“RIO RITA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 760, 5 September 1929, Page 16

“RIO RITA”

COMING TO THE ST. JAMES i ; The American play “Rio Rita” and | the Australian star, Gladys Moncrieff. j will receive a dual welcome at the St. ■ James Theatre tomorrow evening, j Auckland’s warmest welcome will probably bo reserved for its old love, | but several of the others—notably the i dancing acrobat, Janette Gilmore, the ; lively comedian. Dave Mallen, and the astonishing chorus girls—are sure to make hosts of friends. “Rio Rita” is a brilliant moving spectacle, shot through with dances and songs. The colouring is gorgeous: the dressing on a scale of rich magnificence. The story pursues its riotous way ; through two acts and half a dozen j scenes in which Mexican hats and ! skirts, dancing feet, weird head- | dresses and more colours than the } rainbow knows of, chase each other l across the stage. The critic of the Sydney “Tele- ; graph” said of “Rio Rita”: “Miss Moncrieff is again the peasant girl that Sydney met in ‘The Maid o£ the Mountains.’ She sings, if anything, better than ever: her voice conveys a whole world of romance—the audience would gladly have heard more of it.” Leslie Pearce will appear as the Texan rover, who falls in love with the heroine. He has a line baritone voice. Not least among the many features of “Rio Rita” are the beautiful and gorgeous frocks. A particularly pretty set is that worn by “The Moonlight Ballet,” who appear in clouds of pale blue chiffon and silver. The bizarre costumes worn by the show girls in Miss Moncrieff’s song “Montezuma’s Daughter” open up a pageant of colour, and the “Kinkajou” dance, interpreted by Janette Gilmore and the girls, gives opportunities for another display. The box plans for the* first six nights and two matinees are now.open at the St. James Theatre office,' and are filling rapidly.