THATCHER’S CONCERTS.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2108, 7 February 1870, Page 2

THATCHER’S CONCERTS.

If we accepted as a test of merit the success that attends an entertainment we should be compelled to concede extraordinary merit to that now given at the Masonic Hall. Certainly no place of amusement in Dunedin has been so essentially popular, or has received so much support for a long time, as the concerts given by Mr Thatcher’s Company during the past week. The hall has been literally crowded with spectators, whose hearty and continuous laughter sufficiently testified to the amusement here afforded. Mr Thatcher possesses in a high degree the happy power of hitting the popular taste—an intuitive knowledge of the temper of the people ; and thus, wherever he goes, he is sure to draw an immense crowd. Perhaps one of our commonest weaknesses is the patience—and, indeed, pleasure—with which we can listen to the abuse of everything and everybody—but ourselves. Mr Thatcher seizes upon all that is eccentric in men—public functionaries and private individuals —their follies, meannesses, petty bickerings and quarrels, their failures and f misfortunes—and weaves them all into songs which are at once humorous, pithy, and effective. The wonder is how he—a comparative stranger here—gets posted up in all our doings or misdoings; as his songs discover a familiarity with everything and everybody. Bnt great as appears to be his knowledge of local events, his songs have the greater merit of being cleverly written. They are not a heterogeneous mass of facts strung together in hodge-podge fashion, but are arranged with judgment and method, and some of them teem with brilliant epigram. The songs of “ Louis Court,” and the “Brewers of Dunedin,” will amply justify our remarks, as they will illustrate our meaning. They are unquestionably the two cleverest of his many clever local hits we have yet heard, and they were received, as might have been expected, with the most deafening applause, if it be said that Mr Thatcher’s songs are mere caricatures, it must still be granted that they have the merit of embodying precisely those idiosyncracies which render character intelligible. Mr Thatcher is an extraordinary man ; and we believe few of our readers will deny themselves the opportunity now offered of participating in his humorous entertainment. But we have yet spoken only of Mr Thatcher as though his performances constituted the only feature of interest here. This is not the case. The drollery of Mr Small’s songs excites as much merriment, and contributes as largely to the general amusement, as that of Mr Thatcher himself. His “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,” and “Not for Mo,” are perhaps as perfect as it is possible for the comic art to attain to. He reminds us of Sam. Cowell, who relied rather upon his action and physiognomical distortion than upon his utterance for the stunning effect ho produced. Mr Small is unquestionably a great favorite with the Dunedin public. Nor must wo omit to mention Mr Daniels, who possesses a lino baritone voice, and whose efforts are always received with loud applause ; but we might venture to hint that his voice require* more cultivation to render him an accomplished singer. His songs of “The Death of Nelson,” “The Englishman,” and “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,” are to be numbered amongst his best efforts. As a whole this entertainment is unquestionably the best of its kind we have had for a long time in Dunedin, and whilst it is in every way deserving of public support, it is pretty certain to receive it.