Dramatic And Musical

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 139, 28 February 1903, Page 7

Dramatic And Musical

By Footlight.

MADAME Melba made her debut in the Empire City on Monday night, and sang to a houseful of guineas. It is computed that there was fully £1400 in the Opera House., which is a New Zealand record, and as, on the same evening FitzGerald's big tent, on the reclamation, was quite full, and Williamsons "Circus Girl" had a levee crowded enough to make even Pete Hughes open his eyes, Wellington must have been letting itself go with a vengeance. Then, there was G eorg e Dean's little show, in the Choral Hall, which was also reduced to the necessity of "standing-room only." There can be no flies on Wellington certainly when the shekels are poured out so lavishly for entertainment. • • * However, to hark back to Melba. There can be no doubt that she realised expectations, high though the' tariff may have raised them. She was down on the programme for only three items, but their quality was so good that the audience demanded an encore every time, and, by sheer persistence, gained their point. The diva's first number was the florid aria, "Ardon gl'incensi," from "Lucia,," which was sung to a flute obligato. It is an exacting piece of bra^ vura music, rendered all the more showy and difficult by an ornate cadenza, and it served to display the faultless method and great capabilities of the singer, as well as her exceptional compass. •" * • All the rich vocal embellishments of this piece were executed with perfect ease — shakes, roulades, scale passages, intervals being given w itn admirable finish and brilliancy of treatment. It was not the power of the voice that surprised and charmed you, but its limpid clearness and freshness, its perfect evenness of quality, its remarkable flexibility, and its richness and' roundness of tone. The transition from register to register w-as smoothness itself, and the carrying power of the voice was/ so great that even in pianissimo passages every note and word could be distinctly heard at the furthest parts of the buildine. ♦ * • Madame Melba was beautifully dressed, of course. Her costume displayed her elegant figure to the greatest advantage. A parure of diamonds clasped her neck, while her hair was simply arranged, and was quite devoid of jewels or other artificial adornment. Her manner was both gracious and quite unaffected, and the rapport between singer and audience was quickly established. * * * In response to the encore, following the operatic aria, Madame Melba sang the ballad "Three Green Bonnets " by Gu^ d'Hardelot. Her greatest performance, however, and most signal triumph was the mad soena from the "Hamlet" of Ambroise Thomas, the French composer, whose "Mignon" is better known in the colonies. In it the cantatrice thrilled and electrified her audience bv the strong dramatic feeling she infused into the music. The adagio passage was particularly impressive.. There was a tumult of applause, and many "bravos," at the close. "Comin' thro' the Rye" was sung with great taste and archness in acknowledgment. Melba's remaining numbers were Arditi's bright and attractive valse song, "Se Saran Rose," charmingly sung, and Tosti's "Good-Bye," in which she again impressed the audience by her pow er of expression. I fancy, on the whole, that Dolores is fully Melba's equal in ballad singling, and, perhaps, surpasses hei in some points. Melba's forte is dramaitio music, in which she. is ttruly great. Her vocal endowment is affluent, and her artistio culture is altogether delightful. It is a revelation and an education to hear so accomplished a singer. * * * Mr. Walter Kirby was warmly received, and made a very decided 'hit." His sw eet and even tenor voice has matured, his style has improved, and his three soners — "Angels Guard Thee" (Godard), "I'll Sing Thee Son*cs of Araby" (Clay), and "Shan don Bells" (encore) were given with singular clearness of enunciation and facility of phrasing. He w T as encored each time. Miss Elva Rogers i« a mezzo-soprano of much promise, and her rendering of "The Bonnie

Banks o' Loch Loraon' '' deserved the encore it received. Sicnonna Sassoli, a modest little maiden in short frocks, aad with her dark Italian, hair hanging down her back, charmed the audience with her harp solos. Mr. Fredenc Griffiths is a capable flautist, and Miss Llewela Davies and Miss Natalie Dawson showed themselves to be first-class paanistes. * • * Mr. J. C. Williamsons Musical Comedy Company filled every seat' m the Theatre Royal on Monday night with that hilarious production, "The Circus Girl." The "Circus Girl" is just as inconsequent as any other female who has figured, in this, popular style of entertainment recently, and, in consequence:, she scores heavily. It entails no hard thinking to follow the plot, such as it is. Gary Paris is the' scene, and the whole of the characters are afflicted with an abiding giddiness that leads them into the intricate paths of flirtation at every point. * * * Miss Rose Musgrove, as Lucille. a slack-wire artist, and Mr. Fred. Graham, as a bar-tender with a tendency to stringhalt and St. Vitus's dance, are the pair responsible for the hardest work and the most artistic rendering of the best stuff in the comedy. Mr. Graham's first' appearance is in the character of a waiter manufacturing a "champagne cocktail," and he gets the ear of the crowd during his flippant song and holds' it right up till the curtain drops. The dumb show, during which Miss Musgrove, with an " opera " hat on, obscures the view of the opera-glass-armed Graham the agony of the male, the joy of the female, is a delicious satire on the prevailing feminine disposition to crowd out a stage with flowery headgear, and the hearts of the men were reioiced when the comedian seized the hat, and wrecked it utterly. * * * Miss Lillian Digges, as Dora Weniyss, the usual innocent little thing from, school, who loves a perverter of the truth, who is an artist, but has told her he is a "cannon king" at the circus, is refreshing and piquant, and wins no end of applause Miss Di«ges's " Don't you Know" song, with her frequently stodgy lovef. Hon. Reggae Gower (Mr. E. Mozar), is exceedingly well sung, and her dance in the semi-diaphanous draperies always worn by young English ladies in Paris is iust as sweet as anything Lilian does. By the way, Miss Mus^rrove sings a coon song, the chorus of which is an Australian "000-ee" repeated several times. I expect the "coo-ec" has been transplanted to old Georgia, at Tennessee, or w 7 herever "Ma Babbv" comes from. The singer is worthy of a better song. * * * La Favonta, "the Circus Girl" (Miss Elsie Moore), trips around in a nice green riding habit or black spangles, enslaves aristocrats, and sings "Queen of the Circus" rather well. She is reminiscent of Maud Beatty before that sohd ' boy" was quite so solid. That terrific chorus, "Houp-la," nearly raised the rafters, but it was soul inspiring. as also were all the others. Mr. C. R. Bantock, as the particularly amorous old Englishman, Sir Titus Wemyss, is a sufficiently exaggerated aristocrat to satisfy the tastes of the most exacting. His conversation is mostly composed of • Oh, but you are a little lovebird!" and he is evidently in Paris for female conquest and other business m connection with the Home Office. Mr. James Hughes is distinctly good as the Circus Ringmaster, and his song is one of the best things in the piece. » • * Lady Diana Wemyss (Miss Blanche Wallace) is a gorgeous picture from the pases of Debrett, and is as unsuspeotmg as a wife need be. The circus r>roprietor, Duvelli (Mr. Arthur Lissant), has nothing to do but quarrel with his 1 winsome wife (Miss Aggie Kelton). Both these parts are capitally taken, and Miss Kelton's song fetches the house every time. The dances are excellent, the best on the bill being Mr. Fred. Lester's umbrella song and dance, supported by a very fine cthcwus 1 , with dainty parasols. There is a commissaire of police, who would lose his billet if he existed. When the principals are in his office, giving information about something or other, this exalted policeman (Mr. Maurice Dudley) informs thei audience that he is w aitmg for a bugle call to herald the birth of a son. • • • The bugle calls, a meie gensd'arme rashes in, and has the honour to announce — twins The bugle calls again. "Sac-r-ie' It calls some more. I must depart, and &top that infernal bugle '" The audience roars Altogether, the ' Circus Girl" is> hilarious, frequently being clever. The bulk of the music is pleasant, and some of it is quite stirring Judging by the houses, the laughter, and the applause, this musical comedy is what the people want. They ha\ c it in The Circus Girl."

Mr. Frank Thornton's Comedy Company opened to a house that evidently did not know what to expect on Tuesday evening. The same people have laughed themselves hoarse at previous ' comedies of error," but very 1 arely have the shrieks been so genuine, so sustained, and so worthy of the reason as those which shook the house when "the other John Smith" was "Facing the Music " on Tuesday night. * * * The basis of tlhis clever work is slight, but the resulting "situations," of which there is one every half-minute, are so ingeniously devised, so faultlessly maniaged, and so ludicrous, that the sphynx might crack its adamantine jaw in ecstatic laughter thereat. Mr. Daimler's Smith does not leave home for long. Indeed, the series of events that chasten John eventuated during an evening and the following day, and all in his own flat. * * * If John had not helped an actress in a fog. and if footpads had not taken John's purse, which the actress recovered and brought to Mrs. Smith wife of a clergyman. John Smith, living on the same flat., there would be no 1 occasion for screams of laughter. The trials of the unregenerate Smith, (Mr. Thornton) date from that moment, and there is no dull second thereafter. Mr. Thornton has material from which he is capable of squeezing out every ounce' of fun that is in it, and he squeezes at it so naturally that you feel you have no right to writhe in merriment when a poor man is confronted with all sorts of hideous possibilities and the wrong wife. * # Dick Desmond (Mr. Galwey Herbert) w ho is constantly choking with laughter at the complicated state of his friend's affairs, is an adept at simulated merriment. When he laughs the audience soreams, and Mr. Herbert should be about as sore as the audience when the curtain finally drops. Mr. John Denton, as the spineless parson, John Smith, burlesques the character of a clergyman with distinct power. His sanctimony is a thing to be remembered, and when, in the complication's, he is accused by various people of beinlg "Slippery Sam." a criminal, and hi® wife (the other Smith's trouble) as the "Duchess of Battersea " one of the "gang" of thieves, his acting is eixtremely good. » • ♦ Mr. Alexander Bradley, as Colonel Smith, the uncle of the unfortunate, gives a careful and polished picture of a military man and is indispensable in, plunging his nephew into difficulties. Mr Joseph Wilson, as Duff ell, the addlepated detective, is sufficiently sturaid to merit all the fun and mystery he. helped to cause. Miss Vera Fordyce. as the troubled Smith's wife, who arrives from Dover, to find that no one believes hier to be the wife of her husband, is a fine ecxaniple of a stately woman who supposes herself to be wronged. She has many chances of showing her unusual talent, and her costume is a. joy. * • • Miss Leonie Norbury, as the Rev. John Smith's misunderstood wife, is fresh and piquant. Her meeting with the burlesque parson, and the use she' makes of her fine opportunities, leave a very pleasing impression. Mrs. Walter Hill, as the 'cute house-keep-er (Mrs. Ponting), in the Smith household, is genuinely clever, and her meeting with Parson Smith, in which she shocks that limp cleric with her views on horseracing, is very fine. Shortly, one can think of nothing that would enhance the eixcrutiatina;ly farcical nature of the piece, and there are no flaws in the way it is handled by a company each member of which is so happily cast. The breezy nature of the curtain raiser, "A Test Match," gives the audience the neces>sary "pipe opener," preparing them for the great demands on their staying powers under the influence of the brightest bit of laugh-uroducer that has happened along here. » ♦ • De Koven'si romantic opera of "Robin Hood" has caught on in Sydney, and is proving very popular. Ajnongst the leading numbers are a wedding-bell song (with chorus), which has a flavour of Mascagni and a dash, of "Les Cloches de Corneiville, a sestette and dance called "The Song of the Cobblers," and an anvil song. * # * 'The Fortune Teller" is also quiteithe rage in Sydney. It is* sand to be a splendid tonac after "A Chinese Honeymoon," The Thirty Thieves," "The Belle of New York," and other afflictions of that sort. Madame Slapoffski and Mr. Lempriere Pringle are the leading vocalists. At matinees May Beatty replaces Madame Slapoffski, and Josephine Stanton understudies May Beatty. T * * Now that Wm. Elton, the popular opera bouffe artist, is dead, all sorts of reminiscences are coming to light. For instance, he' was "Lurcher" one night to massive Alice Barnett's society dame in "Dorothy." In the scene

where the lady, having missed Lurcher, turns about seeking him, and asks "Where has he gone?" a voice in the gallery yelled. "Perhaps yer a' stajndin' on 'im, Miss!" The house caved in at once. Among Madame Melba's collection of autograph photographs of celebrities is one inscribed : "An Earnest Admirer — Kit. of Khartoum." (Continued on page 20.)

Melba, it is s&'d, has cleared over £30,000 out of her Australian tour to date. • • • The knowing people over in Melbourne say that Amy Castles cleared £5000 by heir concerts in Australia! last year. * • • Of a sudden, the Great Prima Donna Cried, "Goodness, my voice is a goner'" But a Cat in the wings Cried, "I know how she sings," And finished the solo with honour. Of the three Sydney actresses who joined Wilson Barrett's company only one survives (says "Critic") — Edyth Latimer. Miss Helen Thorpe died of consumption, and Mim Maud Latimer of influenza. • * ♦ The repertoire of the "Sweet Nell of Old Drury" Company, which opens in, Dunedin on April 11th, will include "Sweet Nell " "A Royal E-ival," "A Modern Magdalen," "Mice and Men, "Moths," and "Zaza." • • • Pantomime in England is undergoing evolution. The old-fashioned dumb show, known as the comic herlequinade so dear to the heart of childhood — is disappearing, and more elaborate scenic and spectacular effects are taking its place. Mr. George Giddens, who comes to Australia to nlav one of the principal parts in "Are You a Mason," a farce from the German of Laufs and Kranz, is the clever American comedian of that name who starred Australia in 1876 with the child actress, Nell the Californian Diamond. * *■ * The Royal Comic Opera Company aie booming m Sydney just now— packed houses ever- nieht, and a change of programme every week. "Dorothy, "Paul Jones," "The Mikado," and "Robin Hood " have all been presented, and "The Geisha" is to follow. Miss Florence Young is the prima donna. # * * Janet Waldorf and her Shakespearian company found Manila overcrowded theatrically, so went on to Hongkong, where business was moderate. Canton was also visited, and after Christmas the company proposed to leave Hongkong for Shanghai and then to visit Nagasaki and other towns in Japan. • * * Mirano says that he is a heap stronger than Sandow. He is at present strolling round a London music-hall stage holding up a quadruplex bike with four riders on. As Sandow does not accept challenges, _ there is no chance of Mirano proving his claim to being" stronger than the German. # * * A new tenor has arisen in the oei son of Signor Giorgini, who is described as the greatest artist in. ItaJy. Eight months ago he was a fish-hawker at Naples, and it was while crying his wares that the immense power of his voice attracted the attention of a musiclover who gave him lessons, and assisted him to come before the public. * *- - • Miss Cynthia Brooke, who has ]ust arrived on the "other side>" from London under six months' engagement to George Muegrove, for comedy, is described as tall, of fine figure, with a handsome face, rich in expression, light ■- ed by big brow n eyes, and topped bv masses of auskv auburn hair, almost chestnut in its hue. Off the stage she is Mrs. Fred. Latham. * ♦ • The risque French play of "Zaza," and Nellie Stewarts performance of the title role, are the talk of the town m Melbourne just now. Even the Zaza kiss is engaging close attention. It is said to be about 80 over-proof. Also, that it is> the sort of kiss that will cause young men to miss their last trains, and is like procrastination since it is the thief of time'. A propos of the rumours that Harry Rickards intended to leave New Zealand severely alone for the future on account of the poor success of previous ventures, the "Critic" says — "As a matter of fact all three of Rickards's companies made big money in Maoriland. and dates are already booked for a fourth tour through Dunedin, Chnstchurch, Wellington, Auckland, and smaller towns, extending from May Q 'to July 10 of this year." ■ * • ♦ Carlo Dam, the Italian tenoi, who was here with Amy Castles, has made a successful debut at the Metropolitan Opera House. New York, where Madame Sembrich is the "star." The "Tribune" remarks that "Dam bears himself gracefully, if not with complete assurance, looks well, and sings like an Italian gentleman. He sings well, and concerns himself not at all about dramatic declamation. He helps to sweeten the charm of Mme. Sembrich's voice. _ If that voice must be heard in Verdi's music, it is a good thing to have worthy voices associated with it.