MUSIC AND DRAMA.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 14, 6 October 1906, Page 35

MUSIC AND DRAMA.

Miss Nora Kerin, recently in London, presented her husband, Mr. Cyril Michael, with a daughter. » Jt Ten thousand people lined the platform of a Manchester railway station to see the “Besses o’ the Barn’’ Band leave on its tour for America, New Zealand and Australia. J* d* Theatrical life has not, after all, been interrupted for very long in -San Francisco, seeing that a new theatre, containing 900 seats, has already opened its doors with an operette entitled “The Sparkles.” Three other houses of larger proportions are in course of erection, workmen being ’ engaged day and night, so that they may open in October. J* Jt Wellington approved of “Dorothy Ver iron” to such a satisfactory extent that its play-goers filled the theatre every night for'the whole of the first week of Miss Tit tell Brune's season there—a fact somewhat noteworthy when the population of the town is considered. The rest -of the visit was devoted to “Leah Klerehna,” “Merely Mary Ann," and “Sunday,” with results every bit as satisfactory. J* d* Mr W. S. Gilbert had his little joke at the Edgeware Petty Sessions this week, when two men were convicted of trespassing ; on land in search of conics. The police evidence showed that the defendants, who were beating a hedge, were accompanied by a dog. Upon being searched, a ferret and nets were found in their possession. Defendants denied that the dog was theirs, and said it had followed them into the Held. “Did the ferret follow you?” inquired Mr Gil bert. with twinkling eye. JU Alias Zena Dare, writing in the London “Tattler,” says that with the birth of the picture post-card craze the day's work of many an already over worked actress has become practically doubled. ‘•Recently,” she says, “1 received a large cardboard box big enough almost to contain a bride's trousseau, and bn opening it I found, neatly done up in packets of ten, no fewer than '230 picture

post-cards of myself in different poses" — all waiting for her autograph! Zena smiles at one from atiout seventeen shop windows in Wellington. JU Jt I am sure that the publie wants firstnight notices, and expects to get them. It is an item of news, and to many people of important news. The theatre manager can no more say, “T will not have a report of my play published," than a murderer’ can say 1 will not have a re port of my trial in the papers.” It is desirable, and might nt the same time lie useful, to have a more mature criticism of some productions which are certainly deserving of thought and attention.—Mr. Tree interviewed by a London paper. CS Much that is found in t.:e Press from day to day about alleged "actresses” relates to persons who have no real staning in the theatre; and it may not infrequently happens that this or that sensational story about an alleged member of the profession has no foundation whatever as regards the theatre. It would seem that in many newspaper oilices there must be a standing order to classify as an “actress” any woman who lias become involved in notorious pub lieity, no matter what the truth may lie; and it. goes without saying that such a method is outrageous. —New York “Dramatic Mirror." J* Madame Blanche Arral. who shortly tours N.Z., has completely won that, section of the Sydney publie which cares at all for music, or indeed ait gonerallly, says the “Sydney Mail.. The Tow\n Hall, on the occasions of her concerts, presents that most ctieerful of aspects, close range files of a warmly friendly audience. The prima d'.nna sings with absolute musical truth. Her voice is fresh; her wide experience has left it unimpaired, and enriched her nature, so that she is the most fortunate of artistes, one intellectually matured, and yet youthful in quality. & Miss Nellie Wilson, sometime of Pollard Comic Opera (to., has been appearing in Tannhauser in the Raid. Ono critic writes: Au excellent performance was the Elizabeth of Miss Nellie Wilson. This artiste has a tine voice, a fine stage presence, and that essential thing a temperament. Never falling below n high standard of excellence, the singing of Miss Wilson occasionally reached real distinction, and she is to be warmly congratulated upon a thoroughly artistic performance. The. remaining principals were: Mrs Bayly (Shepherd I, Mr 1 1- . 11. Grange (Herman), Mr 11. S. Ralph (Walther), Mr A. A. Davis (lleinmari. and Mr D. I’arry (Schreiber). Jt It is estimated that the subsidised State theatres of France, such as the Theatre Fram-ais, the Odeon. the Opera, and Opera Oomique, are forced to give away so many free seats to members of the Government, that they can never make any profit. The yearly subsidy paid to the Opera Coiniquc amounts to ■£Booo, but this sum is more than equalled by the tickets claimed as a right by politicians. Deputies, not content by claiming seats for themselves, are in the Im bit. of asking for them for their constituents, so that at the cud of the season there is always a deficit for the house. The same practice obtains in the provinces, where the theatre manager is the scryanl of the municipality. So many free se its pre exacted from •t)ie unhappy manager that it may be said that the subsidv ruins the theatre.

A curious law suit was heard last month in - Constantinople, iu which »u operetta' tenor nailied Uollhnd was defendant, the pl.iinlilV bung M. Paul

Sun, the dramatic critic of the “Stutte bout,” who had not apparently afways written in favourable terms el M. Holland'* performances. Seeing the critic in the front row of the stalls <M the production of “Les 28 Jours de (’burette,” the peroformer let his ternpes get the better of him. and froo ths stage he exclaimed •'Voila ee piguouF* M. Sim sued for damages for this pulfr> lie insult, but the tribunal held tlurC in point of law the word “pignouC" did not amount to a libel. However* M. Holland was fined live francs an<l condemned in costs for unseemly conduct on the r.tag.'. .J» JI Mr. Marcus has arrived to pave th«l way for another variety company whicW is being sent across by Harry Hichardg, The season opens on October Sth. aS His Majesty's, and we may look forward to a treat. The bright particular star is Brian, who juggles amongst other trifles with a cannon, which is fired off while balanced on his chin, Seymour and Dupre. American sketch) artists, introduce a clever turn, and theatregoers will be interested to know, that Dupre is a sister of the delightful little body of the same name, wliut crane with the last Richards company, tint one and gave such charming; character sketches. Little Clilf. an artist of the Little 'lieh stamp, Baby Watson, a serio-comic and dancer of only fiva summers, and Miss Nellie Kilburn, burlesque artist from England, are soma of the others who figure on an exceptionally go<d bill. J« JU Even the exploits of American managers in moving their compiuics ixiuiuk must pile before the .skr.'.lar undertakings .which Mr J. C. Williamson lookd upon as all in the day's work, and probably nowhere else in the world do companics travel siroh immense d'sta noes, ■without cnee blinking their journey for ■show purposes, as they do in Australia. Take, for example, the. journey upon which the Gilbert, and .Sullivan Company arc a,bold t'J embark. They finish their, .Sydney visit on Friday this week, travel s< raight'ivay by train to Adelaide, and then slvp acH-ss from there, to Pci'llt, where they are due for .1 three weeks’ season- •only that and nothing hi ore—'on (he Ist (t?.<c.lier. For thait three weeks season, however, Mr Williamson pays over £lOOO in return fares alone for the lighty members of Hie company, without reckoning in it at all the heavy Incidental expense-. Even this immense sum is not a record in tlv.it direction, however, and several imstaiircs could bo quoted in which the travelling expenses of a company have totalled considerably more, wit h nothing in I lie shape of receipts at towns in between the termini of their voyages which might be set olf against, the outlay. ,•* je Chief Savage I’lunkct (who is. incidentally, Governor of New Zealand) ra lapsed into Irish nt the Indies’ korerat of the Savage Club on Saturday last, asys our contemporary the ‘'Free l.anee” of Wellington. This distinguished Savage is u good comedian, and hid Ilin Grace (Uis Excellency’s father) not decided on diplomacy, as a “job"’ for hi* son, the stage might lune claimed him. Lord I’lunkct had the necessary solemnity for tl:c telling of Irish stories, und only the faintest smile illumines the viceregal countenance when hn talks the brogue, A Governor can always “bring’ down the house,’’ of course, but if the Governor disguised himself and came bn as Pat Malone or Michael Mulealley, he would still do the same thing. It may be news to you that the large, genial A.Captain Braithwaite. is artistic too. He wrote for this “wahine”- occasion, “1 he Spelling Dec.’’ and it was an excellent satire; full of puitit and humour. Also, Messrs. James Dykes (wo can never believe ‘'Jimmy'’ is only one man any more) sang amt played and acted it "excellent ly. Savage! the Hon. Cupt. Bingham has been accused of writing things, mid the “Lunee’* happens to know that he hns a very] pretty wit indeed. In fact, Hie Government House people are mostly humorists.

Tlie ways and means of anfugrapW hunters are varied- a nd blit we have lately come iieroas idens and ui<*tlnM|« a tv deli gh*

fully simple and refreshing, says the London “Era.” The victim, in this case, was Miss Millie Lcgarde, the charming eetress, who is about to tour the suburban theatres shortly with Mr Popple fof Tppleton), and we are indebted to her for jwrmission to use the following epistles: — Hear Miss Legarde,—l beg to enclose herewith half a dozen photos of yourtsclf, and to ask if you will very kindly do me the favour of signing them for me, on the mount below the pictures, whenever you have a minute to spare. J ask yon to sign on the mount specially because I am told that the ink is detrimental to the Him of the photographic paper, and I do not wish this, arid I shall esteem it a frrther favour if you will do this for me. t send in addition a stamped addressed envelope, in which the photos may be returned, and thanking you in anticipation, believe me to remain, Truly, Mr. H H. H .” “To Miss Millie Legarde, the Prince of Wales’s Theatre. W. Mr. II 11. H has received the note containing a request for half a crown. He regrets to state that he does not see his way •to contribute to this society in return for the signature of Miss 1 .egarde, which he requested in his letter of yesterday’s date. He does not think the same worth it, and will, therefore, be obliged by an immediate return of his pictures, when they will be destroyed, as Mr. H does not collect unautographed photos.” MISS TITTELL BRUNE IN AUCKLAND. Miss Tittell Brune will open a short Beason of 18 nights at the Opera House on .Monday, Sth October, supported by Mr. J. C. Williamson’s powerful Dramatic Company, which includes the popular young English actor, Mr. Thomas Kingston. Miss Brune will appear as •Dorothy Vernon” in the absorbing stage ■version of Charles Major’s successful romance of that name. In the South and up the coast—as our society letters testify, Miss Brune has had an amazing success. The opening production, "Dorothy Vernon,” is a play of which the most flattering things have been Baid and written. One critic has even gone so far as to say that “since Victor Hugo evolved the romantic drama, ‘the stage has seen no more stirring tale of chivalry that Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall.” The play offers rare scope, for the exercise of Miss Brune’s histrionic talents, and in Dorothy Vernon site is said to have a part wluch suits her to perfection. By her excellent interpretation of this character, Miss Brune is said to show herself as capable in light comedy as “L’Aiglon showed her to be in tragedy. In support of the star, Mr. Kingston will appear as the dashing cavalier, Sir John Manners, Miss Susie. Vaughan, as Queen Elizabeth, Mr. Gaston Mervale as Sir Malcolm Vernon, Mr. J. B. Atholwood as Sir George Vernon, Mr. T. W. Lloyd as Earl Rutland, Mr. Vivian Edwards as Lord Burleigh, Mr. Maurice Dudley as Perkin, Miss Nellie Ferguson as Mary Queen of Scots, Miss Nellie Calvern as Jennie Faxton, Miss Clara Stevenson as Lady Vernon, and Miss Irby Marshall as Bess. The second great production of the season will Ire “Leah Klesehna,” the famous drama by C.M.S. McLennan—which shows Miss Brune’s genius in a different vein, and which is acclaimed as one of her greatest aehievments. Zangwill's successful comedy ‘‘.Merely Mary Aipi,”- will also be staged during the Auckland season, and it is hoped that time may be found for the revival of some of the old favourites. •J* AUCKLAND AMATEUR SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY. ROMEO AND JULIET. . With a carefully and, as it turned out, a felicitously chosen east, the reading of " Romeo and’ Juliet” by members of the Auckland Shakespear Society, proved of somewhat exceptional interest and merit; and is therefore worthy of rather more extended notice than can usually be devoted to amateur recitals within the limited space available for drama. Juliet, Romeo, Mercutin, and the Nurse, with Capulet and Friar Lawrence, are the characters who sustain (in tho •nd er named) the chief responsibilities of the ever famous, ever delightful love tragedy. In Mfss Ven Meycrn Mr. Mon-

tague secured a Juliet with whom it would have been hard indeed to find any serious fault, and, indeed, little fault whatsoever, it being a singularly able performance for an amateur. Young, pretty, with a dainty girlish figure, a piquant, provocative face, and a cultivated voice, nature had certainly done much in fitting Miss Von Meyern for the role, and careful study, under obviously capable tuition, enabled her to read audibly, expressively, and sympathetically. Now this, for an amateur, is rare enough to note with special marks of approbation. The famous balcony scene received very delicate and girlishly poetic treatment, and, as evidence of versatility, the low comedy of the interlude with the Nurse, where Juliet, almost crazed with love’s impatience, has to alternately coax and pacify the tired and ruffled Nurse, showed that Miss Von Meyern possessed a sense of discretion as well as humour, while in the chamber scene with Romeo, in which Juliet gives her passion free rein she was astonishingly convincing for an amateur, though naturally not able to plumb the full depth of passion as an older and therefore more experienced artist might do. But it was well done—amazingly well done, considering the age, training, and slight experience of the reader. But the surprise, and (considered in comparative terms) the triumph of this reading of the play, so far as Juliet was concerned, was the famous and justly dreaded potion scene which makes the extremest call on the nerve, staying power, and ability of the actress or reader. Nine out of ten amateurs come hopelessly to grief over it, and it was with some trepidation critical members of the audience looked forward to the speech. As an amateur effort, so far as present deponent remembers, Miss Von Meyern was almost unique. She did not rant, yet she managed to create some considerable portion of tire “ thrill ” which artists of repute infuse into the part. We are not of course judging a professional performance, but that of an amateur, and’ l a very young amateur, and in saying therefore that she gave her audience real and often absolutely fine, artistic (not altruistic) pleasure, one is giving this promising young lady high praise indeed. As Romeo, Mr. Whitmarsh has youth, a pleasant voice, and his share of good looks, and therefore, so far as a man! in conventional evening dress can do at a reading, he ‘'looked” the part, and read intelligently and audibly, so assisting the pleasant impression created by Miss Von Meyern. He was not particularly passionate as a lover, but he was earnest, and gave a good deal better account of himself than the majority of amateur Romeos one has heard. The Mercutio of Mr Singer was a clear, clean cut, finished piece of work of almost professional excellence. One has heard the Queen Mab speech better done—by a professional—but never by a reciter. The dying speech, too, was worthy of all praise for its light and shade, and also very notably for its restraint. To entrust the nurse to a very young reader was daring, but the choice of Miss Zoe Bartley was justified. She had been (a little obviously) schooled and coached with much care and detail; and though, in the language of what our legislators refer to as “another place’’ she was perhaps a trifle “overtrained,” her reading was one which did herself and her mentor credit. Mr Montagu’s Capulet was notable for the excellence of his fiery outburst against Juliet in her chamber. It was really finely done. The rest of the cast calls for little if any special notice, save Peter, but it is perhaps best to leave him as the school-boy did Caligula. Asked: State what you know of Caligula, and being stumped, the youth replied with wit and truth: “The less said about Caligula the better.” So let it be with Peter. jx jc IS MUSICAL COMEDY LEGITIMATE 1 CHAT WITH MR. EDWARD LACKI. (By the “Era Commissioner.”) “Australia is a splendid country for an actor to go to and learn his business.” That is the opinion of Mr. Edward Lauri, the well-known musical comedy

eccentric character cornelian who has just returned to this country after a live years’ active experience of Australasian threatrical affairs. "tn this country," argues Mr. Lauri, "a man plays a certain kind ' of part—say an Arthur Bobert’s part. He gets known by playing that part, and is not afforded an opportunity of distinguishing himself in another style of business. Now in Australia, the actor plays everything, and on the ground of acquiring versatility the training there is admirable.” “The Australian women,” continues Mr. Lauri, “possess marvellous natural talent.” The writer recollected, that several people he had interviewed recently had had something to say about Australia, and that colony had received a wonderful odvertisenxnt. So to a different theme. “May I lead your thoughts into another grooove, Mr. Lauri, by inquiring if you consider musical comedy is legitimate comedy?” “Well,” replies the interviewee, “the common talk of the ‘legitimate” on our side of art is generally common claptrap. Drama and comedy are not fixed in style or .intention, but change constantly to meet the changing requirements of the new generation that is with us every day. There are not several sorts of comedy. Comedy is one •and indivisible. There are, I (admit, quite a number of standard forms or manifestations of the eomie spirit, but comedy is the thing common to the lot, the vivifying essence of them all. Any thing that evolves naturally from antecedent forms is legitimate; and, viewed in the proper light, “The Skirt Dancer” in so far as it is good and human, is as legitimate as “Twelfth Night.” This objection to certain things in modem eomedy as illegitimate is the commonest caw of every little crow that peeks at hard-working playwrights, and we agree with much of what Mr. Lauri says in this respect. It is not real reproach to musical eomedy to say that at moments it approaches nearly to burlesque. Can it lie said that in the most de’ieiously comic scene in Shakespeare, Dogberry, and Verges are not burlesque, and in another play is not the admirable Bottom as broad a burlesque of humanity as you shall find in all literature? Possibly it may be argued that the mu-ietl comedy of to-day is artistically def-ctive in that it is disproprotionately gay, too lavishly compact of laughter. To this we should

be inclined to reply that, in plain fae£ we modems seem to be reverting to the old ideals; and, aa pilgrims at the shrine, we kneel with Aristophanes, who has been some long time lonely. If we were to dissert generally upon comedy, wc might say that in the Elizabethan and Restoration comedies the truly eomie element was slender. Of course, iti has to be admitted that Marlowe's quips at times are artificial and even brutal. Nor, probably, could any man not criminally insane laugh at the bloody jests of Massinger or the fierce humour of Eord. As to Webster and Tourneur—well, imagine any clean human creature laughing at the deliberately comic graveyard scene between Snuffe and Soquette in “The Atheist’# Tragedy!” Then in Jonsonian comedy, most notably in Volpone, the master’s laughter rings terribly sardonic. Such plays are not in any sense truly comic, for satire is not always fun, and wit is not of necessity humour. In all our dramatic literature there is nothing else of its kind to equal the scintillating wit of Congreve, but “Love, for Love” is scarcely funnier than “The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.” “What do you intend doing over here, Mr. Lauri?” “I am anxious to get some first class attractions to take to Australia and New Zealand on my own account and on behalf of a syndicate. You see, one must be careful about producing plays in that colony. Ko far they have had the best of the pieces from Daly’s and the Gaiety-, and they expect Westend successes. The pieces are staged in quite as good a manner as in London. and they get a much superior and fuller chorus. In my opinion, the Princess Theatre, Melbourne, is the finest in the world, and yet the highest price for stall seats is five shillings. As to the managers, there are Mr. J. C. Williamson and Mr. George Musgrove, who look after the musical eomedy an<t operatic side. I consider Mr. Musgrove the best manager I ever worked under. His productions are most artistic, and equal to anything to be seen in the West-end. People over 'here would be astonished to witness the magnificent Australian production of “Veronique,” in which the chorus, compared with the Apollo company, was of double strength and volume. Messrs. Bland Holt and ■Anderson attend to the dramatie branch of the profession, and Mr. Harry Rickards to the vaudeville. Mr. Rickards is very plucky indeed. He takes out the finest talent procurable, and pays any amount of money.”