HIS MAJESTY'S.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1340, 30 December 1915, Page 34

HIS MAJESTY'S.

ROYAL COMIC OPERA COMPANY. ‘•GIPSY LOVE.” “Gipsy Love,” the story of a wild wooing, with all its attendant humour and its wild tragedy, has been chosen as the theme around which Lehar has wr tten his latest opera. The music, which is bright and tuneful, ranges through the whole gamut of the musical froth of broad comedy to the more coherent effects of comic opera tili at certain points it rises to the majest.c plane of grand opera. The stage setting of the first act, which showed the grounds of the castle, was a beautiful scene of sylvan beauty, a fitting background for much tuneful singing and fine acting. The story is that Jozsi (Mr. Derek Hudson), a swaggering, romantic blade of gipsy blood, falls in love with Ilona (Miss Ethel Cadman), the daughter of an eccentric Roumanian nobleman, Dragotin by name (Mr. Leslie Holland), and prevails upon the girl to fly with him from the detested lover, Jonel (Mr. Reginald ' Roberts), to whom her father persists in marying her. Then ' on the scene comes Lady Babby (Miss Florence Young), who takes . the tangle in her capable hi nds, and all comes right in the end. If the study of g psy tradition exceeds the fact of gipsy life for that we must blame the author. The actors’ portrayal of the rollicking, passionate favourite of every woodland fire was taken with a dash and abandon not seen on a New Zealand stage for many a long day. In “The Garden of Love” the fine bariton voice of Mr. Derek Hudson was heard to advantage. He possesses a w de range, with a full rich tone, and the "temperament which enables him to fling himself into his part with the necessary passion for a somewhat exact ng role. In his singing of the ardent love songs he rose to a great height and displayed a dramatic power rarely heard away from the grand operatic stage. To his vocal gifts Mr. Hudson adds histrionic ability of a high order, and loses himself in his part with a completeness that becomes a joy to watch. In Miss Ethel Cadman, the leading soprano, we welcome another fine singer direct from London, whose brilliant soprano vo.ce was equal to the exacting calls made upon it during the evening. The voice is particularly beautiful in its upper range—clear, flutelike, ringing and effortless, it filled the theatre with beaut'ful sound. Miss Cadman’s acting of the infatuated girl was sweet and natural and rang true. Especially in the song before her mirror, when preparing for the bridal, did MAs Cadman show the possession of a fine vocal command as well as power over emotion of no mean order. The honours of the principals were equally shared by an old favourite, Miss Florence Young, as the English Lady Babby, a part demanding vivacity, wit and humour, as well as vocal range. M‘ss Young’s singing and acting are always a pleasure for its finished workmanship and clever delineation of character, and in “Gipsy Love” Miss Young more than lived up to her wellestablished reputat'on. The humour of the piece was in the capable hands of Mr. Phil Smith, as a shy young man, Mr. Leslie Holland as a very unusual type of eccentric nobleman, and Mr..C. R. Bantock, the father of the shy young man. An unusual dancing interlude is introduced by Mr. Charles Albert and Miss Stevenson, while the chorus singing and dancing were both light and tuneful. The opera, which : s gorgeously staged, went with a swing from the rise of the curtain till the finale, and a house crowded in every part was unstinted in its del ghted applause. To-night there will be a revival of “Our Miss Gibbs,” and on Saturday and Monday "Paul Jones” will be revived, w’th Miss Florence Young in the part for which the Melbourne papers have given her such high praise.