AMUSEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 357, 7 April 1910, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS.

THE CORNISH PIXIE. This marvellous miniature man, whose flying visit to our town has constituted such a success, is now announcing the last three days of his stay. The management have decided, iu order to allow every one to have a look at this U%lb wonder, to reduce the price to sixpence from to-day (Thursday). He is a handsome little chap, and a great favorite with ladies and children; all find him amusing, and a "visit to him is calculated to act as a splendid tonic to the system, for his quaint comicalities induce roars of laughter from hie numerous visitorg. BESSES 0' TH' BARN BAND. Two performances will he given by the "Bes'ses" at the Theatre Royal tn •Saturday and Monday next, at 8 p.m., and a special open-air concert at the Recreation Sports Ground on Monday afternoon at 3 o'clock. For over a century and a-half the successes of the band have been almost phenomenal, generation after generation of players have 'been absorbed in its ranks, and tradition has given us a more or less satisfactory account of its original .foundation, but their recent triumphs ' through South Africa and now proceeding through New Zealand have been altogether unprecedented in the annals of instrumental music. Purity of tone, brilliancy of execution, and perfect intonation are ■here represented in no uncertain «naiiner, but to all these very, essential requirements there are also added the rarer attributes of poetic insight and masterly interpretation. The Kimberley Star says:—"The technique of the band is simply marvellous, and in this respect alone last night's performance must have been something of a reveiaI vion to our district brass band players. But mere technique in a combination of I players of brass instruments is nothing | without color, and the variety of color I produced by the Besses was one of the ! most extraordinary features displayed throughout the evening. The 'Tannhauser March,' which opened the programme, was played with great richness of tone, and in the forte passages, with immense volume and power, yet never at any time was there any blatant' brassiness or roughness noticeable. The whole performance was received with great enthusiasm. The finest performance of the evening was the grand selectio from 'Tannhaueer.' Opening with the famous 'Pilgrims' Chorus/ the fine eonorous tone of the horns was wonderfully displayed, and*in the great climax to this movement with its florid figure for the cornets (in the original orchestration given to the violins) the general effect was almost overwhelming in power and grandeur."

"PETER PAN." To-morrow morning at Collier and Co.'s, the box plan will open for the one representation of J. M. Barrie's fascinating fairy play, "Peter Pan," which will be presented at the Theatre Royal next Tuesday evening. In a delightful article in the Melbourne Age of May i)th, 1908, a writer says:—lt is just be-, cause the way back to childhood is never quite closed that a play. Jike "Peter Pan" takes so close a hold of the imagination. Yet, contradictory as it may sound, the ability .to go back to the fountain head of youth belongs chiefly to those whose,work in the world counts for something. A certain lightness of mind, a capacity for real creation is almost inevitably an attribute of big thinkers. And it is recreation of the most wholesome order that Mr. J. M. Barrie offers in the whimsical play set before us at the moment. An idea exists that it is a children's play. It is certainly, but very much more as well; it has charms no child could appreciate. To all men and women who know what it is to have been young in the true sense of the word it is a treasure house of pleasant suggestions. Not only have we seen, many of us actually have been the characters in the-play. Red Indians, pirates, crocodiles, lions and wolvesi were every-day 'affairs in our time, just as they are with boys to-day. The mother heart that beats in tie breast of almost even' little girl is personified in "Wendy.' To a great extent "Peter Pan" is a woman's play, ad if Barrie has embodied a message in his most pleasant fantasy that message is probably meant for women. It is men, however, who probably relish, most keenly its vagaries. With almost bewildering rapidity the mind is carried from point to point, now it rests on a delightfully impossible crocodile, now on a •mother's unswerving devotion, and anon on a father's quite astounding propensity for turning a bereavement to some good account at last. At every point there is freshness, much that i« bubbling with merriment, sometimes open, sometimes suppressed, incidentally there is the pathos that must go, that always goes with things primitive. To miss seeing "Peter Pan" is to miss an opportunity for enjoyment of the rarest kind.

A specially organised company has been sent to New Zealand by Mr! J. C. Williamson headed by Miss Lizette Parkes and Mr. Thomas Kingston. Miss Parkes' creation of Peter Pan has aroused intense enthusiasm in Wellington.