THE STAGE

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume X, Issue 496, 25 January 1900, Page 8

THE STAGE

[By

ORPHEUS]

>• Orpheus ” will be glad to hear from those managers of theatrical companies touring New Zealand who desire that the public shall know the movements of the companies. Any information as to dates, etc., will be acknowledged in these columns, as well as any other items interest to the theatrical world. All letters should be addressed —•* Orpheus,” SPORTING AND DRAMATIC RHViBW, Vulcan Lane. Auckland.

Bland Holt. —“ How London Lives” , (an adaptation of a French play, “Le Camelot/’ to London life by Messrs Shirley and Martyn Field) presents a series of contrasts between luxurious splendor and squalid misery. Harrowing scenes cause East Lynnites to turn on the waterworks passim, while those who prefer laughter to tears get ample fun out of Happy Jack (Mr Bland Holt), his larrikin mates, and Sandy McGrab (Mr Harry Norman), the Scotch man-in-possession, who calmly snores while the furniture is broken up to feed the fire, etc., etc. A cruel and designing stepmother (Miss Harrie Ireland), a persecuted stepdaughter (Miss Frances Ross), a humorous and devoted domestic (Mrs Bland Holt), and a pathetic little girl (Miss Ida Inge soli) are the principal lady characters. The hard-worked and excellent Mr W. E. Baker takes a well-earned rest for once. Mr J. Montgomery is a hen-pecked old baronet. Mr Albert Norman plays a well-meaning but weak hero (Lieutenant Maxwell), Mr Arthur Sty an a Mephiatophelian villain, Mr Charles Brown a low-comedy part (“ The Microbe”), Mr Max Maxwell a broken-down masher, and Messrs Corlesse and Wheeler pawnbrokers of the most pronounced Hebrew type. Miss Beanie Galletly and two clever young ladies dance a delicious pas de trois, while Mr David sings a nigger song. Mr John Brunton’s facile brush has painted charming and. striking sets. The situations on the whole are not transpontine, but none the less effective. There is a rescue from drowning; a capital scene, humorous and pathetic, in a pawnbroker’s shop; a striking street scene, at Ludgate Hill, with the publication and distribution to news-venders of The Evening News; and, in the last act, a very powerful representation of an attempted burglary and abduction of the little girl, Katie, by the hirelings of Stephen Grainger, who receives poetic justice. Artemus Ward once asked President Lincoln, to read his lectures and give him a written opinion thereon. Lincoln wrote—« This is to certify that I have read Mr A. Ward’s lectures, and confidently recommend them to those who like lectures of that description !” That is exactly how I feel about “ How London Lives:”

“The New Babylon.”—The revival of Mr Paul Merritt’s sensational melodrama was crowned with success on Monday night. Here is a piece which is a ventable transpontine triumph. It is cram full of incident, grit, and substance, has

been pillaged large extent by unblushing playwrights, but still holds up its head with the best. Since it was last staged in Auckland, Mr Holt has repainted and redecorated “ New Babylon” from roof to cellars, so that it shines with fresh brilliancy. Mr Brunton’s tableaux are strikingly beautiful and effective. The sensational collision and afterview of the heaving ocean, with the huge steamship and the boats rescuing poor wretches battling for life in the turmoil of angry waters, is the perfection of scenic realism. The Islington Cattle Show, with an auction sale in which an architectural gothic steed —upon whose hips Mr Bland Holt hangs his hat—is offered; the Convent Garden Floral Fete, the Goodwood. Racecourse and crowd, and the final quaint an d powerful scene in “ The Thieves Kitchen,” each .and all are remarkable and wonder-compelling feats of staging. Perhaps more wonderful still is the fact that the scenery and paraphernalia only reached Auckland an hour or so before the performance, and yet the curtain rose at the appointed time and not a hitch occurred throughout. Miss Frances Ross in the doubled parts of the half-sisters, Eunice Graham and Belle Lorrimer, excelled herself, especially in emotional and passionate passages ; Miss Harrie Ireland was graceful and effective as Madge Maltby; Mrs Bland Holt’s Dora Sparkes was bright, witty, and charming as ever; Miss Aaela Kerr acquitted herself well in the difficult character part of Aunt Orazy, especially as it was her first appearance in that role; Miss Beanie Galletly (Little Loo) again covered herself with glory as an agile and graceful danseuse, and Miss Lucy Coppin. made much of a small role. Mr W. E. Baker (Vincent Vane) made much of a rather weak hero role. Mr A. Styan’s John Jeremiah Lamb was an inimitable impersonation of the innocent lamb who becomes a pugilistic lion. The villain (Ramirez), in the hands of Mr Albert Norman, was a remarkably powerful delineation. Mr Charles Brown (Ezra Lazarock) and Mr A. Harford (The O’Sligo), as Hebrew and Irish scoundrels respectively, made palpable hits. Messrs J. Montgomery (Hiram Maltby), M. F. Kemp (Jack Randall), Max Maxwell (Ah Luck, the Chinaman), and Harry Norman (Tiny Spurts, the jockey), all merit high praise. The lastnamed made a genuine hit in the dying scene — when he rises from his pellet to protect Belle Lorrimer from Ramirez. It was a very fine bit of work. Mr Bland Holt, as the Yankee detective (Flotsam), was quite in his best form, and everyone knows what that is. His song in The Thieves Kitchen, “ The Organ Man,” of course, brought down the house, sung as it was with irresistible humor. The Coster dances (arranged by Miss Beanie Gellatly), including that by the cripples on crutches), and indeed all the work in The Thieves Kitchen, cannot be described. No one should miss that scene. “The New Babylon’ is a unique melodrama. Why does not Mr Holt revive those old favorites “ The Golden Ladder” and “ The Bells of Hazelmere” ? They are miles ahead of much modern stuff.

Mb Howard Vernon’s Boyal Comic Opera Company, now on a successful Australian tour, contains, besides the veteran himself, several New Zealand favorites. Miss Alice Vernon has trained on to the prima donna position, playing Yum Yum in “ The Mikado,” a notice of which —in

The Bathurst Daily Times — has just arrived. Mr William Rosevear takes Pooh-Bah and Miss Maud Hewson achieves distinction as Katisha. The other “ Little Maids” are the Misses Lily de Vere and Bertha Peatly. Mr Robert Fitzgerald is Nanki Poo, Mr Otto McKiernan Pish Tush, and the evergreen Howard Vernon, of course, takes Koko. The Bathurst Times says —“ His voice is not what it was thirty years ago, but his skill in acting, sense of humor, and the life which he infuses into his part always make a piece go.” Messrs Fitzgerald, McKiernan, and Rosevear receive high praise. Miss Maud Hewson’s Katisha, while evidently a great success, receives the following peculiar criticism: —“She wisely refrained from making herself a repulsive old woman. There is no gain to a performance of comic opera by rendering any part of it unpleasant to the eye. It is all very well in a burlesque, but a lady should not disfigure herself, and therefore Miss Hewson did right in appearing as an attractive personage. She sang with taste and acted with grace.” But what about poor Gilbert’s libretto ? With a young and beauteous Katisha, all point would be lost in “ I marry Katisha! My good sir, have you seen her ?” “ I’ve got to take on an old thing, tra la,with a caricature of a face,” and Koko’s struggle between repulsion and necessity in his magnificent burlesque burst of passion. Moreover, an attractive Katisha would not necessarily be an “acquired taste,” neither would she be compelled to spend years in educating a lover to appreciate the left shoulder-blade and the tooth which stands alone. No, no I It won’t do, it won’t do! Later on the same critic says —“Miss Hewson’s opportunity came in the contralto song, ‘ O, living Z,’ and it is one of the few occasions upon which the composition has been properly sung in Australia. It is generally sung by a soprano, for all previous Katisha" s have been sopranos !" Shade of Alice Barnett, etc., etc., rest in peace! How could anyone write such nonsense ? But Miss Hewson must console herself with the reflection that most clever artists have frequent cause to exclaim, “ Save us from our friends !”

The Bland “ Hot” Season. —By an amusing misprint an Auckland contemporary heads a paragraph as above. Does he mean to insinuate that the plays need bowdlerising ? Well, perhaps, in a few instances, slightly suggestive vulgarisms might be toned down a bit, but “ Bland Hot” is far too caloric a term to apply to work which is by no means either cerulean in its language or tropical in its morals.