Mosic and Drama.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue XII, 19 September 1903, Page 812

Mosic and Drama.

The charming Indicts danced by the Criterion dancers will be a big feature in tiie productions ui the Sheridan Company. Arthur Roberts’ only daughter recently married Dr. Fitzgerald Dalton, of Vale Court. Maida Vale, a great-grand-son <>f Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a leader in the Irish Rebellion. Mr John Prouse, who was with Mdll?. Dolores in her late American tour, has gone In London. Mdlle. Dolores is about to leave a holiday on the Continent. Mr. Edwin Geach questions the truth <>i the statement of the death of Carl Hertz/ since he is in receipt of a letter written as late as July 20. Carl Hertz is reported to have died in June. Mr J. L. Toole, who has been ordered a change of air by his doctors, left Brighton for Margate just before the mail left. The veteran comedian is suf* lering from locomotor ataxy, the same terrible complaint which carried oil poor Barry Sullivan. The next reading of the Shakespeare Society will take place on Tuesday evening, lhe 22nd inst.. when “As You Like It” will be given. The caste will i mimic the names of Mrs Keck wick, M ms Lennox. Miss Ockcnden, Aiessrs. \rch<lale Tayler. Hugh Campbell. J”Hie, MrVcagh. Montague, Rathbone, and several others. Mi- John F- Sheridan is said to be seen to great, .advantage in his latent and most successful music comedy. “The Lady Slavey.” with which he commenees his Auckland season at His Majesty’s 'rheatie on Saturday. 19th inst. He plays no le<s than four distinct characters. -» The charming Miss Ethel Kiiiglit-M.»’di-.on (<»f * AreJYou a Mason*.”’ Compan\ ) who made, many friends in Auckland. was quietly married at Hawthorn (Melbourne) recently to Mr T. 11. Kelly, of Double Bay. Sydpev. well known in yachting circles. Mr ( uylvr -Hastings was be,t man. Airs Kelly will leave the stage al the termination of her engagenient with Mr Williamson. M»- George Musgj;ovs*’s “Belk' of v <\v York’’ company paid its ninth visit to the Theatre Royal. Brighton;on the first Monday in Augimt. In the crowded auditorium there were no less than live former representatives of the title-part, three Fili>. three Ichabbd Bronsons, a solitary Doc Snifkin-, and three Polite Lunatics, each of whom applauded the proceedings with sympathetic vigour. Adelaide “Critic” says a rumour is now in circulation to the effect that Mr. Mu-grove is about to leave Australia, fcr good, and that the disbandment of the “Swwt Nell” company will be followed by the scattering of the Shakespearean Company, and of the Comic Opera Compain on its return from New Zealand. There i- no doubt that Mr. Musgr«»vc is leaving for England, and that his existing companies will be disbanded, but it is very unlikely that he will give up Wi-iralian management,remarks th it journal. Mr J. C. Williamson will introduce the Kipling drama, •The Light that Failed,”

to Australian-, having bought rights on the strength of its London success. The other Kipling playlet, “The Man Who Was.” has taken hold mainly by reason of the fine acting, the returned outlast being represented with extraordinary realism. Kipling himself has had nothing to do with the dramatising of his story. In “The Light that Failed,” the pleasant ending of the novel is used in the play. Kipling wrote two endings. In the popular one the hero gets liis girl and the prospect of a happy future, and in the more artistic ending he does not.

“Mistakes Will Happen,” to be produced in New Zealand by the Willough-by-Geach Company, is said to create, one big scream of laughter from the jump, and the great coach-house scene is the most novel and amusing ever introduced into farce comedy. The “Chicago Chronicle” says:—“Daintier and truer to life than the common run of farce is ‘Mistakes Will Happen.’ ... ft is a merry cleanly play.” There are three arts in the play, the first showing the apartments of an actress; the second the coach-house of a rich man, also showing the loft above; and the third the vestibuled hallway of a fashionable boardinghouse. The company produced “Mistakes Will Happen” in Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane to enormous audiences. Musical compositions by local artistes are apt to be underrated, but those who have had the privilege of listening to the delightful piano solos of Miss Clarice Brabazon (now Airs Horace St ebbing I were probably prepared to give that talented lady credit for equal ability as a composer, and it is gratifying io learn that her “Countess Waltz” has met with such a good reception. ft is a charming piano solo, original in idea, musicianiy in construction, melodious, and. while affording scope for artistic interpretation, is by no means difficult, and its performance is invariably received with’ enthusiastic appreciation. The “Countess Waltz” is dedicated by special permission to Lady Ranfurly, and since its publication it has been played as a dance number at all the vice-regal balls. We can confidently recommend the excellent composition, with the hope -that a large and rapid sale will encourage the eompo.-er to further effort in the same direction. “'lhe Lady Slavey” records the story of the financial troubles of .Major O’Neill, an Irish landowner of the old school, who has three daughters, and steers a difficult course of hiding his poverty from the millionaire on the one hand, and satisfying the bailiffs in position on the other, for he wants the rich American to marry one of his daughters. ••The Lady Slavey’ is his youngest daughter. Phyllis, who takes the pl.rfe of the domestic so as to hide the fact that her father was too poor to pay oiie. 'The millionaire arrives, is welcomed by the major, pays great attention to the two daughters, and is waited upon by the lady slavey. Enter then upon the scene two bailiffs, the chief of who (Mr Sheridan) is wheeled to the door of the house in a barrow by his assistant, a broken army officer. l he lady slavey, by gentle persuasion, induces them to don the liveries of servants, and thus remain in possession in disguise. This leads to many laughable situations, of which Mi Sheridan makes the most. The next complication- is the arrival of -Miss Flo lfoneyd;»w. of the Epipire Theatre, with her lover. Lord- Lavender. She determines to have tin* millionaire, and great rivalry between the ladies follows. Mr Sheridan now assumes the role of Pier Potts Point Morgan, a millionaire. 'the ladies transfer their attentions 1o the new millionaire, and in this part Mr Sheridan is said to do his best work. Finding that her lover is poor the lady slavey confesses that she has loved him all the time, and they are married, after which everything is found to bo right. The Pollnrds are having a good time in South Africa. Writing tu ‘’Pasquin,”

of the "Otago Witness,” one of the firm says: On Thursday we had the big "Australian Night.” ft wan a night to be remembered. The theatre was very tastefully decorated. Freni the .dress circle to the stage there ran a wire, on which presents were sent down to the princii'ul artists. I will give you a list of lhe presents. Nellie Wilson, as Prince Eucalyptus, received a set of silver brushes; Gertie Campion, as the Princess, a silver scent liottle and stand; Xina Osborne, "I>*de,” a silver manicure set; Aggie Smith, as the Fairy, a solid silver purse; Rosie Everson, as "Dart Ho.” a pair of silver slippers; little Ray Tcplin, as Cheekee, a gold brooch with “Cheekee” engraved on it. All these presents were solid silver, and had the recipients’ names engraved on them. Accompanying each was a bunch of wattle. As for the boys, Percy and Harry Quealy. engraved silver cigarette cases, with their names engraved; Dave O'Connor, Alf. Stephens, Geo. Young, plain silver cigarette case, also with their names engraved. la the intervals a musical programme was gone through up in the dress circle, where they had a piano. After the piece was over we were invited as the guests of the Australasians to a beautifully laid-out supper. I can tell you we had a light royal time. Several speeches were made of a complimentary nature to us. "Barney” Todd had much pleasure in welcoming us to Johannesburg.

What exactly is the life led by a great singer? Most of us fancy they have only to open their mouths to earn a few hundreds a week, and that singing entails practically no toil. Miss Ada Crossley, however, disagrees with this idea to a very great extent. She says: “It is quite a mistake to suppose that a singer’s wc.k is confined to the stage. So far as I myself am concerned, I spend a couple of hours every day with my accompanist. I never miss these two hours of practice, and this is the only way I consider an artiste ean sustain her reputation. I bicycle. I think that cycling is simply splendid for the breathing ‘apparatus.’ Another recipe of mine for keeping the lungs in order is skipping. When it. is wet, and 1 can’t go out, I take a hundred turns or so with the skipping rope. I suppose the chief drawback to the profession is the necessity of keeping yourself in a glass case, as it were, and taking care what you eat. Then, again, from all reports, singing is fearfully exhausting. I can’t say that. I find the career much of a tax. To tell you the truth, the more I sing the better I feel, but then I have a pretty sound constitution. lam not particular as to what I eat, nor do I wrap up. Indeed, I attribute the excellent state of my health to the fact that t don't wrap.”

“Twelfth Night.” which is to be played in Auckland and Wellington during the Musgrove Shakespearian season in October and November, has done well in Sydney. The “Bulletin.'’ which is nothing if not critical, speaks thus of the performance:—There is more laughter for the modern audience in “Twelfth Night” than in almost anything else that Shakespeare wrote; and in Musgrove's playing version, the original five acts

being condensed to three, the comedy, bordering most of the time on broad farce, is not much cut. Not Olivia, Viola, and the Duke are the principles, but roystering Sir Toby, the imbecile Aguecheek. pompous Malvoli.i, the steward, impish Maria, and the Clown. Of these the ( town alone is not built to appeal to the gallery in 1903. W. H. Denny is the Malvolio. It may lie difficult to present a Jlalvolio that does not appear exaggerated: and here, as in Bottom, Denny seems at times to be extravagant. Yet, especially in the last scene, his performance is just about perfect. Miss .Milton’s Maria is a more even work, excellent throughout. Athol Forde's Sir Toby and Croker-King’s fantastic Agueeheek may ba bracketed as satisfactory. Kenningham is introduced as the Clown; and though the Clown’s humour does not appeal to the popular taste of to-day, Kenninghain’s voice always does. As Snakespeaie wrote it, the Clown's is the one singing part, with five songs; in this playing version Kenningham takes four, and Miss Rignold the fifth. Every number is a success; Kenninghanr's “The Rain it Rainetlr Every Day.” deserves the roar of applause it gets.

The same paper makes the following rather ribald but decidedly amusing remarks on the plot of “Twelfth Night.'': — ■■Matrimonially. Sydney is fairly sudden, but if Sydney is sudden, Shakespeare’s Illyria is instantaneous. Orsino, its duke, is making no end of an ass of himself for love of Olivia; no woman’s heart is big enough to hold as niueii as his for her. Yet inside, half an hour he is tied to Viola, even before (having disguised herself) she has time to take the trousers off: and Viola, in spite of the embarrassment of breeches, had almost as suddenly made up her mind that Orsino's was the. only beard for her. Two other cases of equal swiftness occur. Y’ou never know what couple is going to turn up married. The noble Olivia, who isn’t going to even see a man for seven years, sees Sebastian for the first time: and inside 10 minutes the local hasty marriage parson has realised another fee—the lady had apparently had him chained up on the premises, not knowing at what moment she might want to go oil'. And it is casually mentioned during the subsequent very brief proceedings that another couple, who couldn’t be suspected of it an hour before, has done the same thing in the interval. In this sultry atmosphere Shakespeare incubated his ‘Twelfth Night,’ giving to it as a second title 'What Yon Will,’ by waj r of intimation that he was rather tired just then, and wasn’t going to worry himself into a decline thinking up names for his play.”

A good story is told of Louis Wain—the well-known artist whose drawing of cats are world-wide in their reputation. He strolled into the promenade at the Alhambra one night, and was iutrodueed to a man there. Casually his friend remarked that tins was Mr Louis Wain, whose cats were so famous. The stranger, after studying his programme, turned suddenly to Mr Wain, remarking: “And what time, sir, does your cat turn come along here? 1 don’t see it menioned in the programme.”