“ROSE MARIE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 231, 19 December 1927, Page 15

“ROSE MARIE”

OPENS ON WEDNESDAY This morning at Lewis R. Eady and Son, Ltd., tliere was a large demand for 10s dress circle and stalls seats for the grand gala opening performance of “Roie Marie,” which takes place on Wednesday night next and for the three subsequent evenings and for the Saturday afternoon matinee. It is stated that the booking is not quite so large for the opening night as for subsequent representations and there are still h large number of central positions in the dress circle and stalls, which may be selected at the box office. J. C. Williamson, Ltd., has not spared expense in the production of “Rose Marie,’ ’so that in the scenery, dresses, mounting, orchestra and ballet, the very best lias been secured. In addition to scenic splendours there is enchanting music. The startling Totem Pole dance is one of the most spectacular scenes ever staged, and stands out as speaking testimony to the beauty, in face and figure, of these charming girls who live under the Southern Cross, and to their lissomness and their assiduity to training and practice. This extraordinary action song, in which 50 girls not only sing and dance, but perform surprising evolutions with wonderful precision, comes near the end of the first act. Each of the dancers is dressed in the bizarre colours and symbols of the Indian totems. Led by Miss Beste they begin the most intricate evolutions, that are as unexpected as they are wonderful. At one moment their bodies are lightly swaying like gaily coloured flowers bowing to the breeze, the next they are capering madly like elfish fairies. Then they form in a semicircle, move in a peculiar snake-like manner that resembles a huge writhing caterpillar, and after suddenly becoming erect, sink to the stage like giant blooms falling before the sickle. This massed dance is performed under the auspices of huge totems on the stage, and in the background is a magnificent panorama of scarped gorge, shimmering lake, and swirling river in the Canadian Rockies.

There is an appealing love story running through “Rose Marie,” dramatic and humorous incidents, and the solos and concerted pieces are in every way pleasing. This recordbreaking musical comedy will be interpreted by a company of all-star artists,, including Harriet Bennet, Frederic Bentley, Reginald Bandy and Stephane Beste.

Lon Chaney’s famous “mystery box,” the best-appointed make-up case ever devised, will at last be seen on the screen. Chaney has decided to use it in his role as a detective in “The Hypnotist.” - He explains that to bo a truly successful detective, one would have to own such a make-up outfit.