Music and Drama

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 14, 30 September 1908, Page 16

Music and Drama

x*!ic Auckland Orchestral Society give the third concert of their season on Thursday, October 1, when Elgar’s overture, “Coekaigire” will be the main item of intcrestf though the whole programme is an exceptionally tine one. 1 J* Jft Bland Hull finished liis Auckland season last evening in “The Great Rescue,” which is uucomparably the best thing lie lias yet shown in the present New Zealand season,. has not been, a seat to be had after 8 o’clock during the whole throe weeks of his stay, and the return visit in’March will be eagerly looked forward to. - - - To-nig’ht, at His Majesty’s Theatre, will bo presented for the first time in Auckland . the famous play of domestic life, “The Little Bread Winner,’’ a play strong in human characterisation and situations, direct from, the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, whore the company recently terminated a highly successful season. Messrs, Meynell and Gunu anticipate an equal success to their famous “Fatal .Wedding’’ play, which attracted the entire population of Australia. The work is one of strong, vigorous development, yet there is always the angel of peace shadowing the lives of those who suffer through Gio faults and machiiiatfond of others, who, in their turn, suffer for the penalty- of their misdeeds.- -The advent, of the play has been keenly anticipated, and there should be an overflowing audience. The plot concerns principally one Richard Lawrence, whose adopted father, Lord William Dorrington, a very- strict old Quaker, turns him adrift owing to supposed prodigality, the main part of which exists only in tho lying machinations of Joseph Prior (Dorrington’s conadential and hypocritical secretary), who sees in the degradation of the adopted son an opportunity for satisfying his greatest vice, avarice. Despite a further accusation against Lawrence of having betrayed one of the serving-maids, Dorrington's grand-daughter (Margaret Daventry), to whom the scapegoat was betrothed, joins him when he is turned adrift from the family home,, and after a lapse of eleven years they are seen again, living in London in dire poverty, and mainly ■’dependent’ upon the earnipgs of their child, Meg, whose success as a street singer has earned her the title of “Tile Little Bread Winner.” A faithful oompan-ion in their distress is Charles Prior, brother of Joseph, but- a true, rough diamond, who’ cuts bright below tho surface; From this on the plot reveals the scheming Joseph pursuing his scheme of robbing his master, and, with the a id’of the serving-maid, Kate Cherry, keeping the old Quaker prejudiced against his adopted son. The restoration of his grand-daughter and her child to his affection is but the preliminary to his discovering, mainly through the agency of Charles Prior, and the repentant Kate, that Joseph was a mass, of villainy beneath Ids sanctimonious exterior. In accordance with the melodramatic contract, “Dick”-is restored to home, and everybody is made happy, except the cmef conspirator, who is left to the justice of the law. The two child characters are played by Queenie Williams and Maggie Dickinson, who scored so successfully with ‘Tito Patal Wedding.” The remainder of the cast includes many prominent Australian and English artistes; including Messrs. F. Coape. <!. P. Carey, Holloway, Stanford, K. Cj, C'oifghlan, etc., etc.,” and Mesdames • Beatrice ■ Holloway, Ida Greshajn. Alice Deorwyn, etc., etc. On Monday night there will be a special revival of “The-Fat-ul Wedding.” -The management claim that the production will I>e on a lavish scale, with complete scenic affects' and accessories. Mr Fred Graham, the well-known cornelian, writes to a Dunedin paper to the effect that he purposes returning to Now Zealand in tua course of 18 mouths,

at the head of an English musical comedy Company. Some difficulty has been experienced in getting into the leading metropolitan theatres in Maoriland, . but the initial troubles aro being gradually overcome, and a good tour is being mapped out. A Paris journalist has devoted his energies toward perfecting statistics to show where the theatre is most popular. Ilis figures show that—which is no surprise—the land of unbounded possibilities comes first. In New York, the American metropolis, the theatres have a beating capacity of 123,705. Then oqmes London with 120,950, and Paris takes third place with 83,331. <s* J* The absurdities of melodrama «jre well known, but in one produced in England recently, the record in this direction was achieved. The hero whs painfully toiling through a few pieces of vegetation supposed to represent a desert, and exclaiming at his hard fate in being alone in so dreary a waste. The heroine, who also hud been enduring many days of wandering through the same tractless wilderness, but who appeared in a fashionable dress of blue, satin, with her hair dressed a la mode and a tiara of (stage) diamonds, speedily undeceived him. “You are wrong, Reginald,” she exclaimed, advancing to the hapless hero, “Me an’ ’evin are ’ere.” Tableau! & J* Ah interesting case has come before the German Courts recently. A firm of musical publishers sued a critic who had denounced as “blamabel,” a reprint of his criticism, which contained only the eulogistic sentences without any of the qualifying terms. This doctoring of criticism, says a writer in the “Sunday Times,” on the effective plan by which Mr. Richard Phenyl tempered the wind of newspaper censure to Mr. Wedderburn, is familiar enough in this country, and it would be interesting to have its legality tested in the courts. A par ticularly flagrant .instance was quoted in a musicar paper some time ago, an Original notios reading:—“The enthusiastic applause that rewarded her is to be deprecated as the misplaced zeal of injudicious friends rather than commendation that was fairly earned and fully deserved,” . The reprint read; —“The enthusiastic applause that rewarded her was fairly earned and fully deserved.” Although not one word was altered, the writer was made to say tho very opposite of what he actually wrote by the dexterous and dishonest excision in the paragraph. rJI Watkin Mills will be in this part of the world in the early part of next year, with a concert'party. J» J* Maddme Melba has accepted a short American engagement for which she will receive £BOOO. At the conclusion she will cross the Atlantic and just have time to catch the boat at Marseilles. She opens her Australasian tour next Febduary. It is a significant comment on the taste of the day in certain quarters that so little of Mr. Sidney Jones’s charming work as a composer of comic opera should have been seen in London of late. In the opinion of many good judges there has been no composer since Sullivan who has displayed such melodic invention combined with such masterly scoring for orchestra and chorus; and his scores of “The Geisha” and “My Lady Molly” are the best things of their kind heard since the wizard of the Savoy laid down his pen for the last time. The news that he is to compose the music for the new piece promised at the Prince of Wales’s Theatre in the coming season is very emphatically good news. JU J» Ludwig 11. of Bavaria is to hear a Wagner opera sung outdoors. At last it has become practicable. The Casino of Cauteras, a summer resort in the French Pyrenees, announces that “Siegfried” will be sung there on August 10 in a natural

theatre, with real trees aa scenery. “Siegfried,” better than any other work of Wagner’s, is adapted to thia purpose, although Ludwig always has had “Lohengrin” in his mind, The presentation wilt include an orchestra of 100 musicians from the Paris Opera and Opera Comique. Ji’ M. Bompard, a French musician, who, for a wager, has composed the music to a song in ten minutes, is a formidable rival to Mr. H. Trotere, of whoas feats of rapid composition some remarkable stories tire told. Ilis beautiful song “Asthore” was, it is said, both written and composed within forty minutes in Blanchard’s Restaurant; the famous melody of “In Old Madrid** was jotted down in a few minutes on a biscuit-bag in a little publie-houae in Rochester Rnw, into which' the composer rushed on his way from the Aquarium, lest the air should escape him before he reached home; “Go to Sea” was. composed under similar conditions in a West End musicshop; and—crowning feat of all —it is actually said that Mr. Trotere composed “The Brow of the Hill,” wrote a letter, and ran four hundred yards to catch the post, all inside eight minutes. After this one learns without surprise that Sir Arthur Sullivan completed the overture to “lolanthe” between 9 p.m. and 7 the next morning, and that to “The Yeomen of the Guard” within twelve hours. Out of all the amusing experiences encountered, by Mark Hanibourg, one Incident during his South African tour would be hard to beat. He was billed to appear at a little, wayback township, where the only hall was 'of plain, galvaur ised iron, without any pretence at ornamentation. or even lining. Most people know how easy it is to hear through these sort of walls. At any rate the residents of that township did, and accordi iugly Mark had two audiences that evening—one which had the grace to pay and one which had not, but who chose - rather to assemble on the outside, certain, they would! hear equally well. They did more, for at the end of the first item there was a terrific pounding on the walls, and the manager, who rushed out fuming to stop the row, was most politely requested to furnish th e “ unofficial ” audience with a programme as they were . anxious to know what was being played. The dictum that “a proplief lias no honour in his own country,”- has been agreeably falsified during, the Bland Holt season, in the case of Miss Jeannie Pollock, who has been accorded a very warm welcome in every one of the several parts she has been called upon to play. The progress made by this lady since she left the ranks of Auckland amateurs to join Mr. Holt in Sydney a few years since- is little less than remarkable, and speaks volumes for the severe training and hard work she has undergone in that time. An accomplished platform reciter and a promising amateur actress- she certainly was, but few of her most optimistic friends would have dared to Cast her for such heavy and exacting roles aS those allotted to her in the “Breaking of the Brought,” or “The Great Millionaire,’? in which. play, by-the way, she had to take Miss Harris Ireland's part at a few hoursnotice, owing to the severe indisposition of that artist. Gifted by nature with a handsome and effective stage presence, and a fine round resonant voice, Miss Pollock had made the most of- the excellent opportunities for learning her profession, offered in such a combination as that controlled by Mr. Holt, and may now be pronounced a very sound and painstaking artiste, with a little more to learn perhaps, but with the highest possible promise with regard to future achievements. She is still very young, and is endowed with magnificent health and tireless energy, added to a remarkably retentive memory, and is, therefore, admirably equipped for the : path in life which she has chosen to tread. Her present success, is well de--served, and her 'future career will be followed with interest. dl ' JI ■* This is going some; At the premier performance of “I Take This Man,” a nevy comedy ptoduced at Springfield, Mass., by Henry W. Savage, it is reported that the audience applauded until the curtain had been raised and lowered forty-sevfen times. Edith Ellis, who wrote the drama, portrays a man who, moved a

nomadic spirit, deserts his wife and children. “He returns home after eleven years’ absence,” onr informant “a* a time wlum his wife is contemplating a new marriage. Interesting dramatie incidents ensue.” During one week William Anderson gave 17 matinee performances of MacMahon and Carroll's picture of the BurnsSqitires fight, which took - place recently in Sydney. It id estimated that during the week 35,000 witnessed it . Miss Celia Ghiloni got together a meeting of Australian actors and actresses now in London for a pow-wow at the Pavilion Music Hall, London, last month. jl The Irish, tragedian, Barry Sullivan, was once playing Richard HI. in Shrewsbury, and had just come to the lines: — “4 horse, a horse; my kingdom for a horse.”—-when some one in the gillcry shouted: “Would a donkey not do as well?” “Yesy” replied, the actor, “please ccme round to the stage door.”