OPERA HOUSE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1519, 5 June 1919, Page 32

OPERA HOUSE.

Vaudevillians are proving true to their first love, judging by the keen interest displayed in securing seats for the present varied fare with its elimination of revue. With th.e additional crowds in town for the races, the Opera House is the central attraction nightly, and seldom has there been a greater galaxy of star artists. I'right.e and Carlyon still remain topmost in the firmament, mainly through the former’s scintillation, her ready wit and vivacity, and her partner’s merry compounding resulting in an exhilarating offering. Mr. Fred. Bluett, original and breezy, again scores with his lilting songs, and keeps the audience at the highwater mark of merriment. The Royal -Togos have been here before, but their marvellous act always strikes spectators afresh, so neatly done are the juggling tricks, while the death-defying slide from roof to stage keeps everyone in breathless

suspense. Raynor and Brennan are a couple of new vocalists who make a most favourable impression with their style of delivery. Miss Elsa Brull and Mr. Arthur Hemsley«are a credit to any bill, so crisp and smart is their mode of offering. Mr. Walter Emerson and Miss Gwen Hasto are another popular duo that get rounds of applause for song, dance and patter. Sterling and Love, likewise, are given the glad hand for an instrumental and song specialty characterised by briskness. Mr. Lew James, the Jewish comedian, has a way all his own that gets over the footlights, and with the Faynes—the man a skilful contortionist and his partner a smart dresser —the bill would take some beating.

Mr. John Fuller, senr., has returned to Auckland much benefited by his long holiday in the south.

J. C. Williamson, Ltd., are already making preparations for their next Christmas pantomime, “The Sleeping Beauty.” Miss Netta Westcott, a London artist, will be principal boy.

Mr. Maurice Ralph (representing J. and N. Tait) has arrived from the south- to make arrangements for the showing of the great picture, 'the “German Naval Surrender,” at His Majesty’s Theatre, opening on Saturday night. The first New Zealand screening was made at Wellington .early in March, and was received with unbounded enthusiasm, a condition which has been repeated in the South Island. Mr. Ralph speaks in glowing terms of the fine singer, Madame Marie Power, who has been engaged in conjunction with the picture. Her deep resonant contralto voice will prove a revelation to music lovers.

Observant London playgoers are watching with amusement the movements of the demobilised actor. He has, for the moment, lost all grace of pose and ease of movement on the stage. He marches and he halts. Probably the next Romeo will take six paces to the centre of the stage, click his heels, turn to the right, take six paces to the balcony, salute and stand to attention!

The performance of Verdi’s opera, “11 Trovatore,” by the Wellington Choral Union has been deferred until the end of June. The chorus is well forward with its work, and is expected, to give a delightful performance of that part of the work. The cast will be as follows: Leonora, Miss Teresa McEnroe; Azucena, Miss Mina Caldow; Count di Luna, Signor Lucien Cesaroni; Manrico, Mr. Ernest Drake (Auckland); Ruiz, Mr. E. C. Pomfey. “11 Trovatore” will be Mr. Drake’s last appearance in Wellington before leaving New Zealand for America.

Miss Ethel Grist, an old favourite with the Allen Doone Company, has joined the Denis Kehoe Irish Players now appearing in Melbourne.

Under Mr. Herbert J. Bentley’s direction, “Jack Straw,” Mr. W. Somerset Maugham’s fine three-act farce, will be produced at His Majesty’s Theatre, Auckland, in July. The cast is a strong one, and includes Misses U. Buddle, P. Boult,.J. Geddes, Mesdames Forsyth and Patrick Cole, Messrs. F. J. Easther, J. C. Tole, H. G. Palethorpe, F. Faulkes, J. A. Tole, Guy Marriner, F. Adeane, R. Geddes, and H. J. Bentley. Mr. W. J. Crowther will be responsible for the staging.

The J. C. Williamson management have received the news from their London representative, Captain A. E. Malone, of the death of Mr. Wybert Stamford, who for some time was one of the firm’s producers in Australia. Mr. Stamford came to Australia in 1912, ..and was associated with the firm for about two years and a-half, during which he produced “The Dairymaids,” “The Girls of Gottenburg,” “Gipsy Love,” “The Lady Dandies,” “The Waltz Dream” and other plays. In “The Lady Dandies” he played the role of Napoleon. Mr. Stamford subsequently went to South Africa, where he produced a lengthy series of musical plays, and on returning to London was dispatched to America to produce the musical comedy version of Pinero’s “The Magistrate,” which, played in London as “The Boy,” was staged in New York under the title of “Good Morning, Judge.” At the time of his death, which took place suddenly (the deceased being found dead in bed one morning), the late Mr. Stamford was about forty-eight years bld.

Harry Dearth, the newly-imported Tait songster at Melbourne Auditorium, ought to satisfy every; popular requirement, says the “Bulletin.” He has any amount of voice, an original range of songs, and is also unhampered by the dignity that takes refuge in the orthodox platform manner. He warbles his repertoire with his hands in his pockets or leaning casually on the piano, and he has sufficient sense of the force of variety to switch from a pathetic air to a humorous absurdity and arrange his countenance to suit the change. Mr. Dearth will tour New Zealand shortly.

The latest news of the Australian dancer Ivy Shilling is that in London she has signed a special three months’ engagement to dance at the Casino-de-Paris at a large salary. Miss Shilling had also been honoured by an invitation to dance while in Paris at the National Academy of Dancing.

Madame Marie Power is' a connection of Harold Power, the clever

painter, whose big Ypres picture has been hung in the Royal Academy prior to going into the Australian War Museum. The “Bulletin” comes to light with the following: Hayley Lever, Will Ashton and Power began their careers together, but in at least one Bohemian effort Power outdistanced the others. He painted outdoor pictures and had an indoor appetite, and could eat more buns at a sitting than any other artist on record. The Adelaide “Gadfly” (calling up memories of Beaumont Smith and A. Martin), then struggling against infantile paralysis, had its offices on the floor below one of Power’s earliest studios. One day it covered its passage from stairs to editorial sanctum with- bright red second-hand carpet. In the morning the carpet had disappeared, and search revealed it in front of Power’s office. Later on it was returned with thanks. The young men of the “Gadfly” guessed that the artist had. expected clients and wished to impress them. They had bought it chiefly to impress the landlord, so they forgave him, but retaliated by “pinching” one of his fine horse sketches and using it as a cover design.

Messrs. J. and N. Tait have discovered a fine singer whose light has been concealed wider a bushel at Dunedin. The singer referred to is Madame Marie Power, who is probably the finest dramatic contralto in the Dominion. She has been engaged to tour New Zealand with the German Naval Surrender pictures, which are being shown under the Tait management, and she will be heard in that connection at His Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday. Later on it is Madame Power’s intention to proceed to Australia, and then, if the gods are kind, to England. Hers is a voice that would be listened to with respect in any metropolis.

Of the performance of Miss Rosina Buckman at Drury Lane in the title role of Verdi’s “Aida,” the “Daily Mail” remarks: “It was a night of triumph for Miss Rosina Buckman, whose Aida left the hearers to regret no one, and the other singers made an ensemble that was never matched in English opera of the old days.” The “Daily Telegraph”: “As often before, we had some beautifully expressive singing from Miss Buckman in the title part.” “Morning Post”: “There was good ensemble all through, and in their individual work Miss Rosina Buckman (the Aida), Miss Edna Thornton (the Amneris), Mr. Foster Richardson (the King), lin (the Ramphis) hemselves by the eir vocalisation.”

and Mr. Norman A much distinguished orce of

Mr. Maurice Lynch, late of the Allen Doone Company, has joined the Fuller Stock Dramatic Company at the Newtown Majestic, Sydney, making his first appearance in “The World’s Verdict. Mr. Frank Neil has charge of the productions.

Writing • from New York to Mr. Alfred Hill, the well-known New Zealand composer, Madame Carmen Picschol-Harris, the Melbourne vocalist, says: “I have been giving your ‘Waiata Poi’ pretty nearly all over the world, and it is now becoming very popular in New York. Everyone who hears it loves it, because of its originality and freshness. Its repetition is always insisted on whenever I give it. I have had numerous requests for songs of its kind, but I am sorry to say I have not any others. However, I sang your Waiata Poi’ again last week at the Victory Convention of the 300 women’s clubs of New York. It was the success of the evening, and I had to repeat it twice.”

Mr. James Glover, who recently fulfilled his twenty-fifth engagement as musical director of the Drury Lane pantomime (with twenty-two of the years consecutive), recalls that in that period he has composed “480 bits of waltzes, 180 short ballets or divertissements, 100 marches, ‘slows and hurries,’ 40 patriotic songs, and over 3000 bits of ‘agits’ (agitato passages), and ‘pathetics.’” He considers that popular songs of the music-hall order should have a leading place in ’ pantomime music, as catchy tunes are preferred by ’ the majority of those in the audience, both children and adults.

A musical treat will be offered at the Town Hall on Thursday evening (June 5) in the grand complimentary concert tendered Mr. Ernest Drake by local artists. The favourite tenor will be heard in the arias (a) “Your Tiny Hand is Frozen” (“La Boheme”), Puccini; (b) “Questo a Quella” (“Rigoletto”), Verdi, and also in request numbers.

Upon conclusion of his present Melbourne season, Denis Kehoe and his Irish Players will make a tour of the principal provincial towns of Victoria, to be followed by a season in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and New Zealand.

Miss Muriel Starr will shortly be seen in a drama of unusual interest, “The Silent Witness,” a drama that won a big success in New York at the Longacre Theatre. The play has mystery and thrill, and some strikingly dramtic situations, including a scene in which Helen Hastings comes face to face with her fiance, whom for twenty years she had thought dead. “The Silent Witness,” by the way, was written by Otto Harbach, one of t;he authors of “Katinka.” As the New York “World” said: “In ‘The Silent Witness’ Mr. Harbach shows that he is as good a hand at drama as he is in musical comedy.”

There is no daintier exponent of dancing in Auckland than Miss Anita Webster, Herne Bay Road, who is now launching out as a teacher of the graceful art. Miss Webster has distinguished herself at various dance recitals, her lissome figure and creative ability' making her a clever interpreter of rhythm. Modern ballroom dancing will be a feature of Miss Webster’s classes, which will be held every Thursday and Friday at the Masonic Hall, Jervois Road, and on Tuesday at St. Mark’s Hall, Remuera. Terms may be obtained on application to M.’ss Webster at her residence.