STAGE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 68

STAGE GOSSIP.

iTaclame Blanche Arral is arranging a concert tcmr for India. Miss May Eeaity is appearing at the Tyne Theatie. Xewcastle-oii-Tyre Mr Philip Newbnry "and Madame Emily Spada will reach Sydney early ihis month. Jean de Laoev is now playing the Jew in "Miss Lancashire, Limited," at the Melbourne Bijou. Mr Claude Whaite, business manager for | Mr Flemming," will pilot the company | through ICew Zealand. During the Julius Knight Feison at the Royal (Sydney), " Raffles" and " The Prisoner of Zenda " will be Tevived. ' Tlie great attraction in the Julius Knight repertoire, "Monei«ur Beaucaire," ha 3 just been revived again In London. Mr Harry Rickarde'e Vaudeville Company are en route for New Zea.la.nd 1 , ant? °™ filling in time for a while in Tasmania. (

Madame Cla.ra Butt and Mr KennerleyRuraford are to give a series of concerts in Sydney between March 14 and 21. The Wheelers trick cyclists, have just returned to Australia, from a two years' tour in the East with Hnrmston's Circus. Mrs Langtry. after a lengthy absence from the stag", i 9to appear phorily with a new play written by Mr Hnrt'ey Manners. Word from Boston is to £he> effect hat Paderewski has accepted the post of director of the Conservatoire of Music at Warsaw. Hugh Ward and his family and most of ™» , En ? lisil members of the Willoughby- \\ aid Company have sailed for England. Mr Alfred Woods and Miss Maud Williamson, now in South Africa, have fixed upon • Easter as the time for their return .o Australia. Martha Gwynne (Mrs George Dean), once of the Royal Comic Opera Company, has been seiiously ill in a Melbourne private hospital. Mr Herbert Flemming has secured .he Australian rights of a new play. "His Wife's *nmi.y, which will be reproduced in London this year Over 100 000 people in Melbourne have witnessed "Humpty-Dumpty" at Her Majesty's Theatre. It has now almost reached its seventieth performance. Dr Richter has discovered a. wonderful boy pianist in Ernst Lengyel yon Bagota, a Vienna boy of 14 years of _ age, and haw in- . troduced him to London. Sir Oliver Lodge says chat Beerbohm • Tree's success once more disproves Jie verity- of Manager Chatterton's dictum that Shakespeare spells Ruin. Mr John F. Sheridan's company has completed its season at Newcastle, and will now -tour New Zealand #rith "The Earl and the Girl," and other pieces. Alfred Sutro's powerful study of modern temperaments, "John Glayde's Honour." will he done for the first time in Melbourne at the Princess's Theatre on March 7. Pat Bathurst has returned to Australia, from a four years' visit to the Old Country, where he was singing with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, and also et concerts. A Stradivariua violin, dated 1695, fetched £459 at an auction sale- in London on Decem- , ber 10. Two other instruments by the same master brought £410 and £400 respectively. When the Beatty-M'lntosh Company ultimately opens its season at the Sydney Criterion, it will produce a new play, by. Walter Howard, entitled, "Why Men Love Women." Allan Hamilton has secured the Australian rights of Arthur Shirley's latest drama, "The Spider and the Fly." which will be sent through New Zealand about the end of April. Mdlle. Dolores has lately been appearing 1 with great success in Edinburgh. She is to tour the United States about the middle of the year, and will "subsequently visit Scandinavia. Florence Young rejoins the Comic Opera Company in time for the production of the "Lady Dandies" in Sydney. Miss Olive GocFwin will take Miss Young's place in the Melbourne panto. Mr Harold Ash ton, who saw "Peter Pan" . while on his American visit, says. "It is ' the play of the century." H% expects it /O be an enormous success when staged in Australia and New Zealand. Mr George Miatheson, the advance manager of J. C. Williamson's "Brewster's Millions" Company, who was unable, through illness, to proceed to Australia with the company, ia making rapid progress towards reeoveiry. Some of Bland Holt's plays have cost •■ immense sums to produce. In one case £1000 was paid for the mere rights to the book. In many cases quite £2000 has been spent before the curtain could be raised. Bert Royle, the representative of the J.C W. firm in New Zealand, ha« made sev«rsJ very important bookings of late, and the engagements already entered into will carry the firm's operations in New Zealand past 1910. Miss May Moore Duprez. w.ho was so great a suc<;q s s under Mr Rickards's banner a Titt'e time back. will, it is said, revisit Australia in the near future to fill the title role in the new musical comedy, "Miss Hook of Holland " Miss Florence Baines, who for many weeks amused Sydney audiences in "Miss Lancashire, Limited." says that what has impressed her most in Australia has been "the marvellous dressing of the women in every class." The members of Mr de Groen'e Vice-regal Orchestra. on Friday evenings at Hia Majesty's Theatre, presented 1 their conductor, Mr Horace Watts, with A greenstone souvenir, "s a memento of his first viait'-to New Zealand. New performers in Mr James Brennan's National Vaudeville Company at the Gaiety Theatre, Melbourne, are the Stagpoole Trio, sketch artists ; Carden Wilson, mimic and " impersonator; and Delavale and Gilbert, patter comedians. One of the funniest and most striking' features of "The Babes in the Wcod," produced at Drurj Lane on Boxing Night, is a "procession of giants," which starts with, the veriest pigmy, to wind up with a wonderful monster some 20ft high. Paderewski's tour of America is proving an enormous success in spite of the financial crisis. He grave his sixth recital in New York on December 21 to a crowded house. Paderewski <=hortly visits South America, which he will tour in a special railroad oar. Mi<=9 Je<=sie MncLachlan has abandoned her Indian ton', and has pone straight on to England Whilst in Western Australia Miss MacLachlan injured her right ankle, and cabled to her manager, Mr Frederic Shipman, that she could not make any appearances in India. Charles Waldron, who was seen here in '•The Squaw Man" and "The Virginian" ifi appearing in "The Warrens of Virginia," a> new play produced at the Belasco Theatre, New York, recently, which scored a great success. Waldron's acting as_ an heroic lieutenant is prais-ed by the critics. The original MS. of Paganini's compositions have been discovered among the archives of the Perugia municipality. Mr Pierpont Morgan has offered £40,000 for 10 of them, and Mr Russell, an English banker, £12 000 for the other five, but the Italian Government wishes to keep them. Mr A. Hoss a partner m Pollard's Juvenile Opera Company, has arrived in Melbourne from New Zealand. He is arranging a six. months' Australian tour for the company. The American musical comedy, "The Isle of Bong Bong," is one of the latest additions to the repertoire of this youthful combination. In San Francisco a wonderful genius has been " discovered " in Miss Adela Verne, who, critics declare, will thia season become the great musical sensation of America. Mass Verne is not unknown in Sydney, foi . she was the solo pianist with Madpme AJva wherr that singer visited that part of the -world. Three of the leading London theatres were to produoe pantomimes last year. At Drnry Lane it was to be "The Babes 1 in the Wood," at the Lyceum "Robingon Crusoe," and at the Adelphi "Aladdin." Including suburban and provincial theatres, over 100 pantomimes were being got ready in Great Britain during the early part of December. "Trie M':mmy and the Humming Bird," a four-act com-edy vrhich, Mr Herbert Flemming'g Dramatic Company ia now playinf in the North. Island, has had 1 an enormou*

Aoccess elsewhere. It ran for 370 nights at iVyndhajn's Theatre, London, and is at present being played throughout America by no fewer than five different companies. Messrs Meynell and Gunn's Comic Opera and Musical Comedy Company is 26 strong, including M_esdameß Ruth Lincoln, Eve.rline Orford, AJice Russon, Hellen Rose, and Messrs Edwin Brett, William Cromwell, Arthur Appleby, Tom Payne, C. N. Wenman, Victor Champion, Vernon Davidson, and Roland ■ .JBottomby, with Mr C. St. John Denton as general manager The well-known Italian operatic singer Florence Constantino, jealous of the fame of his distinguished countryman, Signor Caruso, has challenged the great tenor to a singing contest. Constantino proposes that each shall stake £2000, and the judges shall be selected by mutual consent. Caiuso (according to tiie Central News Agency) has not yet replied to the challenge. Italian opera was introduced' into France in 1645, when Cardinal Mazarin secured a company of Italian opera singers for the amusement of the Queen, ,Anne of Austria. This company, however, did not satisfy the tastes of the French people, and was severely criticised for attempting to produce effects more -with decorations and scenic accessories than by giving a dramatic presentation of a play. Miss Leech, assisted by c number of wellknown artists, has arranged to give an elocutionary, dramatic, and musical recital in His ■Majesty's Theatre on March 9. Miss Leech herself will give several Shakespearian scenes in costume, «.nd the other ladies and gentlemen will contribute items. A good evening's entertainment may be expected, as the names on the list are- those of favourites who have often appeared with acceptance before the public. On the recommendation of a deputation from the Suburban Theatre Managers' Association, the London County Council has decided to delete from all future licenses granted by it the condition prohibiting smoking in the auditorium of theatres. The suburban managers pleaded the difficulty ■which they had in competing with music halls, and asked that they, tco. might be allowed to permit smoking while performances were going on. Miss Hilda Spong is doing well in New York with her playlet, "Kit." Miss Maggie Moore is with Mr Jefferson in "Rip Van Winkle." Mr George Majeroni has had greet success at the New York Majestic in "The Top of the World." Miss Irene Outtrim, who suffered considerably in the , Ban Francisco earthquake, and after a short visit to her home in Victoria returned to America, is with Miss Henrietta Crosman. She recently married ~sLt Booth, an American actor. The £500 prize offered by Messrs G. Bicordi and Co., the London music publishers, for the best lyric opera in English by a British-born composer has been •warded to Mr Edward Woodall Taylor, of Cambridge, for his opera entitled "The Angelus." The operas "Helen" and "Sita" ■were placed next in order of merit. The summaries of librettos sent in numbered 391, out of which 52 were found suitable for operatic treatment. Of these 29 were set to music and finally sent in for competition. "Faultless in front of the stage" is the ■verdict of authorities , on the now nearly completed Theatre- Royal, Christchurch (says "Prompter"). This does not imply faults behind the stage, but they would be a matter appealing not to the average theatre-goer, but to the mechanician, the stage manager, »nd incidentally to the profession. . . . The Managerial and stage rooms «re complete and comfortable, the cloak rooms and lavatories are adequate and accessible, and the safety and comfort of patrons appear to be assured. A movement is on foot in London to shorten concerts, especially orchestral concerts, to a maximum length of two hours. " J>t Richter has arranged the programmes of the* London Symphony Orchestra on th:s basis, and his action seems to be generally approved. The fact is, that to listen to really good music involves a continuous effort of concentrated attention which cannot be very long maintained. Mr Marshall-Hall, of Melbourne, has always recognised this, and has rarely exceeded two hours in his orchestral concerts. "You ask me how I became a singer," svys Madame Tetrazzini in the London Daily Mail. "I am afraid that I cannot tell you. When I go on the stage to play Violetta or Lucia I simply forget all about the audience, and — how do you say — 'lose' myself in the part and the music. The other night there were read tears on my cheeks. But how to sing! That is a question I have never thought about. To be a singer, you must first t:av« a voice and then a 'heart.' If you have i'ieso you will then know how to be one without asking anyone. If you have neither, I advise you to try something else."