THE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 193, 4 May 1918, Page 11

THE THEATRE

(ISy Sylvius.) A Revue Vacation. , Mr. Jack Waller is at present in Australia making arrangement!, for thu forthcoming Australian .season of "Look Who's livrv." ill. Fred. W. Dennett remains iu .New Zealand as Mr. Waller's business representative, and ho ia at pies-jut engaged in arranging n comprehensive farewell tour of "Look Who's Jtciv" in Iho Dominion, which commences in about si\ week's time. Mr. Waller still retains tho services of all the original "Look Who's Here" artists, nml liiis arranged for the majority of them to appear with Messrs. Fuller, Ltd., until commencement of the new tour. Tho six months' lour of "Look Who's Hero" proved most successful Iwth financially and artistically, and at tho termination of their lust Wellington season the entire company spent a week's holiday at Muhiira House, Wuikanae. Fishing, shooting, and riding proved a welcome respite from the strenuous ttage life, and tho male lni-mln-i's had tho satisfaction oi recording , ; niaiiy good "lwgs," tho unlit succi-siful (lay being on the last day of their holiday,' when Wylio Watson and "Tot" Williams had* the satisfaction, of brin;;iii£ down r.o fewer than nine wild pigs, including three line old "tuskers." Great Musical Enthusiast, English music-lovers appear ■ to have found a Maecenas in Sir Thomas IScecham, ono who is not only a generous natron of music, but also an ucttvc maker of it (ho is a first-class conductor). After giving many seasons of opera, to . say nothing of numerous concerts—of which he took the entire financial, responsibility--this magnanimous gentleman now proposes to endow (.pent in Manchester for u term of ten years, by which time he is confident that a sufficiently huge guarantee fund will have been got together to mako it permanent. Tho choice of Manchester in placii of London would appear to be partly on account of the reuuu'kablo success other organisers havo had thero in' musical ventures. Sir Charles Halle's orchestra—a highly competent body—was located in Manchester. After Halle caino in turn Hans liichter, who achieved greater artistic success with Halle's organisation; August Manns, who was pretty well level with Halle as n conductor; and Michael Balling (formerly of Nelson, N.Z.), who was just about, to, effect what promised to be startling tilings with the orchestra whtu tho war broke out and upset his plana. Perhaps, also, Sir Thomas Beecham lakes the viewthat more distinctly national conditions can be maintained in a'provincial town than in tho metropolis, with its. "cosmopolitan confusion. • 'Wagner seems to havo had this in mind when he chose Bayrouth as the locale of his school of niusic-draina, the traditions of which his j eon, Siegfried Wagner, still endeavours ; to koci) up, though with somewhat indifferent results. ' ' ' A Fine Ideal. Speaking from American experience, Guy Bates Post oilers the opinion that, tho etiigo is at a tuniing point, that public taste shows au inclination to revert somewhat to older ar.d sound dramatis traditions. There is aWfiys '.he. possibility when an actor tipsn- !>.'>ritimate lines expresses that view that the wish may bo father to the thought. Tliq tragedy of n groat and uncertain war must, one would think, affect the future of English drama, and in :x lesser degree that also I of tho United States, but, save only to I those who havo boen bereaved by it, I war. on its moving side, has scarcely touched public sentiment in Australia. Save in tho exceptions noted, tho greatest thought-moulder of modern times is 100 remote, mid purely 'ocal intorests .aro too, injloribiisly dominant, for Australian Inste to bo turned from Ihe conventional channel. Fortunately, Australian man- , agers aro guided by linglisli trid American experiences; our chief productions come almost wholly from London or NewYork, so that in -the ordinnry routiiio of supply Auetra'.ia may be Influenced in spito of itself. Mr.' Post confesses (says the 'Australasian") to a personal preference for tho ideal, and cites "The IHne Bird"..as-an example. The illustration i.;as unhappy significance here, for "The l?lue Bii'd" and "Peter Pan, ,, advertised by worldwido discussion and criticism to a greatei extont than any other productions of late years, were, to put it plainly, mortifying failures. They appealed beyond the circles of society, wealth and leisure to intellect wholly, and, slive with the limited number 'who have supported the repertory movement, both their poetry and allegory were- lost. They were exotics born to blush unseen and wasto their fragrance amidst the rankness ot weeds. . " ■ The "Australasian" critic is unhappy in liis remarks, as "Peter Pan" and "The Bluo Bird" were failures only in Australia, whoro the theatrical taste is at a low obb, and where notoriously bad plays, notoriously shoddy Crora beginning to end, have been known to flourish whilst good plays havo been played to empty benches. "Polar Pan" cannot bo said to havo been a "mortifying failure anywhere but in Australia. It has been revived for the past seven or eight years in London at) Christmas, and tho proof that New Zealand love tho beautiful Barrio play is the money mado by Me»srs H. Ashton, R. Stewart, and B. Kovle, when (under an arrangement with J. 'C.. Williamson, Ltd.), they brought the play to New Zealand. /Tho Blue Bird" was porVaps strong, intellectual, meat for the average playgoer, but it, was not what ono could pall a mortifying failure" anywhere but in Australia, which favours "The Face at the Window" and "Bad Girl .of the Faimlj' typo of play over all others, vide the experience of.Brough and V°™™ l ..arot Anelin, Willie (Jollier. Nat Goodwine, and Katbleno MacDonell, who has made one box office success rut of tl 10 many beautiful piays she has appealed I in. Bass Songs That, Depress. The English Pierrots' baritone, Louis Mitchell, when visiting Western Australia some years ago, was one of tho ViceKcgal party to whom the favour of an inspection of the newly opened workings 1 of the 2000 ft. level of the Great- Boulder mine- was being extended. Ho was included in tho party to provide a vocal turn at an official luncheon which tho mine manager intended to spring as a em-prise. At this period of his career Mitchell could turn his light baritone to a falsetto. At the picnic lunch, Mitchell was asked to sing something suitable. Ho complied by yodelling "Up In the Mountains' in his best fulsetto, and His Excellency of tho occasion-Sir Gerard Smith—warmly commended tho singer upon the choice of his incongruous songs. These "Rundied Fathoms Deep" and "Tho Diver" typo of songs always imbued n feeling of, depression, declared the Vice-Regal representative. Tho English Pierrots are duo to commence a long season at tho Concert Chamfer on Thursday (May 1C). Among those who havo drawn a marblo in .Iho first B division ballot for military service are Mr. H. E. Wood, tho popular Wellington tenor, and Mr. J. Cull'ord Bell, teacher of elocution.