ENTERTAINMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 794, 18 April 1910, Page 3

ENTERTAINMENTS.

OPERA HOUSE. The popular moving picturo, "For the Term of His Natural Life," was displayed for tlio last timo at tho Opera House on Saturday. There were large attendances at the matinee and in the evening. THEATRE ROYAL. There was a large audience at tho Theatre Royal on Saturday night, when Fuller's Vaudeville Company again presented the programme which had done duty so successfully during the week. An attractive bill, comprising new artists and new items by others, is announced for to-night. KING'S THEATRE. The merit of the programme submitted at the King's Theatre on Saturday evening was appreciated by the large audionce which attended. Tho thrilling drama, "Tho. Lost Deal" and "A Visit to a German Zoo" were two of the best of a fine selection of films. A souvenir matinee held on. Saturday afternoon was well attended. , HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. A matinee performance given at His Majesty's Theatre'on Saturday afternoon attracted a large audience, and the same remark applies to tho Satoday , evening performance. "Buried Alive" and "Egypt from Sunrise to Sunset" were two of'tho most striking of the excellent series of screenings. STAR'PICTURES. . i The faro provided by the Star Pictures on Saturday attracted good houses both to the matinee and evening performance. A full change of programme is to' be given to-night. "THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY." It is some considerable time since a thoroughly amusing now comedy wooed local.theatregoers from too much communion with themselves and'other serious matters. 1 "The Night of' the Party," which will be presented at tho Wellington . Opera House to-morrow, evening by Mr. George Willoughby and his new English Comedy Company, should break tho spell. "The Night of the Party," for which Mr.' Weedo.n Grossmitli has been responsible as • author, is not a classic, but it is of tho bettor order of farcical comedies, and the cgntagion : of its, infectious humour as it hurries its jovial course along should.prove'irresistible to, the average playgoer. The. situations are'ingenious, especially in the way in which-one complication drifts naturally into another A number of'.very droll types are introduced, and characterisation being one of its strong points, tho members of the company have some excellent opportunities for rovealing .their histrionic capacity. The dialogue is smart and very-much tp the point, and while the comedy" is broad, it is not strained. The; plan is now on view at the Dresden,' and early-door tickets may be obtained at Christeson's. MISS AMY MURPHY'S RECITAL.

This longianticipated nvusicaj event will take, place at the i Town Hall Concert Chamber to-night, and indications point-to'a crowded house. A programme of groat excellence and variety will bo offered, and Miss Murphy will give sonio. of .her best' items, selections which made.a .name for her in Sydney and Melbourne. Miss Murphy leaves for Australia this weok, and there will therefore be no other opportunity of hearing her for some timo ■to come. Reserved seats can bo secured at the Dresden. <. ■' . .

. - V.ORGAN RECITAL. . MR. M. BARNETT'S "CBNTBNARY." , ' - ■ '..'The average attendances at Mr Maugban Barnett's organ recitals are encouraging..' Following that experience which teaches, the organist's public, preferring not the too near or.too far away from the organist,' select tho middle section of the ground floor of tho Town'.Hall, which ..on' Saturday evenings invariably accommodates from 400 to 500 people. When it'is considered, that Peace's audiences, at Liverpool (with 'a. population 1 ' >of/-.nearly 80,000) only averages 800,- tbo average of,.say, 400 that Mr. Barnett' seeures in Wellington" (with a population of 80,000) 3s surely most satisfactory. When one .witnesses.„the whole-souled enthusiasm of 'Mr Barnett's audiences, one is still more hopeful for tho future of organ music in Wellington. Theso remarks aro apropos of the fact that Mr. Barnott will reach his "centenary," as'far. as recitals on tho Town Hall organ are concerned, next Saturday, evening, and it is fitting that thero should be, some recognition of tho uplifting work ho has 'done.' It was no easy task to pcrsuado '.tho City 'Council to "run" organ rwitaia, and it was still more : difficult to convinco tho city fathers'that a fino city organ such'as ours demanded a city organist that was worth getting, was worth playing on did not'at first ; strike the. council as being '" particularly logical.. Mr. Maughan Barrfett has, by his recitals, proved that the organ was worth getting. The organ might be used half-a-dozen times by others, but the value to the general publicities.in the series of recitals., so.-reluctantly, given /-by tlio City.Council, which'must surely be'now, guitp couviiiced that municipal' music is something , that deserves consideration;. To. commemorate the hundredth recital Mr Barnett 'is issuing a littlo booklet tho works which he . has'i. played,' at .: the recitals, during the.'seri'esyia'nd';v : a ,programme of great- attractiveness:;,jsiboiiig prepared.. This , will ■ ] Gynt," . suite'.' :.(which;^recejS{Jy'entranced Rome, ■ ■'when . for the, first timo. in'.that, city by', an orchestra; conducted." by .Mr..- Landoh Ronald)/'. Mendelssohn's 1 'Sixth "Sonata," a fantasia .on .VGoiinod's 'fPaust," and Debussy's -Prelude to "La ' Demoiselle Eiue." ■;

Saturday's rccital was cjuito delightful in character and; arrangement. Schubert's seldom-heard, and popularly martial '"March. in :Pj"..''with < its .-fanfares .and" rhthymio melody, came as a positive novelty.. It was - bracketed with • the "Ave Maria," in; which some beautiful effccts were obtained with the use of the oboo and vox' humana stops in the echo organ. The same composer's "Momcns Musicaux in I l ' Minor" was a dainty trifle,, played with delicacy, and crispness. : Bach was' represented by his No. 1 Concerto in G, one of fojirbased'on'works written, by , Vivaldi as, violin concertos. -The concetto is -'short and .picturesque', but, cannot;; bo said to reflect majestio' grandeur of Bach in the pure. The ■ gavotte from Thomas's V'Mignon" is always popular, and was encored. The "Nocturne in E flat" 'is perhaps as familiar no anything Chopin has written. Mr. Barnctt played it with rare understanding. The programme concluded with'the overture to "Taiinhauser" (Wagner), in which the jPilgrim'a .Chorus (as .tho central theme) progresses tiirough a whirl of chaotic harmonies, from which it eniorges in triumph at the end,_ the solomn boom of tho chorus predominating over tho strife of contending elements. THE ELLWOOD TRIO. According to a Christchurch journal of Saturday, "Tho Ellwood Trio," a juvenile; ''party of two brothers and a sister,' Who have shown unusual.musical talent for children of their years, gavo a jirivaifl wjneert at Christchurch

Chamber of Commerce last week, before an appreciative audience, and their performance of trios and solo instrumental nunnibers was said to be astonishingly clever and even brilliant. .George Ellwood, who is 11 yearn if age, and is described as a child with practically no musical tuition, played the 'cello with an abandon and spirit that augured well for a. brilliant future, aild his brother Harry, 16 years of age, gave a series of violin solos that showed a breadth and feeling that would havo done credit to many a professional. Polly Ellwood, aged 14, played the accompaniments and piano solos with feeling and expression, and as 'a whole the trio gave a performance to be remembered.