Dramatic And Musical

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 108, 26 July 1902, Page 7

Dramatic And Musical

By Footlight.

DIX'S bill of fare, at the Theatre Royal, includes a numbei of choice items, the newest and choicest of which is engineered by Victor Kelly. Sundry crowds view the on-coming of the disreputable, ill-condi-tioned, scrubby. loose-jointed tramp, who is tied up with string, and who would probably faint at the sight of a hairbrush, or a washhand basin. Victor Kelly, the man behind the diseuisp of those frightful rags, is a gem of "puiest ray serene." His slouching acrobatics are a revelation in terpsichorean gymnastics, and his "flips" and handsprings without hands, and his somersaults, in which he spinsi like a corkscrew on his hands, or his shoulder, or on whatever part of his 1 anatomy he lands, are quite unique. His imbecile grin is high, art, and his witticisms between the "flips" are handled with good effect-. He is quite indescribable on paper. See him before he revolves out of sight. Mr. George Geiger, the finished "trick" violinist, is not fairly described as a trickster. He plays with great soul, and, apart from his extraordinary musical gymnastics, his performance is a remarkable one from an artistic standpoint. The great rapidity with which he changes 1 from an imitation of a church or^an to an imitation of a bugle and drums on his violin is not the least wonderful part, of his performance. Both he and the hssoir Kelly are nightly greeted with rousing cheers 1 by the audience. • * • Miss Lizzie Kirk pays the penalty of being a high-class artiste by being recalled time after time every night. During this dainty comedienne's long season, no one has complained that it i<s too long, and she is certainly as great a favourite now as she was when she appeared at Dixs for the first time. Frank Leon is farewelling with his clever vocal items, and cleverer dancing oddities. As before, he winds up with the olog dance that brought him the championship of the world. • » • Both of the Ranger cirls, Florrie the serio, and Stella, the sweet ballad singer, have become fast favourites, the latter having won her way by her eminently artistic vocalisation. Her "Had you but known" is excellent. Miss Oonnie Devereaux, with "Espanita," scored a triumph, this tuneful item suiting the singer's style well. Frank Clarke and Joe Cowan interpolate bright bits of humour, and get a pleasant five minutes out of a oablephone laid on from London to Wellington. A really funny thing is the wind-up farce, "School," where the company disports itself in a comic school of learning with hilarious results. The best proof of the success of Dixs afterpiece is that when it is a good one the crowd stays for "God Save." "School" holds the crowd to the finish. Mrs. Adelene Izett advertises the piogramme of her second elocutionary recital in the Sydney-street schoolroom, on Tuesday evening next the 29th instant. On this occasion, Mrs. Izett will give two recitations herself, as an outcome of numerous requests to that effect. Her contributions will be Ambrose Bierce's "The Horseman in the Sky," and Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott." The rest of .the programme promises to be very attractive. The pupils taking nart are Misses Christine Picot, Ethel Edmeades, Mabel Bannister, Messrs. B. Sutherland, and Master Spencer Booth. v • * "The Messenger Boy," the musical comedy which was the talk of all London over two years ago, and which is still running in the provinces, is to be staged at the Opera House this (Saturday 1 ) evening, by the Pollard Opera Company for the first time in Wellington. It fairly bristles with catchy items, chief amongst them being "They're all after Pott," "Hold Tight, Mother," "In the Wash," and "Massie " Unlike most musical comedies, "The Messenger Boy" shows no weakness in the second act, the whole performance going with a swing from start to finish . * * • All theatre-goers are conversant with Mr. Percy's good work in the past but his Tommy Bang, in "The Messenger Boy" is said to eclipse all his previous efforts. As Captain Pott, Mr. H

Quealy comes in for liisrh praise, his make-up and eccentric dancing being a special feature. Misses Edgar (Mrs. Bang Gertie Campion (Rosa), Connie Buttel (Nora), and Alice Pollard (Isabel Blyth) also have capital parts. # * * Altogether, "The Messenger Boy" should prove the strongest attraction the Pollards have yet given us. All the scenery and wardrobe used in the production of the play was painted and made in New Zealand, and is said to be equal if not superior, to anything yet seen here. New Zealanders will, no doubt appreciate Mr. Pollard's faith m their ability to turn out as good work here as is done in other oolonies. It is unique for a touring: company to get its wardrobe made in New Zealand. In fact. Mr. Pollard holds the distinction of being the first to mount and dress a London success 1 m this colony before it sees the light of day in Australia. * # *• Managerial voice fro up the country 'Our company arrived in X stoney motherless broke. We don't know what our next movement will be The landlord will probably determine He has a. 'casting' vote." « * « ■ There is talk," says a, Svdnev-sider, 'of a small dramatic company being got together here to tour the New Zealand provinces. It should prove successful there, after the wave of vaudeville " The small, and therefore flaoid, dramatic company that will oust the large and robust vaudeville business in New Zealand, will have to hustle more than have the half-dozen stranded shows now scattered throughout this colony. (Continued on page 20.)