“STUDENT PRINCE” AND “MADAME POMPADOUR”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 352, 12 May 1928, Page 15

“STUDENT PRINCE” AND “MADAME POMPADOUR”

IN AUCKLAND SHORTLY The two most successful comic operas of recent years, “The Student Prince” and “Madame Pompadour,” will be presented during the season of J. C. Williamson’s Royal Comic Opera Company, which commences on Wednesday, May 23, at His Majesty’s Theatre. The J. C. Williamson management announces that the complete and original company that created such a furore for months in Sydney and Melbourne is coming to the Dominion. The company is headed by Beppie de Vries, a delightful actress who is billed as the “idol of Holland.” Beppie de Vries has appeared in the leading role of “Madame Pompadour” in three languages. Have you ever stopped to realise what this means in a play demanding so much of the actress in a prima donna? Few, if any, of our great emotional actresses have achieved distinction in more than one language. When you see “Madame Pompadour,” give a thought to this and the genius of the delightful Dutch star will commend itself more than ever. Again, Beppie de Vries in “The Student Prince” put up another record. She plays the lead Kathie, and in the same role, but in the romantic drama, "Old Heidelberg,” has appeared all over Europe. Here the genius of this little lady is shown, as she is also a dramatic as well as a comic opera artist. A great company includes James Biddy, who appears as Prince Karl in “The Student Prince,” a role he has portrayed over 1,000 times. Other prominent people are Frank Webster, Arthur Stigant, Hedly Hall, Leslie Holland, Vera Spaull, Adele Crane, Peg Desmond and the famous chorus of 40 singing students. The two plays, “The Student Prince” and “Madame Pompadour,” are the most successful comic operas of recent years. The preferential box plans open on Monday morning at Lewis Eadv, Ltd.