STAGE AND STUDIO.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 215, 13 August 1887, Page 3

STAGE AND STUDIO.

(By Euterpe.)

Sioxor. Aurati's South Soa Island tour with Walhalla's Circus has turned out a failure. The lain was continually against them, and the enterprise had to bo abandoned in Fiji. Miss Leonora Braham, a favourite of the London Savoy audiences, and for whom " Patience '' and other ot Gilbert's leading part* were written, has arrived in Melbouiie under engagement to Messrs Williamson, Gamer, and Musgrove. She is accompanied by her husband, Mr Duncan Young, late leading tenor of the German Reed company. Mi J. A. South met with a painful aceidt'nt -when playing the Old Prisoner in " Li IViicholo'' at the Melbourne Bijou the other day. While kneeling on the stage a niity irui v\n into his kneecap, and he had to fin nil the scene in considerable pain. MKs Florenco Warden, the actress and no/clist (ttuthor of "The House on the Mai.sh ' ), has been married in London to a Mr Ge>. E James. The announcement was uniutioed for a time, as the lady was nob ro\'i '■ni-ed by her leal maiden name - MissL'tnv. Air George Rignold has determined to o|)en ITe; Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, this. month w ith " Henry V."' Mr 'Viand Holt opened in Sydney in '• A Run ot Luck " to a L 417 house. }3r Wybert Reeve's contemplated a i -it t.) Kew Zealand is likely to be postponed for a while. Tlit' death of MrChas.Wcightman, known as •• Natator, the Man-iish," and husband of Mi>- Kate Douglas, at 'Frisco, is anH'juncjtl. His funoral openses were paid by Mr Al.Hajman, of the Baldwin Theatie, once known in these colonio j ; and the Baldwin c v.npany provided a neat headstone. The encore liond will be appropriately " H\ed " if the following programme can be lehe I upon :: — ■ T.ic cn >oro fiend -whom an j one catches, hi 3 doom's extremely sore, He's nia.de to stand by a German band and forever yell " Encore " : And thjr.) he listens to "Homo, Sweet Home," from eaily m >m to night. And ut eveiy stanza of that old romanza give symptoms of delight. They hive- a " Jubileo dress improver" in London, the same being a bustle, and when the ueare. 1 of it bits down it plays " God save the Queen. *' Why the Queen should be in such imminent danger on the-e occasions of re-<t h not explained. The l% Hindoo Patriot" states that several no 1 . eK ha\e lately been written by Hindoo 1 idles hi Bengali, *ome of which are of considerable merit. The new volume (Vohnne XXII.) of the " En^eloprptha -Britannica," which praeticiliy tini!-hes the 'letter -S, has just been issued. ' American actre=ses • are warned that a"'.rJi'on?e^ will certainly expect them to weir some of the French Crown jewel* next =<e\*on— indeed, -it i-j said that any starwho app^iis without --ome of these famous adornment- " may as well cancel her date-, and discharge her press agent and diamond robbei." Of Y>v Stookwell, the Dunedin tenor who bol )ti«^ to Mi>» Sherwin's C'oncertCompany, a Launceston paper says : -" We honestly 0.-'rpli'neMt lain on the success achieved. He has a very good tenor voice — we use Mis void in it? proper sense. It is a -\oice the equal of which is seldom heard here, and we can say we have not listened to such in Lvanceston since the visit of the M.mtvjfii-Turner Opera Company. It is of gx> I couvwsx, and his intonation is really o<oellent. It i-- not necessary to know his oOn_" : the vocalist utters every word as plainly a^ if it were spoken ordinarily." Th-j epidemic of odd titles for no\el- has .-<. i t in. '* She " has been followed by "He"' .in'l "It." "Hallo, My Fancy," is anno ince 1. " Wanted : a Wife." " Lovely Wapg," " Wee Witie," and " Dead Souls. " aro heio. So, too, is " What are you going to do about it V" " What next ?"' Tho-3 of mj readers who have aweakne-s for -Inking and ire in want of something quite new and pietty should look out for Cowen's " Love is a Dream," Molloy'* '• Dieam Stai.^,' 1 and "Lads in Red," Stephen Adam-'s exquisite " Star of Bethie-ii?m,'a-ifl Roeckel's " Winged Chorister." •• The Haibour Lights,"' one of Nelly Fv.\ oil's great successes, is immensely popnlir with the masses, amongst new comic songs Mr Robert Martini " Ballyhooley Temperance Army " (encored half-a-dozen times overy night at the London (laiety) xeigns supreme. Of nev, r books Manvillc Fcnn's " Ma-ter of the Ceremonies," Rider Haggard's " Yoss," -which, by the b>e, the " Athentuum " says is his best book so far, and Andrew Lang's very clever parody of •• She " le-chii.stened " He," are well worth read i tig. "Princess Ida" has been successfully produced at Melbourne by the Comic Opera Company lately in Auckland, but now greatly strengthened. Mr Gilbert de-cribe^ his libretto a 5 * "a respectful perversion of Tennyson's 'Princess.'" Of the opera, " Scalpax " in the Otago ' { Witness " ,«a_y.> : "As a whole, I cannot speak so favourably a- of the other works of the distinguished pair. It appears dull and laboured when compared with * lolantho ' or 'The Mikado.' It lacks the freshness and originalty of those operas. The music is pietty in places, but it bears a kind of made-to-order air. Ido not think the opera will bo a pucce=^, rapturously as some numbers were redemanded." The plot is simple and brief. King Gania (Mr W. Elton) has a daughter, Princes^ Ida (Mi:S Colborne Baber), who was betrothed to HiUrion (Mr Lenmane), son of King Hildebrand (Mr H. Vernon), at the early age of]. The Princess manages to persuade herself that woman is superior to man, and starts a female university with 100 scholars, who forswear all dealings with mankind, and even object to Dr. Watts's hymn.. King Hildebrand is furious at the Princess's obstinacy, and imprisons her father King Gania, and his three stalwait sons, Arac, Garon. and Scynthius, represented by Messrs Benbam, Grundy, and Brenner. These gentlemen always appear plad in exaggerated complete mail and carry huge two-handed swords. Hilarion and his friends, Florian (Mr Fiederici) and Cyril (Mi- W. H. Woodfield), determined to storm the university, and introduce themselves as female students. Some funny business, much akin to clowning, follows, their identity is discovered, and they are sentenced to death. King Hildebrand declares war against the Princess, who arms her studentsin some very fine armomed suits, but they refuse to fight, as they cannot bear the sight of blood. Deserted by her friends, the Princess still holds out, and declares her intention to leave her cause to posterity. It is gently pointed out that if her doctrines should ever ha followed in the near future there would be no posterity for her to rely upon, an argument which convinces her abruptly, and she gives her hand to Hilarion ; Cyril and Florian pairing off with two of the nobler students. The gem of the opera is said to be a song in the first act—" The Moid and the Monkey," admirably sung by Miss Aggie The audience were hardly satisfied with a doubly encore. King Crania has

t\v<? patter soii^s. Mr Lonmane, the new tenor, has a pleasing voice, a cultivated style, agreeable presence, and an indisputable knowledge of stage work. Ho became a favourite at once. Mr Fredorici, the new baritone, h;»s n fine robust voice, but he appears rather obtrusive on the stage. He amplifies hU patt, and that not too well. Mr Woodhold, Mr Howard Vernon, Miss Alice Barnctt, and all the slock favourites were enthusiastically received, and demonstrated that then- New Zealand tour has not spoiled them.