GREENROOM GOSSIP.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume X, Issue 485, 9 November 1899, Page 10

GREENROOM GOSSIP.

[By

Paul Pry.]

When “ The Georgia Magnet ” played at Palmerston North, Mr B. N. Abbey handed over to the Mayor one-fourth of the receipts as a neucleus for a Transvaal Belief Fund.

Miss Ada Willoughby was (according to recent London files) singing her Australian success, “ Only a Penny,” with great effect at the Oxford Music Hall.

“ H.M.S. Pinafore” has been played for over a thousand nights in London. Out of that number 776 performances took place at the Opera Comique, the others at the Savoy, and all have been under the management of Mr D’Oyley Carte.

Mr G. T. Callender, the manager of the Heller Mahatma Company, called upon me the other day. He informed me that the company had been doing most excellent business throughout their Queensland tour. It is intended to visit the Thames and goldfields districts, and then play a season in Auckland.

On September 16, Mr Charles Morton, the veteran manager of the London Palace, celebrated his eightieth birthday. His man' friends —both in and out of the profession—took the occasion to give him a benefit performance that evening,

and needless to say the popular caterer for the public entertainment met with an enthusiastic and triumphant reception. Very nearly all the talented performers in London graciously assisted to make the affair a success, and during the evening Mrs Clement Scott recited in splendid fashion an address written by her husband for the occasion. Another feature of the evening was the exhibition (by means of the Biograph) of a picture showing the departure from Southampton of the Ist Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, who left the southern port that morning for Natal. Quick work that—the pictures were taken in the morning and shown to the audience in the evening. Mr Charles Morton has made this living-picture business a big item at the Palace, and pictures of notable events are shown very quickly—of ttimes in the evening of the day on which they occurred. The story of “ The Ghetto” (the Jewish drama which Mrs Brown Potter and Mr Kyrle Bellew produced lately at the London Comedy) deals with the love of a promising young Jew musical composer (Bafael) for Bosa, a Christian who is employed as servant in the household of his father (Sachel), a blind old merchant. Briefly told the plot is as follows : —Bafael secretly marries Bosa with Christian rites, and for a time the pair live a joyous existence. But they have a rude awakening when a proposal is made to Bachel by a wealthy co-religionist (Aaron) for the marriage of his daughter (Bebecca) to Bafael. The plain way out of that difficulty is for Bafael to proclaim publicly the bar which exists to the proposed union. Bosa, however, prefers that the announcement shall be withheld until a symphony her husband has been engaged in composing shall have been accepted by a famous capel-meister, with whom he is in negotiation. So Bafael temporises, and when at last driven to action by his father’s importunities, and Bebecca’s not too coy advances, takes his stand upon the synagogue steps and puts himself ,up for auction to the highest bidder—the action being intended as a bitter satire on the sordid bargaining of which he and Bebecca have been the subject. The end of the scene is that his love for Bosa is publicly proclaimed, and the parents are made to understand that the marriage they contemplate is impossible. Aaron, though disconcerted, is not prepared to acknowledge his defeat. He cunningly concocts a plot with the object of driving Bosa to suicide by a sudden false announcement of her husband’s death. The design is entirely successful. As Rafael is return ng home in triumph with the announcement of the acceptance of his symphony he is met on the threshold of his father’s house by his wife’s corpse, and so the story closes in gloam. This unhappy ending is not likely to recommend itself to the public any more'than unhappy endings customarily do. But the work has so many good points, and is so excellently played, that the defect—if defect it is —will probably be overlooked.

Charles Faning commenced a season at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday night last. He has a company of about thirty first-class artists to amuse his patrons One of the hits of the London music-hall season has been the Spanish dancer, La Tortajada. This beautiful and extremely graceful danseuse has now gone on a tour of the United States, and may possibly visit Australia. Should she do so, it is to be hoped she will give New Zealand a “turn.” “The Georgia Magnet” opened for a threenight season at Napier on Saturday, and our correspondent says that the mystifying performance of the dapper lit*le lady has been the talk of the place. A big house greeted “ The Magnet on Saturday, and, judging from the booking, the Theatre Eoyal would be well filled on Monday and Tuesday.

According to the 7?ra, Sir Henry Trying is contemplating the production of a play laid at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The drama is connected with the intrigues of Catherine de Medicis against Henry of Navarre, and interest will be created by the introduction of such remarkable characters as Charles IX. and Margaret of Anjou. The City Hall management must have been well pleased with the crowded state of the house on Saturday night, when Mr Dix’s travelling companv joired forces with the fixed show, and the combination gave a rattling good bill-of-fare. The touring members of the company were met with what must have been a very gratifying reception. Fred. Leslie, jun., sang “ Baby Loo, Will LesHe brought down the house with “ Mother-in-Law,” Johnny Collins and Karl Browne were immensely funny with My Sweet Face,” and the Leslie Brothers, of course, scored with “Waiting for the Train.” D. Caston was as effective as ever, and everybody who aid a “turn” was received with the utmost enthusiasm. I have not the space this week to do full justice to “ The Belle of New York,’ the latest of the Pollard successes, which was produced at the Opera House on Monday night for the.first time in Auckland. However, the play is sure to have - a good run, so I shall have another opportunity of saying something about this amusing musical comedy. The run of “ The Belle” in London is now well on the way to reach the seven hundredth representation, while in Australia, and wherever it has beep played in New Zealand, the work of Hugh Morton and Gustave Kerker has caught on tremendously. And, on seeing it, one is not surprised at the popularity of the American play The book abounds in quaint humor, amusing jokes (some.new and some ancieht), the dialogue is often smart, and the music is generally tun eful and frequently very prettily melodious. The scenery is excellent, the singing of the chorus admirable, and the various dances and ballets are executed iu finished style. The story of the play is too well known to need recapitulation here, and all that is necessary to say is that the central figures are Ichabod Bronson (a wealthy New York merchant, and president ,j>f the Young Men’s Beecue League and Anti Cigarette Society of Oahpes)j hie-'spendthrift son (Harry Bronson)

Violet Grey (the Salvation Army Lass), and Fifi Fricot (a little Parisienne), Cora Angelique (the Queen of Comic Opera), and Karl Von Pompernick (a polite lunatic). The Violet Grey of Mies May Beatty is an excellent piece of work. As the good little Salvation Army girl, the young actress was as earnest and demure as was desirable, and in her song, “ They Always Follow Me,” in the Chinese quarter she made a big hit. In the last scene—when she attempts to disgust Ichabod Bronson as a co/e chantant artiste — Miss May Beatty admirably pourtrayed the change from grave to gay. Miss Maud Beatty, as Fifi, was capital, and with Mr Charles Carter (who has made most marked improvement since he was with us last) won applause in the duets, “ Teach Me How to Love” and “When We Are Married.” Miss Nellie Wilson was bright and effective as Cora Angelique; Miss Tillie Woodlock made a clever and vivacious Mamie Clancy; and Miss Wilmot Karkeek, as the music hall dancer (Kissie Fitzgarter), also played well. The Ichabod Bronson of Mr Albert Whelan is a remarkably clever impersonation, and his recitatives (“ Of Course You Cannot be Like Us” and “ A Cloud Came o’er his Brow”) were delightfully comical and were encored again and again. Next week I shall have much more to say about Ichabod Bronson, Mr Percy’s funny lunatic, Mr Harry Quealey’s Blinky Bill, Mr Charles Carter’s Harry Bronson, the “ Doc” Snifkins of Mr Fitts, and the twin Counts of Messrs Alf. Stephens and E. Nable. Meanwhile I must briefly say that “ The Belle of New York” is capital, and that I am sure it will prove a triumphant success. A Sydney exchange, speaking of “ Dreyfus,” the play written by George Bignold and Walter Bentley (now running at the Criterion), says : — “ With a few alterations to preserve the unity of its dramatic form, the new piece follows with considerable accuracy the chief events connected with the world-famous ease, and is mounted with the intimate knowledge of stage-craft and the generous attention to the details of setting and dressing for which Mr Bignold is justly renowned. The four acts describe—(l) The home of Dreyfus (a beautiful scene, in which a number of tiny children perform a most gi aceful dance) and his aarest at the War Office ; (2) his sentence and formal degradation; (3) his prison cell on the Devil’s Island, with three striking tableaux showing the prisoner in his cage, the bureau of the Minister for War, and a street in Paris ; (4) the return of Dreyfus and the President’s pardon. Esterhazy (admirably played by Mr H. W. Diver) filled the necessary role of the heartless villain, whose plots are exposed in the concluding scene by the confession of the beautiful accomplice, Marguerite du Pays (Miss Boy Barton). The •part of the loyal and devoted Mme. Dreyfus is sympathetically played by Miss Lilian Wheeler; Mr J. W. Sweeney and Miss M. Brandon provide the comedy element, while the burden of the piece (as the heroic Captain Alfred Dreyfus) falls on the broad and competent shoulders of Mr George Bignold. The play elicited much applause from the large and ei thusiastic audience present on the opening night (October 21), and will, doubtless, enjoy a long and prosperous run.”