Dramatic And Musical

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 32, 9 February 1901, Page 5

Dramatic And Musical

By Footlight.

DIX'S Gaiety Company still continues to keep up its high reputation, and every night, as regular as clockwork, there is a crowded house awaiting the rise of the curtain. The corner men (Messrs. Leslie, Tudor, Daw son, and Cranberry) are right up to date with their comic singing, dancing , and then lively play of funniosities. MissMolU Bentley !who possesses a very fine voice, is heard to good effect in one 01 two nice ballads, and shares the vocal honours with Mr. Arthur Halm, who never fails to bring down the house in a storm of applause. The Misses Mabel Male and Rose Andrews' song and dance turns" aie both graceful and highly effective. * • • But everything else is eclipsed in novelty bv the antics of Fen;\, the Human Frog He made his local debut 0:1 Tuesdw, and the weird and bizarre act in which he appeals fascinated the audience to a remarkable degree. His contortions are quite wonderful, and to witness his act alone is well worth the price of admission. Nothing like it has been seen here befoie. Ferry can certainly fairly claim to be one of the best,, if not the best, contortionist that has ever visited New Zealand. * • • The Faust trio of acrobats, contoitionists, and dancers, who also made their first appearance this week, give a remarkably fine- display of acrobatic skill, and 'their dancing is really firstclass. The Wingate Sisters, trapezeists contribxite a capital serial act. Too many risks, however, are taken. It y, ould be better to fix a net beneath the trapeze, in case of accident. It would in no way detract from the interest in the performance, and certainly seems a necessary safeguard. The entertainment closes with a musical sketch by the clever Leslie Bros., whose knowledge of musical instruments is varied and extremely intimate. Every item on the programme elicits an encore, and, altogether, it furnishes forth a really tip-top entertainment. * • * The Stanford Dramatic Company opened at the Opera House on Tuesday evening, with Charles Darrell's sensational melodrama, in four acts and ton scenes, "The Power and the Glory." In this production no phase of melodrama seems to have been left unexploited, and for three solid hours sensation follows sensation in brisk succession. The company is a fairly strong one, and the play certainly affords its members ample scope for the exercise of their talents. Miss Rosa Conroy, who played the part of Kate Goodlock, gave a strong; impersonation, of the hardened and heartless demi-mondaine, who deliberately flaunts her conduct in the face of the heroine, Lizzie Medwin, as proof that dishonesty is the best policy » * • There is an unmistakable suggestion of 'The Ticket-of-Leave Man" in those incidents of the play which show Lizzie Medwins husband (Horace Medwin) yielding under the stress of starvation to the temptation to join in a "cribcracking" enternrise. The leading burglar is Kate Goodluck's associate. Hotly pursued by the police, Medwin thrusts some of the stolen property into his wife's hands, and she is arrested with it in her possession. Harold Medwin denies that she is his wife, and Lizzie Medwin acquiesces in the lie to save her husband, and is carried off to gaol. On her release, she finds that Medwin has been taken up by a wealthy aunt, with whom he is living, along with Kate Goodluck and her criminal associate. * • ♦ All sorts of plots are laid against Lizzie's life and honour, but, with the assistance of a chivalrous British sailor, who always seems to turn up when wanted, fust in the nick of time, the heroine invariably emerges unscathed from every ordeal. The last attempt of vice to overcome virtue is Derhaps the most desnerate Very much down on her luck, Kate Goodluck joins a nantomime company m w Inch the heroine, as leading lady goes through a ft>at which renuires her to hanp suspended bv 3. wire rope from the ceiling Kate plots to cut this iov>e, but once a^ain she meets with defeat, and the melodrama closes with the arrest of tl c

associate villains for the murder of Harold Modern, and thus is reached the usual ignominous conclusion to a career of crime. Miss Ida Gresham as the heroine, Lizzie Medwin, gave a hist -class interpretation of her part, and had full command of the sympathies of the audience from start to finish Miss Roland Watts - Phillips made an excellent ''Mar" Goodluek, o lough diamond who runs a coffee-stall and takes the side of virtue in distress. Little Miss Pearhe Hellmrich, as the blind child Linda, daughter of the heroine, played her part very prettily. Mr Stanford, as the villain, Ferdinand Crayle, the notorious cracksman Mr C B Westmacott, as Johnny Dyce Morriss, a goodnatured dude (who goodnaturedlv furnishes a lot of low comedy) and Mr "VV. Taite, as Hany Goodluek, the gal-

lant sailor, all presented strong and striking portraitures of their several parts. The piece was realistically mounted, and the scenery m the third and fourth acts was particularly effective. "The Power and the Glory" still holds the boards, and i& having a prosperous run. * # • Fuller's Biiou Company made a change of programme at the Choral Hall on Monday night, and the newitems were each and ail received with unqualified approval by the usual crowded house. In fact, the Choral Hall never seems to be otherwise than crowded. In the first part the comic songs and ballads, etc , of Will Stevens, Jack Williams, Lennon Bros., and Misses Mao Marlow, Rose Belmont, and Jeanie Johnston furnished plenty of variety, and yielded unmixed satisfaction. Chief among the features of the second part are the acrobatic and contortionist feats of ''Hyman, the Human Frog." There is also a capital exhibition of mvnorama views of events in the life of Queen Victoria, and the performance's hilariously rounded off with the ''Screaming farce of ''The Photographer." All local camera fiends should make a point of seeine it. The last nights of Will Stevens, Mae Marlow, Rose Belmont, and those acrobatic marvels, Lennon, Hyman, and Lennon, are now advertised. On Monday next Fred Bluett will reappear in coniunction with an entirely new company of artists. * « ♦ Kate Bishop (Mrs L J Lohr) w as, at last advices, playing in Shock-head-ed Peter." * ¥- * It is reported that Mr Sydney Kearv, of the Nance O'Neil Company lost an eye through an accident during the performance of ' Khzabeth" at Auckland. * « fThe Ilcnn Dramatic Coinpam which recently played in Wellington is now in South Australia. * * • Charles Arnold once met Charles Matthews, and this is how it occurred, told in Mr. Arnold's own words — "Once I was a young clerk in a New* York office, and I had to go with one of our clients, a little, clean-shaven man, to mail 20,000 dollars of American securities, which he had purchased through our house. I had to put the securities through, and make an affidavit as to their correct mailing After the business w as over, mv emplo\ er said to me, "Charles, do you know who that gentleman was 9 ' I said I didn't. 'Well, Charles that was Mr Matthews, the great English actor.' That was the only occasion on winch I ever saw Charles Matthews. I never thought then that I should bo an actor myself "

The latest theatrical engagement is that of Harrie Ireland to Arthur Styan, both of the Bland Holt company. They are two of the most able and popular members of a popular company, and are to be heartily congratulated. * ♦ * 'The Pianist's A. B.C. Primer and Guide" is a work that should bo introduced to every household whore music is cultivated or appreciated. I have .lust received a copy from the author, Mr. W. H. Webbe, of Auckland, and find it to he a remarkable compendium of reliable information, didactic and otherwise, m relation to music, and more particularly with reference to pianoforte playing. In fact, the author has been far too diffident in his choice of a title. If he had called it a cyclopaedia of music there womlcl be warranty for it. * * * On every page the work bears the impress of thoroughness, and the style is so luminous that the dullest student cannot fail to profit by it. Separate chapters are devoted to "Sound," "Nota,tion," "General Faults in Piano Pla>ing," 'Time, Force, and Expression Marks, Abbreviations, etc.," "Scales mid Intervals," "Touch," "Accentuation, Phrasing, Rhythm," "The Art of Practising," and so on through twenty-four chapters and 750 pages. Nothing seems to be overlooked. Musical fo -« " aie explained, maxims, hints, and advice to pupils from the greatest masters are quoted, musical history and biography are copiously treated, and there is, of course, a vocabulary of musical terms with pronouncing guide. There is even an up-to-date list of suitable music to play. No one who professes to have even a nodding acquaintance with music should be without this useful, handsome, and well-printed volume. For pupils and teachers it is invaluable. It may be procured at the Dresden Piano Warehouse; price, 7s 6d.