THE STAGE

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 724, 21 January 1904, Page 18

THE STAGE

(By

“Comus.”)

HIS MAJESTY’S THEATRE.

“THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.” It is some years since Auckland theatregoers have been treated to a good pantomime, and now our old friend. Mr P. • R. Dix, has stepped into the breach with his production of “The House That Jack Built,” to be staged at His Majesty’s Theatre, on Saturday evening next. Wellington theatregoers first saw this pantomime at the Theatre Royal, last Boxing Night, and have since shown their appreciation of the dazzling spectacle provided, by crowding the theatre nightly. Mr Dix spared no expense in mounting the production in a most elaborate manner, and critics generally agree that,it is the finest piece of stagecraft attempted in the colonies, and a credit to any English manager. Mr Leader. Williams, one of the best scenic artists in Australia, spent four months designing and painting the magnificent stage settings, anti when the local audiences have seen the representation of the Ogre’s Palace of Cards, and the Home of the Butterflies in the Lotus Glade, they will have to admit that nothing- finer could be desired. The costumes are another feature of the pantomime, and some idea of the eixtfent of the wardrcfce may be gained from the fact that over three hundred costly dresses are worn during the evening. The cast of characters is a particularly strong one, and will serve to introduce many new artists to Auckland, who have already made great reputations in other centres:. Prominent among them is Mr Tod Callaway, who for over twenty-three weeks was the /principal attraction with Mr Dix’s Company in Wellington, where he was singing seven and eight songs nightly. Miss Nellie Yohe is a charming actress with a beautiful soprano voice, and the character of The Princess in the pantomime suits her admirably. For principal boy, an old favourite, Miss Emmie Smith, has been selected, and she made a great hit during the Wellington season. Mr Dix has been fortunate in securing a most brilliant coterie of artists 1 to fill other principal characters, and such favourites as:. Mr C. M. . Berkeley (late of Williamson and Musgrove’s Opera Co.), Mr Martyn Hagan, Messrs Carlton and Sutton, the Williams Quartette, Sisters Gillardi, and other old favourites, will make their re-appearance. Of the new performers, the Sisters Steele, serio duettists; Miss Dora Taylor, tip-toe dancer ; the Leandso Brothers, acrobats ; Zeno, juggler and conjuror ; and the Delevales, trick cycle riders, are the principal cines. A; feature/ of the pantomime will be the ballets executed by twelve lady dancers specially engaged from Sydney. The chorus is a full operatic one, and Mr Geo. Garry will conduct a fine orchestra. Over too ladies and gentlemen have been engaged locally to assist in the production, and for the past two weeks have been rehearsing daily under the tuition of Mr Geo. Dean. Mr P. R. Dix has spared no pains to make this production of “The House That Jack Built,” a record one, and it is safe to predict a crowded house and a great production at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday evening.

OPERA HOUSE.

SANFORD’S AMERICAN PLAYERS

Mr Frawley and Mr Cuyler Hastings have given us a new standard of American acting, or rather they have shown us that the methods of the true American schools have not been represented by the comic ami vaudeville business that many of us have fallen into the error of regarding as typical. What we look for now in the companies that come to us across: the Pacific is. above all, naturalness, and this is what we find and welcome in the company introduced by Mr M. B. Curtis, and performing under the discreet but appropriate title of “Sanford’s American Players.” There is a smack of old classicality about the appellation that pleases one’s eye and ear. It reminds one that the actors in the immortal Globe Theatre called themselves “ players.” And we •eem to have kept the term in a manner inviolate. There be “ actors,” and “ artistes,” and “play-actors” unesteemed of us, but we have never given the name of " player ” to men and women who tear passion to tatters at the shrine of modem melodrama. Yet melodrama is the thing, and the “ player ” is compelled to

resort to it. He may not prescribe the fare for the populace, but he may keep his art clean, and that is what Mr Sanford and the members of his company succeed in doing. Mr Frawley made only a half-success, partly because his melodeama was a trifle too refined and hist interpretation too dainty, but chiefly because the experiment was new. Mr Sanford is lucky in following so excellent a brother player. Where the one sowed the other is reaping. And Mr Sandford deserves to reap. He has given, a fine, wholesome drama, robust, without undue sensationalism-, and full of spirit and spice. “ The Power of Gold ”is melodrama, but both the play and the manner of its production are genuinely dramatic. There is a concise, coherent plot, with no more improbability than we met with in the daily records- of life, and the interest is deepened, as it is in true art, by making the characters types rather than specimens. Mr Sanford’s own part, the Malay doctor, Hadgi Zambia, is a fine study in criminology, the by no means uncommon blend of cool, calculating devilry and blind unreasoning animal passion. Miss Laura Wall’s impersonation of the - smooth woman fiend is also admirable. Every temptation to overdraw the part is skilfully restrained, and the portrait stands out with astonishing and convincing clearness. tMr Kunkel’s Mark, a sordid scoundrel subjected to the sublimating process of hate and revenge, is a striking piece of work all through,

and the same may be said of the roles of the hero and heroine, taken respectively by Mr Henderson and Mr Barber. The comedy element, so far from palling, as it not infrequently does in melodrama, is refreshing all through, and Miss Boothby and Mr Wray put up a huge score. The minor parts are well taken, and the play, which tfeals with the wrongs of the innocent and finally sees these righted, goes with a fine pace from beginning to end. The stage mountings are worthy of all praise. The snow scene and the Thames lock, especially, are triumphs- of stage art. “ The Power of Gold ” ought to run for many nights yet, but Mr Sanford promises: lots more quite as good. A word of praise is earned by Mr Burke’s orchestra, which does some really good work.

Mr Sanford’s next offering, to be given by his company at the Opera House, beginning on Monday evening, January 25, will be the production of “ The Pace That Kills.” This is an interesting and exciting play of English racing life. The mare Daisy, a, famous racehorse, is-i the central figure in several scenesi, and the efforts: of the villain to prevent her running for the Grand National Stakes at A in tree is made the basis of several exciting situations and unexpected, startling climaxes. The pursuit of the horse on the railway by Richard Fielding, the villain, in an endeavour to serve an attachment on her, thus preventing her from racing, and a most laughable, unexpected denouement at the end of the act, keeps the auditor at a high pitch of interest. The auction

scene in Tattersall’s famous Sale Stables, London, is highly exciting, and is the occasion of great enthusiasm on the part of the audience at the end of the second act, while the third act follows with even greater dramatic interest, culminating in the fourth act, with the triumph of Stephen Derrick over his enemies. There is an interesting by-plot in the love of Daisy Herrick for her adopted brother, Ned, ami his final acknowledgment as the real heir- of Fielding* (M'anor, while the comedy scenes are interspersed throughout the play and create much amusement. Walter Sanford plays Ned Herrick, the hero, while Miss Laura Wall will enact the adventuress, and Griffith Wray and Miss Adelaide Boothby will furnish the comedy. Several handsome scenes are shown, among them being Derrick Grange, an English country home, the interior rofTattersall’s famous Sale Stables, London, and a view of the grounds at Aintree race track. ——— WIRTH’S CIRCUS AND ZOO. The buffet’ting 'which Wirth’s Circus received on the Zealandia had no lasting effect on its capacity for providing a live show of excellent merit when the Auckland season opened on Tuesday night. The circus is often patronisingly termed an amusement for the children. If that be true, it does fine service in discovering that vast quantities of perennial youth exist amongst the adults of most communities. The circus is, in fact, universally popular amongst all classes.

No more popular circus than Wirth’s has ever visited New Zealand. Its claims on the people are many. Its proprietors are well-known and respected, and they present entertainments that, whilst retaining the charms of the old style of sawdust and spangles antics, are: full of new features. The Wirths fight vigorously against the flamiliar gibb that to see one circus is to see every one for all time. They retain the tricky horses, the playful ponies, the grotesque: clowns, and the lady who ties herself into knots, but, to those are added weird, sensational, and charming novelties that tempt to make one disagree with the old saw that there is nothing new under the sun.

The tents are this time pitched on the reserve at Freeman’s Bay. Amongst a multitude of small canvas structures has been reared a fine big tent of thick green canvas, cool in hot weather, and secure from the discomforts of rain. The place contains two rings, one a barred enclosure in which the wild animals are made to cavort and gambol together. The tent is comfortably seated, and welllighted, and every member of the immense gathering that saw the first entertainment was able to view the acts in visual and bodily ease. Every part of the immense tent was splendidly filled, and from first to last the programme ran smoothly. The “star” performer of this visit is Herr Pagel, the German Hercules, of whose hair-raising doings news has come occasionally from Australia. He is a

magnificent specimen of humanity. Although not 26 years of age, he possesses is stone weight of bone, muscle, and flesh. The ordinary weight-lifter might inspire admiration for his prowess, but as a rule, his feats are not specially entertaining. But Herr Pagel has some original styles of lifting that arouse intense interest. After showing what he can do in direct weight-lifting, he throws soolbs quite playfully above his head with one hand—he allows a string of a dozen men? to play see-saw on! a plank supported by his chest. He then enters a cage in which a n angry lion is pacing majestically, anti immediately seizes the animal by the neck, throws him to the ground, and then with a mighty wrench forces the animal’s jaw’S wide open, displaying the horrible-looking fangs. Before releasing the brute, which by this time is roaring savagely, Herr Pagel lifts him clear into the air, and then steps quickly back prepared for any attack that might be made on him. The leviathan completes his turn by strapping himself to a big horse, and walking up a couple of ladders, carrying the horse with him. His sensational feats were received with enthusiastic! cheering. The Howards, aptly called “ the mysterious,” give a performance of ah entirely different character. One brother, blindfolded, sits in the ring, and the other moves amongst the spectators. To the latter are handed articles of all de-> scriptions, which are without hesitation described by the blindfolded man. Jewellery, cheques, and money are read off, and the time, numbers, and makers of watches are told with accuracy. The brothers describe their method as second sight and clairvoyance. The many who refuse to believe in such powers yet find it impossible to explain satisfactorily how such results can be achieved with equal speed and accuracy by system or hypnotism. The show is rich in wild animal acts. Tigers are made to walk a tight-rope, play see-saw, jump on top of a rolling globe, steeplechase, draw and drive a chariot, and ride on- horseback. A pretty performance is given by Mons. Rogalle, a dapper Frenchman, with a lion, pony, dog, and goat. This strange combination of animals has been transformed into a happy family, who unite in forming picturesque tableaux for the entertainment of the people. Mons. Rogalle gives a final thrill by putting. his head under the lion’s body and carrying him, peacefully resting round his neck. The programme is made up with many other items, all clever and entertaining. There is* no waiting, and interest does not flag from first to close. The Auckland season is limited in length, for the circus will shortly be taken to ali centres of importance which can be reached.

The Fitzmaurice Gill Company closed a highly-successful season at the Opera House on Friday night, and are now touring the goldfields.

Mr John Fuller brought his long and successful season at the City Hall to a close on Saturday night, when there was a bumper house. He will probably reopen about Easter. * * News of an old friend comes per mefollowing paragraph :—Howard Vernon’s dium of the Tasmanian “Mail” in the Company opened on Boxing Night at the Hobart Theatre Royal with a musical comedy, interwoven with the story of Rip Van Winkle. The name part was taken by Mr Vern Jon, who plays the character exceedingly well, and gave the patriotic and other songs with a marvellous amount of spirit. The other characters were also well taken by a capable company. On Wednesday night a “Trip to Chinatown” was given. This piece is familiar to playgoers, as given by the Hoyt Company six or seven years ago, and though, of course, the representation at the Theatre Royal could not compare with it, the songs and the comic situations of the piece were given with spirit, and proved aS mirth-pro-voking as ever. Other pieces are promised by the Company, which deserves support as well for its well-timed efforts to add to the gaiety of the season, as from a feeling of kindly remembrance of Howard Vernon himself, whose admirable and refined representations of the principal character’s in Gilbert and Sullivan’s, and other comic operas, in past days, are a pleasant memory to all theatregoers old enough to remember them.

THE MUSGROVE SHAKESPERIAN COMPANY.

‘'Twelfth Night” was recently produced for the first time in Melbourne by the Musgrove Company Jhat played it in Auckland, and local. interest will be taken in the criticism of the “Argus.” The Melbourne critic thus refers to the chief characters, after generally eulogising the production :—“The company was fortunate in including a really line exponent of that quaint personage, Malvolio, in Mr Denny. The studied pose and the superb arrogance of this opinionated underling were evident upon his first appearance in fhe train of Olivia, when Malvolio has scarcely a speaking part. In the celebrated letter scene and its sequence, when, cross-gartered and in yellow stockings, he presumes to be familiar with his mistress, Mr Denny made all, his effects /with an ease and naturalness that redeemed the part of half its improbability. The house laughed loudly at his stupendous conceit and final discomfiture. But this excellent comedian proved his great histrionic talent in »the last act, when, in the depth of his ludicrous degradation, he excited the sympathies of the spectators by his simulation of dignity in distress. His removal of the collar of service, just before his indignant exit, was an effective touch of his own invention. “A good deal of florid eulogy has been bestowed upon the character of Viola as the leading lady of the play. ‘The great secret and charm of the comedy,’ says Hazlitt, ‘is the character of Viola;’ and Mrs Jameson is an equally ardent champion. The great charm seems to us to exist, not in the character of Viola, but in the beautiful poetry which she has sometimes to deliver. The character is remembered by the exquisite lines beginning, ‘A blank, by lord ; she never told her love.’ Other fine pearls of verse are to be found in the same role. But, unhappily, Miss Dora Rignold’s hollow tones and affected delivery rather marred them. She looked, however, very graceful, arid was encored for the song which the clown usually sings in the second act. Nor was Miss Nora Kerin an ideal Olivia. The part is one of extreme difficulty. It is not only a mere ske + ch, but it is absolutely inconsistent. But Olivia was evidently intended to portray a haughty lady of (intense devotion and fixed resolve, who was suddenly, by what the French call a ‘coup de foudre,’ infatuated by a pretty page, and ‘throwing her bonnet over the windmill,’ became indifferent to all conventions. Miss Kerin made of the character little more than a proud coquette. Moreover, the articulation of this young actress is so stilted and gasping that it ends by being somewhat disagreeable. Of the ladies, ‘past question/ the Maria of Miss Maud Milton was the only role that ranked. alongside Mr Denny’s interpretation of the steward. She alone of the three ladies' seemed to have mastered the art of delivering Shakesperians lines with naturalness and effect. Her refined diction was one of the most delightful features of the performance. Mr Athol Forde and Mr Croker King were exemplary in the respective roles of Sir Tobv and Sir Andrew.”

FITZGERALD’S STRONG MAN.

The “ Dunedin Star ’’ wus refers to th “ strong man,” who is one of the princi pal attractions in Fitzgerald Bros’. Cir cus, shortly expected here : — “In consequence of the advertised an nouncement that Dr. Gordon, the ‘ strong man ’ now appearing with Fitzgerld’/ Circus, would act as a swingletree be tween a lorry and a five-ton load anc four horses, Lower Rattray-street was thronged with people by noon to-day. A-quarter-of-an-hour later the doctor mad* his appearance opposite the Terminus Hotel, and in a very few minutes was ‘ harnessed ’ to the lorry. The lorry, with its five-ton load, was attached by means of chains and straps to the biceps of both arms, while the chains leading from the four-horse team were held in the doctor’s hands and strapped there. The word tc ‘go ’ was given, and as the horses put their might to the work the lorry, with its load, came away as though the animals had been attached to the conveyance in the orthodox style. A merry pace was soon obtained, and the rise to the Post Office was safely negotiated. Just as the corner of Princes-street was reached an electric tram came round the corner, making -Straight*) for the houses and the lorry. For a few moments it seemed inevitable that the ‘ strong man ’ was going to certain death. At least, the roar which went up from the assembled crowd would have led any person to come to that conclusion. However, by an almost superhuman effort, Dr. Gordon managed to swing the concern round, and the inevitable collision which occurred was only sufficient to smash a couple of hand-rails in front of the tramcar. The doctor got his back under the fore part of the waggon and fairly lifted the front round. He then proceeded along Princes-street, up the hill, to the Post Office. After being released from his perilous position he fastened tc the lorry the trace chains med in hauling the conveyance, and with one hand pulled the iron links asunder. The performance throughout was greatly applauded, and at its conclusion the doctor was greeted with a hearty burst of applause, ami it was only with the greatest difficulty that he made his escape from the admiring crowd. “ Seen by a representative of this paper afterwards, Dr. Gordon said that for the first portion of the journey the feat was as easy as shelling peas to him. However, when approaching the Princes-street corner, and seeing the electric car coming straight towards him, he began to feel that I.e was face to face with a real danger. Harnessed as he was, he knew that it was . utterly impossible to free himself from either the lorry or the horses, and the position was one which called for a feat of almost superhuman strength, if he was to get out of it alive. Acting on the impulse of the moment, he put all his strength under the fore-carriage of the conveyance, with his hips, and shifted the body round just as the tram crashed into the front of it. The strain caused by the impact was, of course, very severe, but as he felt that it was neck or nothing he stuck to his work, and came through successfully. Had he let go with his hands', or had a chain broken, he must have inevitably been torn asunder.”

My Wellington correspondent writes : “ Mr Albert Edwards, who died suddenly in the train at Cross’s Creek, Wairarapa, on the 7th inst., for some time acted as the Wellington correspondent of these pages. He was very well known in the profession, and had a very good knowledge of stage matters. At one time he was a member of the Wellington Opera House staff. He contracted a cold while stationed on the stalls door (,a deathtrap to any man who stays there longenough), which developed into consumption. . . . Anderson’s Dramatic Company have been playing to packed houses since Boxing Night. Repertoire : ‘ Her Second Time on Earth,’ ‘ The Favourite,’ ‘ Man’s Enemy,’ ‘ While London Sleeps,’ and ‘ East Lynne.’ . . . Some poet wrote ‘ Time, as she rolls on, alters all,’ and it was brought home very forcibly last Sunday night when I saw one of the artists of Fred Davy’s Bright Lights of years ago preaching with a crowd of Plymouth ‘ Rocks ’ on a street corner in Masterton. ’rhe chap in question used to do a. song and dance turn and sing yodeling songs, I don’t remember his nom de theatre, but his right name is Corkhill- ■ ■ ■ Fitzgerald Bros.’ Circus, Menagerie and Novelty Exposition opens a short season here on the 18th.”

My Christchurch correspondent writes : The smallpox scare is waking people up in this slumberous town, and we are more interested in getting vaccinated than in going to shows just now. NeverFitzgerald's Circus seems to be doing; good tfiz., and deservedly so. It is commonly asserted that there is a strong family likeness between all circuses, but the Fitzgerald Bros, appear to be doing their level best to make their show unique, and therefore different from all other shows of the kind. It’s more like a highclass variety entertainment than a common or garden variety of circus. The Cycle Whizz,’ with which the performance opens, is as clever as ever, and the ' Flying Meteors’ do a trapeze act (one of the performers blindfolded) that fairly takes the spectators'' breath away. Dr. Gordon, a champion strong man, flinos 84lb dumb-bells about as if they were nutshells, and carries a horse up a ladder as easily as most fellows would carry a pound of sausages. The wire-walking of Mdlle. Oura isi clever, and Miss Kate Montgomery’s horse act wonderful. Gilleno is a musical clown of exceptional meriu, and Manzoni’s performing dogs seem to |be endowed with rather more intelligence than the average ‘ human ’ Walhalla Bros, are really funny clowns, and in short every ‘ turn ’ is worth seeing, bar none. The menagerie attached to

the Circus is particularly good. I can honestly recommend the Fitzgeralds 1 ’ remodelled Circus to the favourable notice of Aucklanders. The big show goes North to-night (Saturday), opening in Wellington on Monday. . . . The Fullers are determined to make the Opera House (now their own property) up-to-date, and are installing the electric light throughout there. Consequent upon this and other inteinal improvements the house wiL be closed to-night, but will re-open on Monday, when Tilly Dunbar and an entirely new company will make their bow.

. . . On Wednesday next Williamson’s Dramatic Company will open for a brief season at the Royal, when J. M. Barrie’si famous play, “ The Admirable Crichton/’ "’ill b e introduced to the notice of Christchurch playgoers. The hoardings are gorgeous with picture-posters relating to this production, and when I add that Harold Ashton is already here arranging preliminaries you will know that the season is likely to be a big one. Somehow the popular Harold has a way of being connected with successful shows. You never find him identified with a ‘ frost.’ ... Plenty of shows booked for Christchurch. More anon.”

-x- # John F. Sheridan will shortly open at Hobart.

Mr Ben Fuller is going to Australia with a view to arrange with Mr Harry Rickards for a supply of talent for New Zealand.

His Majesty’s Theatre, Wellington, has been closed for extensive alterations and repairs. The Messrs Fuller intend to spend £lOOO upon it.

The Williamson Dramatic Company revived “ The Lady of Lyons ” at Dunedin the other day, with Mr Cuyler Hastings as Claude Melnotte.

Mr W. F. Hawtrey is one of the passengers by the Waikare on the Sounds trip. Afterwards he proceeds to Sydney, whither the members of his company have preceded him.

The Covent Garden Theatre proprietors have purchased an orchestrion of seventy instrument power.

Walter Bentley has been coacning an amateur society in a small town in Scotland recently. ■

Musgrove’s Melbourne production of “ A Midsummer Night’s Dream ” is embfillished with extra fairy ballets.