“THE LAUGHING OPTIMIST”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 449, 3 September 1928, Page 14

“THE LAUGHING OPTIMIST”

WEDNESDAY AT HIS MAJESTY’S Mr. Percy Hutchison and his brilliant London company of comedy artists will arrive from Sydney by the Ulimaroa to-morrow, and on Wednesday night they will begin a tour of New Zealand in the very entertaining, very humorous, and very interesting comedy, “ The Laughing Optimist,” which ran for over four months in Sydney and Melbourne. The success of the play, to an extent, depends upon the acting of Mr. Hutchison in the part 9f Jerry, the laughing optimist, and it is said that he is brilliant in the role. “His resonant voice, and clear diction, aided by his natural and apt gestures, made his characterisation,” wrote a critic recently, “one of the finest ever witnessed in a comedy previously staged in Melbourne.” Mr. Hutchison comes with the reputation of being one of London’s best and most popular comedy stars, and this reputation is backed up by the fact <£hat he created the leading parts in “Brewster’s Millions,” ‘Stop Thief,” “The Luck of the Navy,” and many other notable successes. Mr. Hutchison is supported by a brilliant organisation of English artists, the majority of W’hom have won their laurels in the West End theatres of London. Owing to the brevity of the approaching season, only five representations can be staged of “The Laughing Optimist,” and it wull be followed by “Mr. What’s-His-Name,” which was adapted from the French by Mr. Seymour Hicks, and which ran for two years in London, and “The Luck of the Navy,” in which Mr. Hutchison scored one of his best triumphs in England. A feature of each of the comedies will be the superb furnishings and the elaborate costumes worn by the principal ladies. The box plans are now open Lewis Eady, Ltd.