THE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 229, 15 June 1918, Page 11

THE THEATRE

(By "Sylvius.")

Shows to Come, According to advices from Auckland, the Williamson pantomime "Dick Whittington" has been doing very big business during thu past week, and all accounts state that in point of spectacle, costumes, and fim it i* well up to t!io standard of previous years, and in some regards excels it. -Tim latter remark applies to Urn .principal boy and girl particularly. For many years the WilliamMin firm, which is positively Tory in its ideas, broudit out leading boys and yoirietiiiK-3 lending girls who were no belter than a hundred and one Australian girls to bo had for u i|u;\rtei- the money, and sometimes a deal worse. On this occasion, presumably .through tlio restrictions kuposed on transport by the war, or perhaps the peril of the "sens, two Australian girls were given the roles —Vera l'ei..iee and Pauline. Bindley—and the result is the beit combination the firm htis yet presented. Looking back over the years I am certain the Williamson people, havn never given us a. principal girl who could sing as well as Mis-s .Bindley, and for those charms which go to make a good "boy" Miss I'carce is ideal. Tho Wellington dates of the pantomime are from June 20 to July 8. The pantomime will be followed at: the Cir.'.nd Opera Jlou.=« by the- Waller Company in a new edition of "I.ook Who's Here." The season will extend from July 10 to 21. . It ivill bo now 10 many to know that the- very successful- revue, "The Biug Boys are Here," will commence, a tour of New Zealand nt Auckland 011 July 8, The season in the northern city will extend until .July 20. The Wellington dales are from August G to 17. Among (he pcoplo concerned in tlio rcrue arc Miss Minnie Love, Messrs. Leslie lloliand, Jack Cannot, and (Jiydo Cooke. Singers' Memories. • Lapses, of memory on tUe part of singers are more freiiuent Hum audiences suppose. As a rule the words of many ballads repeated in certain plirases over and over again, act as camouflage for any slips of memory they may make. 1 hiivu hoard some vocalist; singing u otring of words quito foreign to the song, until they pick up the theme again. Others of less experience will break suddenly, and, if without music, will go to the piano to refresh their ■memories. ■■ Some singers' dare not trust their memories at all.- Madame Dolores niways had her. .little hook of words'with her on tho platform, and felt uneasy without it. 11: is not a desirable thirij,' to be utterly- dependent on the printed word. Indeed, the vocalist who cannot remember the words is.handicapped, as it caunot bo expected' thint tho spirit of the song can be conveyed when the singer has to refer to tl\e words'.at frequent intervals. There are some singers who j always appear with music, but just as often as not it is not the imisic of-the song, but is merely something to occu : ply the hands .with. Others agaiu- for much the same purpose are known to have the habit of fingering a progranuno or any scrap of paper they can get to give tho iiugers (j.onVutluiig to .do; which in other words is a form of nervousness they should force themselves to ovorwim\ ■ Koceutly in Melbourne .Mr. Fred. Collier, the, : fini>. baritone who .was in Wellington three, months ago, was singing ,"O. liuddier than the Cherry" (from Handel's "Acis and Galatea") when he forgot his words, broke olf, made another start, and ..forgot them again. A third i inie he tried,' and a third timo he failed. At a fourth attempt the words, flowed as they should, and the singer was accorded an ovation for his persistence , . Fickle Fortune. Bayard Veiller offered his play, "Within the Law," to manager after manager, all of whom turned it: down. Finally it was bought, for :\ song by a syndicate, who made ;i fortune out of il—lbn first <f many, big wads. Veiller was commiserated with.at. his ill-hick, but. kept on writing—failures. He. was being written down as a one-play man, owing to the number of duds lie turned out, when "The Thirteenth Chair" arrived mid was hailed as a remarkable play. The JCc-w "York rights alone brought in .JjjO.OOO. nnd Mrs. Veiller (Miss Margaret Wycherley) has earned big money in the Wading ride, which as a character-study is said to equal Cyril Maudes "Grumpy." - ; "General Post." "General Tost" is. in the abstract, a blend of the ideas promulgated in "An Knglistiman's llome" 'and Barrio's "Tho Admirable Cricliton,". a clever, subtle play, with clashes of brilliancy, set in onu scene and involving only seven characters. The leit motif is to shew how .man has brought about a levelling up (not down) among the uas-es. . That those who live, in great houses and deem as theirs the whole earth and the fullness thereof have k-arned, and are learning, that others lower in the social scale are quite estimable, and indeed admirable people. It is tho brief war-time history of a family, tho snobbiest: of snobs, who have, the profomidest contempt for the flower classes." and are consumed with amusement at the spectacle of a mere tradesman'figuring as anollieer in the Territorials. The olh'cer in this case is the great snob's tailor, and lie is a joke to all save the snob's daughter, whose intuition tells her that behind the Jailor stands a Veal man—a comely gentle knight. Then come,? the war, and the tailor—;v soldier every, inch of him— dashes into tlio fray, to return, a hero and a brigadier-general, but the same alert, quiet, self-possessed man. .Mow tho family of snobs undergo a process as physiologically interesting.us i ha inmates of tho bonrdiiighouso in "The Third Floor Back." From the head E.eianjr to the bounder soil they i-ealiso that'their ideas ami .standards lire all wrong, that the world .still holds a place for real men, having 11 contempt for dillitanteism and the mockery of snoboency. The unbending process-is interesting to watch, tlic ilaiightor's wish to marry the extnilor is encouraged where- before it .was ridiculed, and the biggest snob finds his duly and his manhood in the drab uniform of a private in the British Army. In Melbourne Mr. Graham Browne has niado a very complete sucoess us the tailor; Mr. "Arthur Styan, as the chief snob, is said to have done nothing better; and Miss Lizette Pnrkes is the girl who knows and Miss Ethel Morrison (nee Miss Kttie Ifaginviity, formerly of Wellington) does excellent work as Mrs. Knob. Notes. "Children under seven not admitted." is an announcement mado'by J. and N. T.iit for the Melbourne season of "The Masquerader." A standing notice to that effect in Wellington would conduce to tho belter enjoyment of playgoers. The English Pierrots will summer at Perth this year. They will'leave New Zealand, for' Perth about, the middle of October, and remain there .until the fol-Ur-'.'i 111; March. Messrs. Jack and Sims Waller, and Mi?s Cecelia Gold are, expected to arrive in Wellington from Australia on Monday. The new tour of the ''Look Who's Here" Company will commence early next week.