Music, Drama.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IV, Issue 175, 30 November 1893, Page 7

Music, Drama.

By

“Prompter.”

admissi risum teneatis amici ?

‘ A Million of Money.’ Mr Bland Holt produced the trump card of his season on Wednesday evening last when ‘ A Million of Mo ne y ’ was P re_ sented to the Auckland public for the first time. The drama is from the pens of Mr Henry Pettitt and Sir Augustus Harris, and when it was produced at Drury Lane it scored a very big success indeed. The work is of the spectacular order, and as such it must be regarded as a decidedly meritorious production. From a purely dramatic point of view, however, it is inferior to. both ‘ A Sailor’s Knot ’ and ‘ The Trumpet Call,’ but the opportunities which the dramatists present for beautiful stage pictures and striking tableaux go far towards reconciling one to any weakness there may be in the dialogue or the construction of the plot. As regards the latter, it is somewhat original from the fact that, unlike the majoiity of melodramas, the first act closes with the hero and heroine triumphing over their enemies. The initial fall of the curtain as a rule shows us the virtuous ones ruined and unhappy, with the villian and his henchmen on the o.p. side, wearing the most approved pattern of a sardonic stage smile. In ‘ A Million of Money,’ however, the end of the opening act leaves the virtuous ones on the threshhold of unalloyed happiness and the possessors of the amount of ready cash indicated by the title ; while the villian, foiled and his base plans frustrated, sinks into a garden seat with the look of a disappointed Mephisto. The story is as follows. Harry Dunstable, a young officer, is in love with Mary Maythorne, the daughter of the Rev. Gabriel Maythorne, who is Harry’s guardian, and fearing that the reverend gentleman is averse to giving his daughter to him in marriage, Dunstable weds her secretly. His tastes are too expensive to allow him to live on the income given him by his rich uncle, and he soons falls heavily into debt. The temptation to do so is placed in his way by a brother officer, Major Belgrave, who, under the pretext of looking after him for Mary Maythorne’s sake (whom the gallant and unscrupulous soldier loves) leads him into fast society. Dunstable is sued for £3OO by a tool of the Major’s, but just as poverty seems to be closing around him his uncle dies and leaves him the immense fortune of a million of money. Foiled in his efforts to obtain Mary Maythorne’s hand, Belgrave, on finding she is married to Dunstable, determines to console himself with part of her husband’s fortune, and enlists the services of a Mrs St. Clair, an unscrupulous adventuress who by some magnetic power is more attractive to the general run of men than is good for them. Belgrave’s plan is to get up a bogus divorce case by compromising Dunstable with Mrs St. Clair, and recover heavy damages through St. Clair, a ruined gamster. Mrs St. Clair enlists Dunstable’s sympathies by posing as a helpless woman abandoned by friends and husband, and so the generous young millionaire walks blindly into the trap laid for him with such devilish ingenuity. Meanwhile Belgrave works on the jealousy of St. Clair, who is an unconscious tool, with the result that the latter, who was thrown over by his heartless wife when ruin overtook him, denounces Dunstable in public as Mrs St. Clair’s paramour, and at the same time informs him that Belgrave was the man to give him information of his alleged misconduct with Mrs St. Clair. But the Major’s plan topples to the ground like a house of cards, for St. Clair, weakened by privation, falls dead after his denunciation of Dunstable. The latter’s wife, however, believes him to be guilty, and an estrangement ensues, the result being that Dunstable, wounded by hia wife’s injustice, ‘ goes the pace,’

and flings his thousands about until ruin falls upon him. He decides to go abroad with his regiment, and Mrs St. Clair tells Mrs Dunstable that she is accompanying him as his mistress. The suffering wife, who is longing for a reconciliation, believes her, and Dunstable departs with the troops. On the voyage the troopship is wrecked, but Dunstable, whose eyes have been opened to the lie told by Mrs St. Clair to his wife prior to the embarkation of the regiment, is saved, rejoins his wife, and the usual finale of virtue rewarded and vice punished rings the curtain down. The acting of Miss Edith Blande and Mr W. Howe as the heroine and hero is worthy of all praise, and Miss Harrie Ireland’s picture of the adventuress, Mrs St. Clair, shows what rapid strides this young artiste is making in her profession. Mr W. E. Baker was excellent as the gentlemanly villian, Major Belgrave, and Mr Inman acted with considerable dramatic force as the ruined St. Clair. Messrs Corlesse, Brown, England, Watson and Kemp carefully sustained the characters allotted them, and Mr Bland Holt as Sam Cricklewood, a clerical student with strong sporting proclivities, and Mrs. Holt as the parson’s niece, Hetty Nestledown, supplied the humour of the piece. Too much praise cannot be bestowed on the scenery and staging of the drama, and one is inclined to wonder how Mr Holt manages to present such striking spectacles on the limited stage room at his disposal. The race scene in the second act is as complete a stage spectacle as one could wish for, and the illuminated fete in the third act is a triumph of realistic scenery and up-to-date staging. The Wednesday Pops. The Choral Hall was excellently attended last Wednesday night when Mr John Fuller held his twenty - ninth popular concert. The programme submitted was an excellent one, and was received with hearty applause by the audience. Mr Fuller, who was in fine voice, sang ‘The good-bye at the door’ (Glover) and ‘The Thorn’ (Shield), and needless to say, both items were encored. In response ‘The Minstrel Boy’ and ‘When other lips ’ were given by the artist, and the audience showing signs of an Oliver Twist disposition, Mr Fuller obliged with another very acceptable item. Mr Worrall was quite successful in his numbers, ‘The friar of orders grey’ and ‘ The Bedouin’s love song,’ and Miss Birdie Butler gave Piccolomini’s popular ballad ‘Whisper and I shall hear ’ and J. K. Emmett’s ‘ Sweet Violets.’ Miss Fitzpatrick sang two songs to the evident satisfaction of the audience, and Master Cresswell made his first appearance as a vocalist. Mr Ellyett contributed two flute solos, and Miss Brabazon’s pianoforte solos were highly successful. Another Sunday afternoon concert will be given on the p.s. Eagle next Sunday, and Mr Fuller has again engaged Hunter’s band. These harbour excursions are taking a firm hold on the public, and certainly no more pleasant way of spending the afternoon could be desired.

Mr Allan Hamilton, who ia piloting the Myra Kemble Comedy Company through New Zealand, writes me from Wellington to say that the Auckland season will commence at the Opera House on Boxing night—possibly Christmas Eve. The programme will be changed every alternate night throughout the season, and the repertoire consists of ‘ A White Lie,’ ‘ Our Flat,’ ‘The Librarian,’ ‘ Dr. Bill,’ ‘Jane’ (all farcical comedies), ‘ The Profligate,’ a powerful work by A. W. Pinero, “ Peer of the Realm,’ a drama new to New Zealand by F. W. Broughton, ‘ Pauline Blanchard,’ and ‘The New Magdalen.’ Mr Hamilton says the tour so far has been extremely successful, in spite of the heavy opposition in the shape of election meetings in Wellington and Christchurch.