AMUSEMENTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 241, 17 February 1911, Page 2

AMUSEMENTS

"THE DOLLAR PRINCESS."

As is generally known, this famous musical play will be presented by Mr, •J. C- Williamson's new comic opera cumpany on Monday, next. •The Dollar Princess," described as the legitimate successor of "The Merry Widow," is, it would appear, a veritable casket of gems. The book is by A. M. Wilmer and P. Greenbaum, the lyrics by Adrian Ross, and the music by the famous Viennese composer and virtuoso, Dr. Leo Fall. Apart from the acknowledged beauty and originality of the music, the play is credited with being perhaps the finest exposition of up-to-date costuming that has been attempted even by the J. C. Williamson management. The scenic display is said to be of an exceptionally lavish nature, the interior of the mansion of Harry Q. Condor being a revelation in appointment and artistic environment. The company that Mr. J. C. Williamson sends to interpret this important musical attraction is, we und«rstand, the same that has recently been playing the opera in Melbourne and Sydney. Both musically and artistically the play is promised in precisely the same style as obtained in those cities. At first sight it seems a far cry from "The Dollar Princess" to "The Taming of the Shrew," but the connection between the extremely modernised version of the Shakespearean comedy is not so remote. As a matter of fact, the first germ of the idea that set Leo Fall to work on his haunting score, was a direct effort to set the tale of Katherine and Pteruchio to music—and that famous composer Brahms gave it to him. They were talking in a Berlin cafe one day on operas old and new, mid Brahms remarked it was singular that no one had thought of setting "The Taming of the Shrew" to music. Within a very short while Leo Fall was at work on the task, though he and his librettists chose to bring the story right up-to-date. The quality of the music, however, sets one thinking whether he would not have been just as successful if he had preserved the Shakespearean atmosphere, and made it grand and not light opera. The box plan is now open at Collier's.