THE THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1168, 1 July 1911, Page 10

THE THEATRE.

> The World's a theatre; the Earth a ' stage—Heywood. ' (Dv SYLVIUS.) ; "The Arcadians." "_ Wellington has hart a surfeit of molo- \ rtrama. and is still gasping for breath . after the battery of sensations which it . has hart to fa'.e Tho play-going community here is too small lo stand a j long run of any particular form of at- \ traction —pictures barred—awl tho last to get in naturally suflorcd, though it i was cue of the two best of the four companies which have .made Jiielodrama the \ torm of their artistic expression. After so much of the "villainy'vanquished and virtue triumphant" fare, it is refreshing to anticipate the coining of "The Ar-cadians'-the very name breathes of green fields, gay, frisky lambs, woodnymphs, and callow- swains—that most delightful musical comedy of later years. "The Arcadians," produced originally by Robert Corrtneidgo in London, is still running, and tho end is not yet in view. It is oiie of those delightful musical plays which is the result of many clever brains concentrated on a central idea. The music is bv Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot,'the lyrics by Arthur Wimperis, and the book is by Mark Ambient and A. M. Thompson. The work is melodious, the comedy of the brightest, and most original, and tho mounting is said to excel anything which v:c have yet liad presented to us in this line. Clarke and Meynell have hart many successes in Australia, and ''The Arcadians" has been one of the greatest, it can hardly fail to repeat that success in 'Wellington. The season commences at tho Opera House on Thursday next. i i ... _ "Jack and the Beanstalk," In Sydney on June 21 ".Jack and the Beanstalk" finished the six months' run which has been divided between the two leading capitals of the Commonwealth.' It began its career in .Melbourne on December 17 of last year, and, with tho exception of* a. few days required for the change over to Sydney, has continued an unbroken run. The company is now playing in Brisbane, after .which a. tour, of the Dominion (commencing at Auckland) will be inaugurated. H. B. Irving Honoured, . Mr. H. B. Irving was feted before he left London on his trip to Australia. At the British' Empire Club ho was tho guest of Sir George Rcid, and there were present (as well as some representative Australians) a' number of distinguished members of the .theatrical profession to, do him honour. This was in "tho after- | noon, and,,on the same evening, Sir Herbert' Tree gave a supper, at which he was the honoured guest, at the Savoy Hotel. Those present embraced some of the leading lights in the political as well as the theatrical world. In proposing the health of the guest. Sir Herbert. Tree spoko mest highly of Mr. Irving's histrionic ability, aurt of the very high place which he held in the esteem of his fellows. "Nowadays," said Sir Herbert, "the actor could"not rely on the modest stock-ih-trado which filled the cart of Thespis—the claims upon his many-sidedness were greater to-day. In grace of intellect their guest was conspicuous among his fellows. They wished his charming wife and himself all tho happiness they deserved." - In responding to the toast, Mr. Irving quoted tho words which he had found marked with n'en".il in his father's copy of "l'ichard II." "I count myself in nothing else so happy As in a soul, remembering my. good friends." ' . Although he was going to play Mephistophcles in lie prayed that he might never lose thai; soui. Stage Viragoes, Tho sensation in Mr. George Marlow's latest "melodrama," "Driving a Girl to DestTuetion,"'.)'s;a:fight,to the.death between two.w6:iic-:i. 'J'his is how :i Sydney paper describes the incident:-"Crouch-ing dike tigresses making for their chance to spring, they get to work. There is a fierce preliminary tussle, and their they become really busy. Revolvers flash, and their shots ring out, and first one, and then the other seems to bn knocked out, but still they fight. The.? fight till they are gasping, and have mado d dreadful disarrangement of the furniture. They fight up a staircase till the staircase collapses. They fight till their hair is dishevelled, till they are riddled with bullets, and are otherwise damaged. Then they crawl towards each other and ' fight till they both drop, and. neither has had tho last word," And this is what some managers say the public "wants! ... A Curious Combination. Nat. C. Goodwin and Maxine Elliott, ' formerly man and wife, it is announce), , have signed a contract lo be co-starred in the United States under the directon of Joseph Brooks, Klaw and Erlanger. This ' does not mean that there has been any personal reconciliation. It is to bo a • purely business alliance. Nothing in tho ' report savoured of a personal reconcilia- ' tion between the divorced couple; in fact, < the report goes on to say that (here is | no possibility of a return to conjugal relations. Tho veteran comedian has- ' been married four times. Miss Elliott ap- ! pearal with him when he played in Ans- > tralia,' under the "Williamson manage- ' ment. Commenting on the curious com- ] bination of Goodwin and Elliott, "Vari- ' i-ty." e. New York says:—"Miss ' Elliott, is now an established star on her 1 own account, at present under the dircc- ' tion of the ShuberTs," owning Tier "own ' theatre in New York. Should such a ■' nrcposition be presented to Klaw and ; Erlanger there is small likelihood that s they would hesitate, to take her under t their managerial wing. Independently t wealthv tliroimh judicious investments, : Miss Elliott still yearns for a genuinely 1 artistic triumph, and a starring allinncn < with her late husband would undoubted- i ly malco an ideal combination for artistic < and financial results." ■ i Pepito Arriola. . ' "At Passau, Mozart, played before the t bishop, who marvelled greatly and gave | the child a ducat." (Biographical note.) i Pepito Arriola. has teen called the re- j incarnation of Mozart—which' of course , he is not, being emphatically Pepito Ar- j riola—but he duplicates all of the per- , formances of the prodigy from Saizburg. i I'cpito composed at three; played sonatas ( .at four, and became n master of the. , pianoforte before he could speak plainly in any cf the three languages ho knew-. I (says Walter Anthony in the "San Francisco Call," of May 28) keenly sympathise with my fellows who are. afraid of children marvels. The. precocious youngsters can't grow up too ouickly to • suit me; but Fepifo isn't precocious.' lie is just a youngster whose dreams have ! been blessed. He is without pose, alfec- - tation, airs or impudence. Ho approaches < his piano with the manners of a little '• boy, plays it like a master, and leaves it ! again as a lad. Meanwhile he. has given ' his hearers something that the bishop < got a century and a half ago from little ' "Wolfgang—a thrill, a start, and an ex- ' quisite pleasure. s How does Pepito charm us so with his ' age-old interpretations of Chopin, Liszt, ' and Schumann? Nobody, not even Pc- I pi to, knows. I Giving us the first movement of the ! Walstcn sonata yesterday afternoon did ' not seem to be the easiest thing Pepito did. It was the opening, number, of the '■ programme, the audience was small, and 1 Beethoven, it'seems, does not make the ' appeal to tho little Spaniard's sensibili- ' ties that Chopin's sentiment, Schumann's I romance and Liszt's fire and passion do. ' However, by tho time Pepito reached the I presto niovement of tho sonata he caught ' the spirit of the composer. The audience faded from his view, which was not ' "inch of a phenomenon after all. and the i diminutive artist dashed into the theme, and threaded its florid embellishments ' with a vigour and puissant force which made the masculine pianists in his audience gasp at the marvel of it. :