The STAGE

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume X, Issue 514, 31 May 1900, Page 9

The STAGE

[By

Paul Pry.]

• Paul Pry” will be «lad to hear from those managers of theatrical companies touring New Zealand d esire that the public shall know the movements of the com panies. Any information as to dates etc., will be ackno - ledgedin these columns, as well as any other items of Interest to the theatrical world. All let ‘ eraa^°“ ld °° addressed — ‘ Paul Pry,” SPORTING AND Dramatic Review. Vulcan Lane. Auckland.

The first representation of “ The School for Scandal” was given by Miss Nance O Neil and the members of her company at Her Majesty s Theatre, Sydney, on Saturday, May 12; M** B O’Neil, as Lady Teazle, was supported bv Mr G. Becks (Sir Peter), Mr Kingston (Charles Sur face), Miss E. Hughes, Mrs Bracy, Messrs Plimmer, Atholwood, and others, and a fine pro_ duotion was heartily received by a crowded house.

Haddon Chambers’s new play, “ The Tyranny of Tears,” was produced for the first time in Australia, by the Brough Comedy Company, at the Sydney Theatre Royal on Saturday, May 13. The principal roles were admirably played by Mr and'Mrs Brough, Miss Grace' Noble, Mr Dartr'ey. and Mr Lovell. The play is full of sparkling dialogue and clever repartre*. while .the staging and dressing leave nothing ti be desired. An enthusiastic audience greeted the first performance, and gond houses have been the rule ever since.

The John Fuller Waxworks and Variety has four shows running at the present time. On the 21st a company commenced proceedings at Invercargill. Several well-known artists appeared, and the company was well ■ received Those old favourites, Miss Georgia Devoe and Charles Faning, are back in New Zealand and showed at Fuller’s Dunedin house, the Alhambra, on the 21st, and met with a big reception. Lennon Hyman and Lennon, the clever contortionists who have recently been amusing City Hall audiences, are also at the Alhambra, where they gave their first performance on Monday.

Mr Ben Fuller informs me that business is good with each of the four Fuller pompanies notwithstanding the bad weather, exp rienced of late.

Mr O, W. Naylor, who, it will be remembered, used to sing at the City Hall in by-gone days, has settled down in Wanganui, where he will give lessons in music and singing.

Fitzgerald’s Circus Company concluded their return visit to Auckland on Monday night. Throughout the season the Big Tent has been filled at every performance. On F-iday night there was a very interesting jumping contest for bona fide hunters, and in this competition Mrs Kelly’s Playboy received first prize, while Mr Selby, the Huntsman of the Pakuranga Hou ;ds, got second and third with Mountain and Albion. All three prize winners jumped well. On Saturday Mr Dan Fitzgerald introduced the champion jumping horse Newhaveu, whose feats were really wonderful. On Monday night there was another leaping competition, and this again was well approved of by the crowded audience. Toe lion and the tiger and the elephant—all old friends of Aucklanders—got through their respective performances in good style, while the horses, the ponies, and the clowns delighted everybody, just as genuinely as they have always done. A circus run by the Fitzgeralds would receive go>d patronage every night for some months.

Our friend Mr P. R. Dix has been keeping the ball rolling merrily at the City Hall ever since the relief of Maf king. The new arrivals, the Thornton Sisters, have proved a great attraction to the City Hall audiences. Their dancing is exceptionally neat and clever, and their songs are quite as good. They have had to respond to encores at every appearance. Another newcomer, Mr Kearns, has “ caught on” immensely. As vis a vis to Mr Fx’ank' Yorke he is in his element, and the two end men have provided amusement enough to make a cat laugh That they should provoke the visible facilities of an Auckland audience is not, therefore, surprising. In the Warsaw Brothers Mr Dix has musical artists, who nearly approach the popularity of the Leslies, while in Miss Annetta Bodin, Miss Ida Roslyn, and Messrs Walter Rivers, Ddgleisb, and Johnnv Collins he has. artists who are able to hold their own anywhere. The skit on the kinematograph exhibition of the Corbett and Fitzsimon’s fight was a great feature of Saturday’s performance. More good things are promised on Saturday, and for every day for months to come, so it will not do to stay away from the City Hall. The Henry Dramatic Company concluded th«ir visit to Auckland on Saturday nighty when a crowded house revelled in the murder riot and sudden death so abundant in “ Outlaw Kelly,” the, melodrama produced for the farewell performance. Earlier in the day the Company had a good house for the matinee of “ Charley’s Auntr.” On Monday the Company departed for the Thames, where they will probably play to extremely good houses. 1 Charley’s:.Aunt ”is a sure draw' while “ Soldiers of the Queen ” ought to be verv acceptable to Thamesites at the present period of patriotic fervour, Then ‘if ‘ Outlaw Kelly ’.*’•»& staged for a final performance the., season, should be a great success. I believe the Company had on their late visit the best teasomthey ever had in Auckland. Mr and Mrs Henry Care popular artists, and Mr Coulter,

Mr Hodge, and the other members of the Company are all able to hold their own.

The Auckland Banjo and Guitar;Club gave its fourth concert of the season at the Opera House on Monday night. Tne presence of the Earl and Countess of Ranfurly brought an extra crowded house, and the affair went off with great eclat.

After the Henry Dramatic Company 'have played at the Thames, Karangahake, and Waihi ; e Aroha will be visited, and after the lastnamed town has been played to the Company will journey up to Whangarei fora short tour in the North.

The Walter Bentley and Douglas Ancelpn Company open at the Auckland Opera House on Monday night with-‘‘The Silver King.”

‘‘Outlaw Kelly,” which was staged by the Henry Dramati? Company on Saturday last, was about the weirdest pot pourri of improbable situations and impossible character that I have ‘ seen for a long time. As a melodrama, it falls !■ with a dull thud, but as a new brand of burleeqde ■it bangs Bannagher. Lance Linton, once a : doyen in the realm of witty “ curtain risers ” and 'laughable “ end pieces” in Australia, is accused 'of the authorship. Lance, my dear fellow, what have you. bepn doing ? And pray don’t tell-me that the attack is liable to become chronic. Needless to say the members of the company made the most they could qt the production, and extracted all the amusement posiible from it..

After an absence of over six years, Mr Walter Bentley, one of the most popular and talented actors that has ever visited the colonies, will open at the Opera House next Monday evening, Jifne sth, for a .short season, supported by Mr Douglas Ancelon’s powerful dramatic company. The opening production, .“ The Silver King,” the greatest of all modern melodramas, will be staged for three nights,'on Thursday “ Garrick ” will be played, Friday, “ Othello,” and on Saturday “ Dr. Bill ” will be submitted. “The Silver King” is no stranger here, and is certain to be welcomed most heartily by all lovers of a really high-close melodrama, powerfully written and strongly constructed. In this drama, Mr Bentley scored a success some years ago in the United Kingdom and in America. Messrs Williamson and Mus grove, with their, usual enterprise, entered into an agreement with Mr Bentley, shortly after his arrival in Melbourne, and the crowded audi-. ences which assembled at their theatre (the Princess) added fresh laurels to the actor’s wreath of fame, while stamping “ The Silver King ” as the most powerfully magnetic melodrama of modern times.* It has been eulogised alike by the press, the public, and the pulpit. It has never failed; to attract large numbers of t he discriminating public who approve of the play because of its sterling qualities. Mr Bentley will, of course, appear as Wilfred Denver, and will be supported by Miss Ada Woodhill as Nellie Denver, Miss Helen Gibson.as Olive Skinner, Miss Ethel Hunt as Busey,MisS Ivy Gorrick as Tabby, Mies Lynn Lyndsay.' as Mother Gammage, little Ethel 1 orking as Cissy Denver,' Mr Orlando Daley as The Spider, Mr Leo De Ohateu as Jakes, Mr Johnson Weir as Cloombs, Mr Wilton Power as Cripps, Mr H. Hannell as Geoffrey Ware, Mr Bowland Stanley

as Baxter, Mr: E. F. : Gallaughf r as the Tipsy Passenger, Mr 0. Daniels as Henry Corkett, Mi’ O. Hales as Railway Inspector, Mr E. B. Woodhouse as Tpbbs, Mr Sid. Ker ey as Sinks and Mr J; M. Hume as Parkin. The scenery’. has been specially painted, and. the mechanical and limelight effects are controlled by a first class operator.

At the Hall of the YM.C.A., Wellesley-street, on Monday night,-the Rev, Charles Clark gaveplfo - first of bis farewell nigbts. Dicken’s charming ••• Cnristmas Carol ’,’ was the wprk which Mr Clark recited with beautiful feeling, tender: pathos, and fine eloquence. The .ecturer’s success a fortnight ago was enough to attract a large number of people, and the limited space at the Y.M,0.A.-Hall was crowded to excess. The audience greatly appreciated the exquisite manner of the lecturer, who gained as great a triumph with the “v. hristmas Carol as with any of hie previous recitals. « c . '

Mrs Howie, the Christchurchcontralto; whois'" leaving New Zealand next Monday, has been ■ ?ingiiig -at the Rev. Charles ments during the week. On Tuesday.night, when the lecturer gave his’ celebrated discourse on “ Westminster Abbey,” Mrs Howie sang the Aria “O Best in the Lord,” from “Elijah.” Mrs Howie has a-fie voice, but on Tuesday • night she-gave thd impression that she could; do much better "if she wished. Last night, Wednesday, Mrs Howie was down to sing Blumenthal’s charming “Sunshine and A Rain,” Felix Corbilt’s “The Time of Roses,” and Sir George Macfarren-’s “The Reauty of My Own Heart.” As the Review goes to press early on Wednesday evening it. is impossible ,tp s y anything more. Mr Clark’s description cf \ Westminster Abbey Was delightiul to those' who know the historic ' pile, and it must have seemed wonderful to those who have no acquaint ince with the resting place of some of England’s . greatest men —kings, clergy, poets, soldiers and statesmen. ,