“ROSE MARIE”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 236, 24 December 1927, Page 13

“ROSE MARIE”

BALLET HOLDS SHOW UP So nonular nightly has the Totem Ballet proved in “Rose Marie,” now playing before capacity houses at His Majesty’s Theatre in Auckland, that the chorus tends to hold the whole show up. It was the same again last night. Encores were the order of the evening. But when the Totem Girls began their rhythmic swaying, it almost seemed as if there would be no more of “Rose Marie.” The musical comedy bids fair to be one of the most popular ever sent here by the J. C. Williamson firm. Harriot Bennct is most attractive and tuneful in the name part. Frederic Bentley is exceedingly droll as

Hard-Boiled Herman, and on his capable shoulders falls the principal comedy element. The English comedian obtains his results without the slightest apparent difficulty, and his work throughout keeps the audience in a perpetual ripple of merriment. Stephane Deste is Wanda the Indian,

and her dancing, incidentally, is one of the outstanding features in the production. It is part and parcel of “Rose Marie,” and Miss Deste’s popularity is easily understood. Others in the cast include Reginald Danby, Lou Vernon, Yvonne Banvard. James Hughes, George Bryant, Noel Allan and Mabel Lambeth. Last, but certainly not least, is the famous chorus. It is not often that the chorus stands on the same basis in popular favour as the principals. But such is the case with “Rose Marie.” Honours are very evenly divided. “Rose Marie” will be again presented at His Majesty’s Theater this evening. A splendid story is promised with the release of the Fox production “Publicity Madness,” which features Lois Moran and Edmund Lowe. The story is based on “His Picture in the Papers,” one of Anita Loos’s earliest and most successful stories. It concerns the various original methods adopted by an enterprising young man who desires to show his father that he is capable of carrying on the business. A thrilling airplane ride is one of the big features of the film, in which both Miss Moran and Mr. Lowe perform a number of exciting stunts.