be restored to his columns, but at exactly double the original rates; and New York managers are suffering to this day -by having to pay to all thepapers the heaviest rate reached for any class of advertisement.