A Magnificent Opera House.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 31 March 1891, Page 3

A Magnificent Opera House.

The English Opera House, built by Mr D'Oyley Carte for the production of " Ivanhoe " and the like, is described by a leading journal as " the pride and glory of London." The theatre is at.Cambridge Circus, Piccadilly, and is completely isolated and fire proof, with 162 ft frontage to Shaftesbury Avenue. It seats 2000 people, and the whole is bedecked from floor to roof in arches, balustrades and columns with gorgeous Algerian and Italian marble, which harmonise with the stained glass and painted panels of the loggias and lounges. The prevailing tints are green and gold, but the greatest surprise is the proscenium arch 84ft wide and 85ft high, made entirely of Mexican onyx and marble, producing an original framework which cannot but be of service to the picture which it frames. The stage itself one of the largest in England, is 66ft between walls, the height from the boards to the "gridiron " being 7oft. But to the general public some of the greatest marvels of the house will never be revealed. Clapham Junction signal-box, is a plaything to Cartes's prompt side, was the dictum of one of the most experienced London managers, who had inspected the marvellous methods by which Mr Walter Pfeffer Dando has dispensed with the scene shifter and the carpenter. Every bit of scenery, no matter what the " tonnage," appears or disappears by the simple application of a handle or a rope ; " bracing" or " gimletting " is a lost art, and counter weights and wire ropes make acouracy of change an absolute certainty. It may safely be prophesied that Mr Dando's patents — he also by the way, invented his wife, Madame jEnea, the flying dancer — will revolutionise stage effects. The scenes do not walk on and off by themselves

but they very nearly do.