MARITANA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 233, 13 October 1879, Page 2

MARITANA.

On Saturday night this favorite opera by Viaceat Wallace was put on the stage at the Theatre Royal by the English Opera Company in a very creditable manner. Popular opinion has placed th's charming work with its succession of beautiful airs in the foremost rank of English Operas, and its production seldom fails to draw a good house. Saturday was no exception, and although the Theatre was certainly not full, yet the audience was a large one for Nelson, considering that it Was the fifth consecutive night on which the Company had played, and Nelson play-goers being generally satisfied with one or at most two visits to the same troupe. That the audience was appreciative there can be no doubt, as mo3t of the solos were heartily applauded, the applause, by the way, breaking out occasionally in the wrong place and rather disconcerting the performers. The title role was taken by Misa Leaf, and it is seldom that the part of Maritana has been played here by one who so well looked, acted, and sang it. Mr Riccardi, as Don Jose, sang faithfully and well what he was intrusted with, and we were sorry that indisposition prevented him from responding to the hearty encore which followed the well-known air, "In Happy Moments Day by Day." The character of Don Jose is a difficult and thankless one to play, and one with which an audience has no sympathy. Mr Harding, as Don Caesar de Bazan, acted and sang with great spirit and took the house by storm with " Let me like a Soldier fall," which deserved, and received an enthusiastic encore. Although Mr Harding's voice is hardly suited to the part he played, yet the nerve and vigor with which he both acted and sang, made his representation of the impecunious devil-may care Don a pleasurable one to his audience. Mias Hunter fairly surprised us with the well known contralto song " Alas those Chime 3." Those who heard her as " Little Buttercup " in H.M.S., Pinafore, were not impressed with a vast idea of her vocal powers, but the rapt attention with which she was listened to, and the well-merited encore which followed the close of her solo on Saturday night were sufficient to show that with a suitable part she could do herself more credit and give more pleasure to her hearers. Mr Hodson dressed and acted the part of the King very well, and, with the exception of " Hear me gentle Maritana," his singing was effective. Both he and Miss* Leaf played well together. Mr Hodson, besides taking leading characters, is Stage Manager to the Company, and we should like to take this opportunity of complimenting him on the excellence of his stage arrangements. To overlook the whole stage and take a leading part also is most difficult, and happy is the man who neither scamps his own business or attends to himself alone to the detriment of the run of the piece. Mr Love as the Marquis of Montefiore made up well, and took the house immensely with his comicality. Miss Teagne filled the character of the Marchioness, which in the opera is a very minor one. A word of praise is due to Mr Crowthers for his general utility, he having taken no less than four different characters on Saturday night in the one piece. The chorus was an efficient one, and marked applause succeeded their efforts on many occasions Taken altogether, Maritana, as put on last Saturday night, was a decided success, and we trust that the praiseworthy efforts of the Company in Nelson may be rewarded with the success their enterprise deserves. To-night will be given Lecocq's comic open* Girofle Girofla. Girofle and Girofla are the daughters of a Spanish Grandee who besides being very impecunious is threatened with war by two Piinces whose territories adjoin his own. To get cut of the difficulty he proposes an alliance by marriage with his daughters Girofle and Girofla, who are so much alike that the only way of distinguishing them is by dressing them differently, one wears pink and the other blue. On the marriage day Girofle is carried off by pirates, and as the bridegroom possesses a furious temper the father is afraid to tell him the truth and marries him to Girofla who had been united the day before to the other Prince. Eventually Girofle is recaptured and brought back to the great delight of her father and all concerned, general happiness being the result. The fun of the piece hinges on the remarkable similarity in appearance of the two girb and the unpleasant position the father gets into by substituting one for the other.