THE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 85, 4 January 1919, Page 3

THE THEATRE

0- . (By Sylvius.)

A Long Wait. Days creep into weeks, and weeks into months, and still there is no word of the i passenger ships held iip in Sydney which were to have brought us our Christmas attractions. It is a far cry now to the days M'hoii we had a show awirt from pictures and vaudeville. Tho last one was "The Gondoliers," played durimr the first week in November, and here we are in January still waiting for the industrial clomls to roll I>}\ If the flipping services aro to be hampered as the intercolonial service is at present, I am very much afraid that Australian managers will hesitate .about making'arrangements for hi* attractions- to come this way. It is no joke for a bis; company of 70 or SO people.to be huni? up for a month. The assumption is that both tho Musical Comedy Company avl the. Jfjirie' Sfarr Com'Vny arn' now -waiting in Sydney frrtm day to day fnr f'e ifnernlti or the Makti'rn. to sail for New 'Zealand. Writin'ir to me l«sfw»ek. 111' , . Hugh J. Wnrd SB'd that they (J. C. Williamson, T -t"d.) hnd some five a<tr<>cUors (<"■ New '/cnlaml. p"H wore wiiii'"' io rli*pi>teh two splendid compani?s by th".' first "tcnftier. .... Crnsorship of Operas. It seome strange (says an exchange) that at this ago of tho -world a composer should have to ask the police what characters and incidents'he may ÜBo in the plot of his opera. Yet within a short time the Itnlinn, Leoncavello, in.'putting his "I Medici" on the. stage in Vienna, has, had. to make serious alttrations- in the tost-at- the' "surestion" of tho i censor, of'that city. He had to change a scene in the last act because two clerics are there depicted as murderers of Ciiuliaiio Medici. Tho comnoser, unwill-, inn to have his work forbidden, replaced them by two young courtiers. This (continues tho paper) reads like tho (lays of 1817, .-when republican sentiment was rampant' in Italy nnd the sunorvision of what was uivon to the pub He' in nrint or on the stage was very strict. When, nt that time, Verdi brought ouf. "I M>snß(lii>r\" (Vhiller's. preat trawdy of "The Eobhers," arranged tn a string of Italian melndio'. ha was oV'wd'to'cut pid l elash his libretto in all rlirpetionc at the bidding of the police authorities .for fear there would be allowed to remain in the work eome reference to liberty or republicanism. The "Masked" Ball", was not at first permitted A representation because it. dealt with the assassination of x Kinff Gustavus 111 of Sweden, so Verdi offered to turn his king ' into a duke, but finally, to give satisfaction, he metamorposed the monarch into the "Governor' of Massachusetts," and "allowed him to' be killed in sedate old Boston! The tenor Mario was to appear in ; this first presentation, and when he came to don the sombre purb. of tho Puritan governor he decidedly objected to its 1 1,,-ck of; colour nnd ornamentation. So Verdi obligingly allowed the sober Puritiurto strut about the stage in mantle, hijrh. boots, spurs, and a helmet with waving plume! Bossini's "William Tell" has also .come'under the ban of governmental'clispleasure in Europe. At various 'timos the libretto has undergone flhaneo for political reasons. At the Eoyal Opera. Berlin, in .]B3O. for example, the title "William Tell" was altered -to "Andreas Hnfer," the hero of the Tyrolotti insurrection against thfl French and Bavarians, who was shot at Mantua in 1810; while the tyrant Gessler was, of course, rcnlaced by n French yon'eral. In Russia , the piece wn« some sixty venr? ,a(ro rechriptened "Cliarl"* the Bnld," and instead of, William Tell pit-: '-ther hero w'as invented, called Eodolphe Tloppelguggel. Notes. . • . ' Three pantomimes wore presented in Melbourne on Saturday, December; 21, viz., "Goody Two Shoes" (J. C. Williamson, Ltd.), "Jack/and Jill" (J. and N. Tait), and "Sinlxid tlie Sailor" (Fullers). Mr W. .Barrington- Miller,has retired , from the position of general manager of the Union Theatres, Ltd., of Australia. ' Tho Board of/Control now consists of Messrs. Edwin Geach, Henry Gee, H. Musgrove, «nd AV. A: , Gibson. • . At the Highlanders' Memorial tChurch; Glasgow, a stained glass window, given by the. Bight Hon. Eobert Munro, and a pips organ, given by Mr. and Mrs. Harry I.ttuder, iii■ memory, of .'their son, Captain John Lander, were dedicated Mr. Munro said their ecorn-of pain, vlheir fearlessness of death, and-their noble courage had made Highlander soldiers the best in the world. . i ' '■ »' . • i Abandoning grand opera for the moment, Reginald de Kqren has returned to the field of his' earlier work and completed the score of a musical play call'ed "Yesterdfiy," the book .of. which is by Glen Mac.Donogh. It; was to have appeared on Broadway, under the Shubert direction, at-the orid of NoVemher; Mr. 'ie' Koven is, however,-already engaged with Percy Mackaye on a-swious work which-has been accepted by Cleo--fpnte Campanini a.nd will be produced by 'the Chicago Oppra Association during the season."of 1919-20,':.-"\'.•;;.. , .