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New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 994, 25 March 1909, Page 23

“ Havana,” the last production in Sydney of the Royal Comic Opera Company before leaving for New Zealand, has the advantage of a splendid cast, which includes all the principals of the popular musical organisation, while a double ballet and an augmented chorus have been requisitioned for the occasion. Mr. Spencer Barry was specially engaged In England by the JC. Williamson firm to prepare “ Havana” for the Australian public. In its movement, its colour and fun, “ Havana” is a surprise and a delight. Leslie Stuart, the composer of “ Floradora,” is noted for catchy f songs and concerted numbers, and it was his pen that scored “ Havana.” , The story is in three acts, and the authors, Messrs. George Grossmith, 1 jun., and Grahame HUI, have laid all the scenes within the confines of the picturesque capital city of Cuba. The lyrics are by the Gaiety laureate, Adrian Ross. The piece has plenty . of good comedy, Messrs. Vic. Gouriet, • Claude Bantock and W. S. Percy being in charge of that department.

The death is announced of Evelyn Greenwood Sutherland, of the dramatic author partnership of Mesdames Sutherland and Dix. who, under the nom-de-theatre. John Rutherford, wrote “ The Breed of the Treshams,” recently produced in Sydney for J. CWilliamson by Mr. Julius Knight. The remarkable strength of the drama would never lead one to suspect a woman’s hand in its construction. Mrs. Sutherland was also responsible for the stage adaptation of “ Monsieur Beaucaire.” and it was her vers’on that Mr. Julius Knight in the title role made such a success of throughout Australasia.

Miss Tittel Brune leaves for London in May. She farewells in Melbourne probably at the same time that Miss Nellie Stewart will be there.

Signor Tamini’s (the new tenor) voice is described as worthy of comparison with the great Caruso. It :s a beautifully fine tenor, free from Southern vibrato and admirably produced. He has entered into a contract with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, at the largest fee ever paid.

Is th rteen an unlucky number? Apparently ‘ not, say Meynell and Gunn. On the 13th, “ Cinderella.” at the Theatre Royal. Melbourne, reached the thirteenth week, and is going stronger than ever. “ Cinderella ” is described as one of the finest productions ever seen in Australia. It is out of the ordinary run of pantomimes, and is termed an operatic spectacular pantomime. It is apparently having a ding-dong go with “Jack and Jill” in the effort to eclipse all records in the way of long runs.

Harold Thorley, the popular baritone, who wag a member of Mr. J. C. Williamsons’ comic opera company, and appeared in “The Toreador,” “ Lady Molly,” “ The Mikado,” and other pieces when last in Australia about five years ago, has returned to Melbourne under engagement to Meynell and Gunn for their comic opera company.

Miss Lilian Meyers, here with the Meynell and Gunn dramatic company, is a young Australian actress of cons.derable versatility. When still in her teens, she was engaged by Mr. J. C. Williamson to understudy Miss May Chevalier an Katherine Vaucelles in “If I Were King.” This engagement continued for over three years. Miss Meyers has played such important parts as Fisher in “ The Admirable Crichton,” Macedonia in “ Theodora,” etc-, and for nearly three years ran a company of her own on tour throughout Australia. Seldom has any actress enacted such a wide range of characters as Miss Meyers undertook during this period. They ncluded, amongst the forty roles, such classics as Juliet. Pauline (in “ The Lady of Lyons”), Rosalind, and Mercy Merrick in “ The New Magdalen.” On the last night of her season in Brisbane she was presented wth an illuminated address by the Mayor on behalf of the citizens, in recognition of her talent and the high regard in which she was held as a brilliant young Austral an actress. After the New Zealand season the company appears at Hobart on June 25, and Launceston on July 3.

Mr. Herbert J. Bentley, leading man with Meynell and Gunn Company, was a prominent member of Mr. Julius Knight’s company. He is a handsome young actor, with a melodious voice, and a magnetic personality. He has appeared in London in such parts as Hugh Ardale n “ The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.” Valama in “ The Gay Lord Quex”; Norbury in “The Marriage of Kitty”; D’Artagnan in “The Three Musketeers”; Lord Westerbury in “The Last of the Dandies”; Sir Richard Cursitor ; n “ Sowing the Wind", and the Duke in “ The Duke

of Killiecrankie”. Playgoers will not readily forget his impersonation of Rupert of Hentzau in “ The Prisoner of Zenda” w th the Julius Knight Co., nor his fine acting as Theosaurus in Claudian. He is very popular with playgoers here.

A recent number of the New York “ Dramatic News ” contains a fine portrait study of Miss Ola Jane Humph-

rey, “ the clever young Californian at present being featured by J. C. Williamson in Margaret Anglin parts in Australasia.” Miss Anglin, by the way, has informed the New York press through her manager. Mr Louis Nethersole that she will surely return to Australia again, she having given Mr. J. C. Williamson a definite promise to that effect.

It was a sight for the gods at the first n'ght of “ The Duke’s Motto ” to see so lusty a warrior as Lagardere (Mr. Julius Knight) receive an infant into his arms and hold it with all a mother’s tenderness. A Sydney newspaper critic ascribed the titter that resulted to the alleged fact that “ The baby was obviously a property one.” This came as a rude shock to Miss Beatrice Day who spent anxious days dressing little Blanche de Nevers, and brought all her skill as a needlewoman and her experience of stage requ rements to bear on the task. When the comedian of the Julius Knight company saw the baby “clressed to go on” he stated with all the authority of a lather that there was “ nothing missing but the cry.”

A photograph of Prince Danilo of Montenegro recently published shows that the Marsovian nat’onal

costume which figures in “ The Merry Widow” so effectively is really the Montenegrin.