NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 141, 5 September 1927, Page 15

NEW REGENT

“JOY AND JAZZ” DRAWS CROWDS Encore after encore was demanded or the performers at the New Regent Theatre on Saturday night, when a great audience, packed to the doors, grew wildly enthusiastic over the host “Jazz and Joy” features which the enterprising management is offering during its special season. There is not a dull moment on the programme, so appropriate are pictures, vaudeville and music, to the special season of joyous revelry. That the fascination of the entertainment has spread among all Auckland theatre-goers can be judged by the crowded houses on Friday and Saturday, and the healthy appearance of the box-plan for the remainder of the season. All about the Regent is an atmosphere of happiness —clean and invigorating. It is felt when the specially attractive gazette is first screened; it grips further when the riotous comedy unfolds its hun-dred-and-one absurdities; and by the time the audience reaches the “jazzmania” section, it finds itself under the spell of the spirit of merriment. Then up goes the curtain on a stage ablaze with colour, and the new operatic orchestra, augmented by the Regent ballroom band, sets everyone swaying to a medley of the latest hits. Maurice Guttridge is there, playing a banjo in one number, the piano in another, but always having a grip of his band and infuses his moods into it. Out from the wings come “The Joy Boys,” Tilton and West, and there follows a series of popular songs and some comical patter. The end of “jazzmania” is a glamour of sound and syncopation, that almost brings the audience to its feet, and nought but an encore can stay the demonstration.

The principal picture is a combination of jazz and sadness, tears and laughter. “Cabaret,” the colourful Paramount special, stars glorious golden Gilda Gray, dancing rage of the world, and most of the action takes place in a wonderful night club on Broadway, where Gilda displays some of her most exotic dances. The story concerns a little cabaret dancer whose brother falls among a gang of rogues. A murder mystery plays a big part in the events that follow, and the audience, gripped at one minute by the sensation of the killing and the efforts ot the police to run the slayer to earth, is whirled away the next to the glittering dance floor of the cabaret. Tom .Moore has the role of a detective, and Chester Conklin is Gilda’s funny old father. In view of the great demand now being made for seats, the management advises patrons to book their seats without delaj-.