“BROWN SUGAR”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 120, 11 August 1927, Page 17

“BROWN SUGAR”

RENEE KELLY AS CHORUS GIRL “What is the difference between white and brown sugar?” This is the question put to Renee Kelly by her aristocratic brother-in-law, the Hon. Archie Wentworth, excellently played by Ronald Ward. “Brown Sug;ar,” the title of the latest production at His Majesty’s Theatre in Auckland, describes Stella Deering-, chorus girl of the Palladrome the role interpreted by Miss Kelly . Good-natured, light-hearted, impulsive, and unrefined! Poor Stella was all that. Under the circumstances it was quite impossible for her to show her best side to the aristocratic family of her husband. In fact, it takes three whole acts of rippling comedy-melodrama before Stella’s real self is revealed to her countess mother-in-law. Miss Kelly is the personification of youth as the chorus girl. She alternately laughs and storms her way through “Brown Sugar,” never for one moment losing the sympathy of her audience. Ronald Ward is her candid young brother-in-law, who spends his time accumulating gambling debts and eating cake. The role of the eventempered Mrs. Cunningham, companion to the temperamental Stella, was entrusted to Ep-ima Temple, whose appearance again last night was the signal for applause. Margaret Hamer was sufficiently frigid as the countess, while the earl, her apron-stringed husband, was Jackson Wilcox. The catty Lady Honoria was none other than Gwen Burroughs, just back from her American tour. Hylton Allen has only a small part in “Brown Sugar,” that of a brusque house manager, but it was exceedingly well interpreted. Others in the cast include Reginald Wykeham, Peggy Willoughby, Ellis Irving, Charles Smith, Reginald Long, Jack Dunne and Dorothy Marler.