Music and Drama

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 6, 5 August 1908, Page 16

Music and Drama

“Mother Goose” will replace “Humpty Dumpty” at His Majesty’s, Auckland, during fleet week. Though perhaps not equal to the present year’s production in spectacular splendour, it must be conceded that “Mother Goose” is a far more generally amusing entertainment. The incidental songs arc more catching, and everyone will look forward to re-welcom-ing Miss Irene Dillon, who made such an immense and well-deserved hit as Gretchen. This little lady did much to make “Mother Goose” the favourite it proved, and her reappearance in the rolo she so capably created cannot but add to the eclat of the first night of the pantomime. JI ’After a run, at popular prices, which has not been very long, but which must be described as wonderfully successful, the Lyceum revival of “ Romeo and ’Juliet,” with Matheson Lang and Norah Kerin in the title roles, has just concluded. It has drawn enormous audiences, and on certain evenings the queue waiting for the pit doors to open was quite one of the sights of the theatrical world of London. Jl jl Kubelik is back in Australia, giving return concerts in Melbourne and Sydney. In the Sydney concerts, on August 3 and 4, the great violinist will be assisted by Signor de Beaupuis, who has not played in public for some years. > Ji Ji 1 Miss Myrtle Meggy, the talented young pianist, who has recently returned to England from a nine months’ tour with 'Madame Albani in Australia, New Zealand, and India, gave her only recital this season on May 29. Miss Meggy Ksays an English paper) is one ci the many talented artists that Australia has cent us, and it is interesting to note that she received her first lessons from her father, who is a journalist, and is now on the staff ot a paper at Hobart. Jl » “The Merry Widow,” after a run of about three months in Melbourne, moves on in a few. days to Adelaide, where commences a lengthy Australasian tour. “Peter Pan” is to be given a further trial in Melbourne, and will follow “The .Widow” at Her Majesty’s. Jt Jt Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch” concludes a remarkably successful run in Melbourne on August 7. A comprehensive Australasian tour follows. i Ji Jt. Mr. Robert Courtneige celebrated the 1,250 th performance of “The Dairymaids” at the Queen’s Theatre in June. The piece has been a remarkable success in London. It was in this piece that Miss .Carrie Moore had a part much more suited to her than that of Leihar’s Merry Widow. Jt Jt “Peter Pan” was produced in English at the Vaudeville Theatre, Paris, in June, by a company taken from London by Mr. Charles Frohman. The French .were charmed with the domesticity of ithe nursery scene. Nana, the dog, leaped at once into favour, but they were some, .what puzzled by the subtleties of Peter Pan’s shadow. A French critic also alleges that some of the audience imagined that “Tinker Bell," the fairy, was an allusion to the German Emperor. Jl J* Two full-fledged comic-opera companies in Melbourne at the same time is enough to give rise to whole hosts of scandals, but although we have tottered on the verge of dozens none has fully ripened yet. There has been a lot of internal trouble in one company, write* “Clio” in Melbourne “Punch,” Two ladies, each of them a star in her own firmament, have come into collision. They did not tear each other’s hair or scratch each ether’s faces, they attacked each

other’s characters, and those who listened heard more in five minutes than they had presumed to guess in five years. Eventually one lady declared that she would not play again with the other. A mediator had to be brought post haste from another State to heal the breach which threatened to disrupt the show. He smoothed things over by cajoles and promises, but for a few nights the stage manager had an anxious time. J* JI Miss Mabelle Morgan, principal boy in “Humpty Dumpty,” is now making what will probably be her last Australasian tour for many years. She is going to try her fortune in London, where managers of pantomime find great difficulty in getting the girl with the necessary attributes of figure and voice for the heroic role. It is a notable fact that both the principal boy in pantomime and the ragged urchin in melodrama is always a girl, and that the quality of legs is a leading factor in both cases. Those of the principal boy must be faultless in line, while those for the street arab must have a decided tendency to knock at the knees. JI jl In one of New York’s leading vaudeville theatres, Wednesday evening of each week is given up to amateur performances. All people, male or female, old or young, ugly or pretty, are at liberty to proffer their services, and do a turn. If the turn goes well with the audience it usually means an engagement for the performer at one of New York’s minor halls. If, however, the performer fails to win the approval of the crowd, his (or her) career is quickly cut short. As a man the gallery rises and cries—“ Git the *ook! Git the ’ook!” Immediately an enormous hook on a 10ft. pole emerges from the wings, and hauls the unfortunate performer ignominiously by arm, leg, or neck, into oblivion. Jt Jl Miss Olga Nethersole has obtained a verdict for 2,500 dol. in her action for libel against the Cleveland (Ohio); “Leader.” In a dramatic criticism published over a year ago it was asserted that Miss Nethersole had been made hysterical by a “booing” from a London audience. This assertion was proved to be untrue, and the judge instructed the jury to find a verdict for the plaintiff if they considered that she had been injured by the false statement. Latitude in criticism has its limits even in the States evidently, but why it should be drawn at this particular line is difficult to understand. M Jl Among the Moldavia’s passengers when she left Sydney the other day were Mr and Mrs Alfred Artois and two of the Klos Sisters. Mr Jack Artois and his wife (Miss Alma Grey), who stayed on here a week so as to visit the hot lakes, were to take the Ortona a week later, and cross from Marseilles to London. jl jl Bland Holt is paying his first professional visit to Westralia, where he has been doing great business with the Drury Lane autumn drama success of ’97, “The White Heather.” Jl Jt Pansy Montague Milo was (says the “Bulletin” last month touring Ireland, and the truthful Cruickshank announced “she has covered herself with fresh glory.” There are people who consider there is room for covering of some description. Jl Jl The Meynell and Gunn Melodrama Co. which opens in Christchurch on the 9th inst., and returns there for Cup week, contemplates tlio production of “The Little Bread Winner,” “The Stepmother,” “OkX Folks at Home,” and brief revivals of the “Fatal Wedding.” The first three play*

are new fo New Zealand. The company includes old favourites here in G. P. Carey, C. R. Stanford, Ernest Leicester, K G. Coughlin, H. K. Lewis, F. Coope, and Misses Beatrice Holloway, Ida Graham and Mabe! Russell, etc. • Jl J« It has been decided that Mias Margaret Anglin’s tour shall includte the Dominion. Mr. Chas. Herbert, late of Auckland, has obtained an engagement with t his company, and starts in a small part at once. Rose Stahl, who has just finished something over a thousand nights in some musical comedy success in the States, and after a holiday contemplates its further perpetration, believes that if Shakespeare were living to-day when giving “Hamlet” he would not introduce strolling players, but would have a moving picture machine and show the murder of his father in most approved twentieth century fashion. And she fully expects to see some daring actor try the innovation. Jl Jl Florence Baines, the buxom proprietress of “Miss Lancashire Limited,” has resolved to make Australia her home and abiding place, and has possessed herself of 15,000 Westralian acres, with the intention of becoming a squatteress. This lump of land and the cattle and sheep on its surface represent only portion of the Australian profits ol “Aliss Lancashire,” so there is evidently mousy in running a cheap sort of play with a class of humour that is aggressively obtrusive. ’JI Jl A few weeks ago an American artist who was appearing at the London Oxford made known to the world the thrilling fact that her theatrical wardrobe was sufficiently capacious to enable her to discard every one of her dresses after it had once been worn. ' Now it is stated that Miss Margaret Cooper is to be numbered amongst those performers who believe in a nightly change of costume, even when fulfiling an engagement for a lengthy period as at the London Palace. The pair should be asked to give their opinions on the perennial “silly season” topic, “How to dress well on £l2 a year.” Jl Jt An interviewer, having obtained access to the presence of a famous actor, asked the great man if he would be kind enough to describe some of his early failures. “Sir,” snapped the tragedian, “I never had any I James—the door!”

“David Copperfield” fa to be produced a« a French play by M. Antoine at the Paris Odeon. The piece is divided into ten tableaux. M Max Mourey, the •ctormanager of the Grand Guignol, being UM adaptor. Miss Connie Edies, the former London Gaiety actress, wfco is now in America, intends to become an American citizen, and has taken out her first naturalisation papers. Miss Ediss recently purchased a residence in the Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts, for £7BOO. Gaiety actresses in some instances at least must be more careful o f their money than the opposite sex. You don’t hear of a Gaiety actor buying a place for thousands to settle down in. . Jl Jl The “Manawatu Standard” saw reason to complain of the final performance of the Beatty-Mclntosh Company at Palmerston North, when “A Beggar on Horseback” was staged. The staging of the play was particularly fine, but the acting was very indifferent, says the paper, some of the members of the company, including one principal, indulging in merriment in parts where the play required sober treatment. The audience were by no means pleased with their conduct, and for their own sake the management should see that it is not repeated. Jt jl Since “Charley’s Aunt,” with its 1,468 performances at the old Globe Theatre, “Sweet Lavender,” with 670 at Terry’s, and “The Chinese Honeymoon,” with over 1,000 at the old Strand, the West End of London has had no success equal to that of “When Knights Wer j Bold.” The success is all the more interesting from the fact that the author of the piece is a lady, Miss Harriet Jay, a sister-in-law of the late Robert Buchanan. No other woman playwright has approached a run of 500 nights in London, Miss Jay’s achievement being all the more remarkable because of the real farcical strength of “When Knights Were Bold.” Women may fairly point to Wyndham’s as a proof of the possibilities of their sex. Frank Thornton, who presents this latest success to New Zealand audiences, is also remembered for his excellent performance in two of the other plays mentioned, Jt Jl Pollard’s Juveniles are playing in Queensland; at latest it was with “Bluebell in Fairyland.”