Dramatic and Musical

Free Lance, Volume V, Issue 239, 28 January 1905, Page 16

Dramatic and Musical

FULLER'S people, at Hi> Major's Thcat.il>, have every reason to be satisfied with the succor the !),„,[,!] comedy, M\ Sweetheait," has achieved It ha*, sei\ed to -show the \eisatility ot the vaudeville artiste* who ha\e made up the caste. Ceitanih besides t.he necessary acfemg. the piece gn a-> ample opportunities fai xong singing in the adtis>tes' best st>le. On Anniversaiy night, despite the number ot entertainments in full swing, His Majesty's was full to the doors,, and the piece was liailcd with enthusiasm. • • * To-night (Fudaj), the ohnef atti action is a\eiv laige one. Abomah, the colouied* giantess, who offers £5 to any poison who can span from tip to tip at hei extended' aims, will be on view, and will sing. An interesting personal note about this young lady (foi she v-> still in the twenties) appears om the fou,ith page of thvs issue. Miss Abomah did a successful season of eleven w eeks at Melbourne. One of the lady s special beds is on view at Mr. Henry Fieldei's shop in Manners-street, and', .in will be seen it is built to accommodate anv^h whose height 1 anges between 7ft. a-id Bft Mlss Abomali is to he supported bv a full vaudeville company ... The Fisk Jubilee Singers concluded a veiy successful >^eiieb ot concerts at the Town Hall on Monday night. Perhaps t.he chief feature of this highly enjoyable season wa*, the singing of the Fisk's tenor, Mr. Tisdale, cry reminibcent of poor old Wallace Kmg with lru> Sally m Our Alley." Business was good, but it takes a big audience to make even a tolerable show in the Town Hall. • * * The Jeffries-Knight Ccn:panv, wluch wound up what the management say > was a lecord season, at the Opera House, on Satuiday night last, deserved the warm welcome and splendid patronage aocon-ded. Both the principals— particul.il ly the cultured Miss Jeffriesheld the attention of the big audiences, and impiessed them with the earnestness and natui alnese of their acting. In such widely dissimilar plays as "Monsieur Beaucaire" and "The Sign of the Cross" botli achieved distmOt successes, and Mr Knight leaves a memory behind for his successful fe«t of elocution in ' Eveivman " • • * Montgomery's New Specialty Company, which opened at the Opera House on Monday night, l> the stiongeeti the enterprising Edward has shown us. The biograph lecoidb were chiefly lernaiikable for then clearness, and the inclusion ot a fine film fallowing the whole process of an American railway sticking up" and robbery. The Amei leans do these things perfectly. To obtain such a film, it is necessary to ailange with a lailroad company for the u^e of its 'road, 1 ' with actors who shall be expert on a train oi on hor-eback, with several hundred passengers, with people who can die naturally when shot bv desneradoes, and with railway servants who can act as well as drive engines or send telegrams. The whole thing is very thrilling, and absolutely natural. * » • The "life-boat" film, being of British ongin, was hardily so complete, but creates much interest, especially at this iuncture, when Wellington is thinking about getting; a boat for it-self. Zeno is possibly the best juggler who comeis here, if Cinquevalh is excepted, and Ivr "turn," assisted by an especially clever "dummy," is wonderfully smart. Also, he is breezy and smiling, andi achieves feats that are distinctly novel. The always-welcome Tod Callaway, true humourist, is wound up to concert pitch, and is really funny, which ls the highest praise to be bestowed, on a comic singer. Mr. Harry Hall likewise sings comic songs. Thei coloured pictures, illustrating songs sung by Mr Montgomery, were exoelleant, andi the singing of Miss Blanche and Hettie Hargood (Miss Blanche is new to the concert stage, and has fhe makings of a. good voice) was appreciated 1 . The usual bdograph stag© illusions and acted comedies were new, and the show a? a whole a goodl one.

The opening bill of the forthcoming diamatic season which the Messi*. MacMnhon are providing at the Upei a House is Mr George Daiiell's play, "I he Sunny South," which enjoys the distinction of being the only typical Australiaai stage story that has ever had a substantial mn m London. «>• aMa ' M nuaitem* of the theatrical world o± London it was declared that "something new undCT the sun" in dramatic literature had been struck. * * * The play is redolent of Austral «n mining camp life, and breathes of the budi. Each of its five acts is said to thrill with incident and episode, and to be replete with, vivid stage pictures, culminating in the "holding up" of the train, and the final fiieht in the bu«h An exceptionally capable and powerful company of well-known actors and actresses vill give effect to the large cast of characters of the 1 season, the second of which will be a powerful dramatisation of Mane Coielh's work "The Sorrows of Satan," which, i.n turn. will be followed by ''Transported for Life." Box-plans aieopen at the Diesel en * • * John F. Sheridan, having t ©organised hii* company, commenced a tour of New South Wales at Albury, on New Year's Nisrht. "Victona will follow (Continued on page IS.)

Unkind cut from a London source — "A Maori play is ttoi eatened f m the London season. We binoaieJy nope the rumour is untrue." • • • The late Dan Leno drew from the Drury Lane management, dluring the last few yea is, of Ins, life, the oomfortable sum' of £250 a week. » * Mr. Maria B Wilks, the oldest know n actress in the United States', is diead, at 80 She was the anginal Widow Melnotte with Edwin Forrest, in America. • « • The London County Council has issued a new regulation, prohibiting smoking in theaties— paiticulaily in the actors' dressing-rooms Why paiticulairly? • • • An Australian critic, who has got back to his Sydney office- after visiting New Zealand," sneaks of "the villainous wall paper" in Wellington Opera House. T think it is heroic. • ♦ ♦ Nance O'Neil finds heir keenest critic* at home. Most of the American papers make no bones about scathing the tragedienne. She is battling to overcome their antagonism. • • • The Japanese and 1 Russian foices fought a terrible battle on Hampstead Heath last month, and the slaughter was horrible. The "genuine" cinematograph, films are on their way to New Zealand. • * * Hobart "Clapper"; — "Abomah, the negro giantess, is still going high in Mainland's capital city." Abomah has not vet shut out the light of day in this location. She merely threatens from afar • • • Miss May Beatty swooned during the first act of "Rose of the Riviera," at Auckland, during the New Year's season. Her understudy. Miss Morgan, took up her part, and made a complete success of it, especially m "Egypt" and "My Cosy Comer." Mr. George Guldens, of "Aie You a Mason?" fame, in a London interview, says he found Australian girls "fiank, full of go, le^s. assertive than fair Americans, but moie outspoken and unaffected than the English maiden." You see, George is probably coming back. • • * At a recent ''command night" at the Covent Garden Theatre, London, the following prices of admission weie charged-— Boxes, £6 6s, £4 4s, £2 2s; orchestra stalls, £2 2s and 1 £1 lls bd , pit circle, £1 Is balcony stalls, £1 Is, amphitheatre stalls, 10s 6d and 7s 6d , gallery (unreserved), ss. A "deadhead" would "cut some ice" 1 take it at such prices. • « • Not bad for a music-hall letter even though he was king of them all. Canon Curtis, at the 0:1 aye-side of Dan Leno "Out late brother never did i" act or said a word that could offend the lnn-t fastidious eve 01 ear If eve'v actor and singer bad as oleqn a reco 1 d wh^f an uplifting fhe theatre and m' Tt - p- I^ l ' might be to thf> vf»«t n)^«o« wl 1^ u "lif. lv n«!=emble within th^ir W9.lK'" • • • Four impoilite Americans, at New York's. Garrick, "guyed" Miss H'lda Spong so relentlessly that she almost collapsed. The manager simply came on, and glared 1 at the four, who w ere in a box with four ladies. The men wilted, and the women blushed for the first time in their lives, the people applauded, and the pilay pioeeeded. What's the matter with a fire-hose on such occasions ? • • • "Deadhead" verse from America With pose and mien affected, He sat in X 13, And haggled and dissected The drama scene by scene, He "guyed" each situation, He magnified the flaws, He mocked the presentation, He stinted his applause. He 01 lticised the players AVith unbecoming glee. He was a prince of players — And he'd been admitted free • ♦ » At a small vaudeville house near NewYork the following notice is handed to eveiy perfonmer on Monday mornings "Remembei we are catering to refined lady audiences, so be on your guaad every minute, and do not use any slang or vulgar phrases, or, m fact, any suggestive sayings not even mild ones Let your general conduct be extreimely polite, foi we have a critical a/ud'ience to cater to. Out T>read and butted is yours." That circular might do some good if circulated among New Zealand variety people.