“QUEEN HIGH”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 288, 25 February 1928, Page 15

“QUEEN HIGH”

LAST PERFORMANCE TO-NIGHT “Queen High,” the musical comedy now showing at His Majesty’s, has been rather cleverly propped up by the strength of the incidental attractions, rather than by any special merit the show possesses. Bright patches in a wilderness of inconsequential fooling are supplied by a trio of dancers, Josephine Head, Ramona and Albert Hugo, whose appearance on the stage is sufficiently long delayed to make one wish that their turn could have replaced some of the weariness and dreariness of a tame first act. The show takes a distinct turn for the better in the second, and especially the third, acts. The last session is ushered in by a particularly good number on the grand piano by Carlton Faye and Gordon Rodda. Cecil Kelleway and R. Barrett-Len-nard fully sustained their flair for hilarious comedy work. Mr. Kelleway, with his quaint and chubby humour, was an admirable foil for his more volatile but equally satisfying partner. The ballets and vocal numbers are not a strong point in “Queen High,” and Cyril Connelly had frequently to bring instrumental aid to numbers that sagged a trifle at times. Byrl Walkeley may have lost some of her admirable stage presence, but she has the best voice in the company, and in one or two light little things she was particularly good. Thelma Burness made a sweet and winsome Polly, while Edna Browne was admirably cast as the hysterical Mrs. Nettleton. Osmond Wenban capably filled the part of the crimsoncrested and incessantly giggling office boy . The season closes at His Majesty’s to-night.