KELLY AND LEON MINSTRELS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1492, 27 November 1878, Page 3

KELLY AND LEON MINSTRELS.

This celebrated minstrel and burlesque opera troupe made their first appearance last night at the Theatre Royal, and with very great success. The whole performance is distinguished by great originality, and the musical part is far beyond the average of even first-class companies. The first part of the programme was devoted to the orthodox chair business, and when the curtain rose and displayed the company, numbering twelve artistes, seated in a semicircle, they -were greeted with a hearty round of welcoming applause. Mr Edwin Kelly acted as interlocutor, and Messrs W. Courtright _ and Edwin Lester occupied the corner chairs as bones and tambourine. The opening medley overture, partly instrumental and partly vocal, was excellently played, and then Mr Courtright gave the audience a taste of his quality in a comic song new to Christchurch, called “ Oh, George, tell me do you love me ?” This gentleman is a firstclass comedian, without a shade of broadness or vulgarity, and the same may be said of Mr Lester, his comic vis-a vis, whose professional yarns and jokes were distinguished by originality and wit. Mr S. C. Fredericks followed with a pretty ballad, “ Speak, only speak,” which he sang in excellent style. He is the possessor of an exc llent tenor voice, and combines with considerable power both tenderness and expression. The feature, however, of the first part was undoubtedly the exquisite rendering of the familiar “Sweet bye and bye,” which has never been heard in Christchurch as Mr Beaumont Read sang it last night. Mr Read’s voice is a natural alto of Tare sympathy and a marvellous range, his lower notes are full of feeling, and the upper ones of the purity and sweetness of a silver bell. Altogether it is a remarkable voice, and at once captivates all who hear it. Mr Edwin Kelly is also ar excellent tenor singer, his voice being powerful and flexible, and capable of being used with great dramatic effect. The first half of the entertainment concluded with selections from the opera Q-irofle G-irotla, In the second part, the Only Leon made his first anpeararc* in female costume, with the song ‘‘Twilight in the Park.” He is par excellence the most finished comedian of this peculiar typo that has ever visited the colonies, and in all the tminutue of costume, make up, action, by-play, and voice it is very hard to realise the fact that it is a male performer on the stage. He is likewise a vocalist of considerable taste and e ecution, singing bravura songs with all the ease of a finished prima donna. Leon’s imitation of Mdlle. lima de Murska was an inimitable specimen of vocal mimicry. The interlude, “ A Five Cent Shave,” served to introduce Japanese Tommy to the audience This tiny comedian, one of the original Cffnriaty Minstrels, though 35 years of ago, is only 2ft, 9in. high, and possesses a large fund of ’comic humor. His appearance is irresistibly odd, and bis by-play and business kept the audience in roars of laughter. The quartette “ Ship of State ” was omitted through the indisposition of the basso (Mr Ball), for whom an apology was made, and Mr Be turnout Read once more (Charmed the ears of the large audience with bis dejightfully plaintive rendering of the “ Maid of Athens” us a substitute for the omitted number. Mr Courtright contributed an eccentric song and dance, “Fiewy, Flewy,” and exhibited marvellous agility as a dancer of the school of Terpischore popularised in New Zealand by Alec O’Brien. The performance terminated with a petite musical comedy, somewhat after the style of Salsbury’s “Patchwork.” Beyond the fact of its serving to display the special ability of Leon as an impersonator of a modern young lady, acted with consummate fidelity, and also that of Mr J, H. Surridge as another specimen of the fair sex equally original in a lesser degree, there was nothing strikingly new or original about it. Messrs Kelly, Lester, Courtright, Ball, and Japanese Tommy all had parts in it, and contributed to its success. The same programme will be repeated this evening.