BAND AND REVUE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 153, 24 March 1939, Page 6

BAND AND REVUE

Young Australians On Parade The Young Australians’ Band and Revue, an entertainment presented by the directors of Overseas Tours, Ltd., began a season at the Grand Opera House, Wellington, last night, and was accorded a good reception by a large audience. This company has already toured the greater part of the Empire, and later is to visit Canada, and its members showed by the slickness with which they presented their variety show that they have benefited by experience. The style of entertainment offered ,is typically Australian. The first part, “The Fleet’s in Port,” with the turret deck of a battleship as the background, served to display the facility of a very lively band of somewhat peculiar constitution. It includes besides violins, trumpets, and drums no fewer than four piano-accor-dions (which threaten to displace the harmonica as the Australian national instrument). Besides stimulatiing selections from this band, under a diminutive conductor, Charles Stanton, who leaps about the stage like a young kangaroo, this melange introduced George Nichols, the makings of a clever comedian of Scottish complex, who sang sotto voce “Sailing up the Clyde/' Later this performer made the audience shriek in the Will Fyfe number, “I Belong to Glasgow,” and another idiotic Scotch comic “Oock-a-Doodle.” He was also very amusing, in an atrocious make-up, in a sketch entitled “The Rehearsal.” Another contributor was the 6ft. sin. comedian and eccentric dancer, Ron Morris. Succeeding the opening scenes the programme shaped itself into a variety show of 1920 vintage, presented with plenty of vim, and no loss of time. In this part of the programme Colin Croft stood out from the ruck as a female impersonator in the number “Thank You for the Memory,” in which she was associated with Ron Morris, and was again amusing in the sketch “Shopping Up-to-date,” in which he and George Nichols made fun of the foibles of women when, shopping. Keith Withers was heard in violin numbers. This performer makes no pretence to technical eminence, yet produces a sad, sweet tone in pe/jular ballads. Neil Webb, the 14-year-old cornetist, using a trumpet, plays very well indeed, but is inclined to lose pitch slightly through the over-use of vibrato in the effort to get feeling into his tone. When blowing full tone the defect was not apparent. George Nichols appeared again to give some impressions of screen favourites, his most successful assumption being that of Stan Laurel. The end of the first part was marked by an Irish medley, in which Albert Workman, an Auckland boy, played some airs with taste. In the second half the comedians came into their own in the comic sketches. “The Rehearsal,” “The Ragtime Brigade," a boy scout interlude, and “The Meanest Man in the World.” Colin Croft showed his versatility by appearing in an amusing curate impersonation ; Ron Morris floated round ridiculously in a burlesque Egyptian dance, and George Nichols turned on bis special brand of Scots humour once more. It should be mentioned that some of the humour indulged iu was offensive to good taste: The Young ikustralians will continue I to appear at the Opera House throughout the coming week.