"OUR MISS GIBBS."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 81, 26 September 1911, Page 4

"OUR MISS GIBBS."

A SL'CCI3BSFL T r; PERFORMANCE. Impossible but irresistible —tlmt',<s "Our Miss Gibbs." She's delightful. She's natural,, pretty, graceful, vivitctoiis, clever. She isn't the impossibility. She's a glorious realism. .She\ called the glorified shopgirl. So shv is. It's Ihe story about her that's impossiWe. hi fact it isn't a story at all.' It's a collection of little bits of the stories of a whole collection of well-ordered and disordered lives, and they're caught together with .sprightly music, smart dialogue, marvellous dancing, and delightful stagecraft. It's irresistible because 0f..-its naturalness, and yet it is impossible. "Mary" of the Stores can't exist in real life, however, except o« thfi • •stage. Young lords, however fast or however lovelorn, don't hug ehop girls in •lm»mo»«Jiour>j in full view of three or four assistants, and, Ascot Gold Cii.|m aren't stolen by gilded amateur burglars and left lying about for lads "fresh from Yorkshire to pick up and dispose of. And folks wouldn't cure two straws to sea the ordinary shopgirl wheedling "Johnnies" into buying .bououts, or even, to see her kissed by a son of the newlymade peer. But when this fc done midst all the glamor of the footlights, all the. grand swell or impelling force of a delightful orchestra, when the love-making and all the other foolishness are performed by artists of the. class which presented "Our . Miss Gibbfl" "last night, and where there are all the other thhigs provided which the well-known entrepreneurs, the J. C. Williamson (tompany, have gathered from the great theatre* of the Old World and placed in a colonial setting, with a whole world of humor thrown hi—well, that's why the theatre's going to be as crowded 'to-night as it was last night. What appealed most? The fair sex went into raptures over the dresses. They were watching a living picture of the world's fashions of to-day. They were provided with all the most modern triumphs of the Parisian modiste, and they were glad. It was a ravishing display of beauty and dress, dainty and* picturesque. Then it was a fun-provoke* of the first water, despite the uncouth suggestion of one of'the verses in the maddening ' - Yip-l-add,v-I-ay." " The scenery in the second act, depicting "The White City," was a triumph. Come to think of it,'.there's little im the piece, but there's heaps of fun 1o be got out of it. Last night's audience , laughed,. with .but few Met interludes, t from 7.4."> to 11 o'clock; and when they weren't laughiug they were just bubbling and awaiting an excuse -to hurst out again. It was a glittering night oC •nonsense. Miss Gibbs herself is a York-shire-maiden, but she hud learned muelt | since she left school. She knew how to | dress, how to talk, Jiow to act, how to- [ charm, and her singing was the only singing worthy of special mention. "Moonstruck." her weird solo, was the most musical song of the evening. She ■ was also good in "Not that sort of person," ''Country Cousins." and "Our Farm," the first with Mr. Leslie Holland, and the two latter with- Mr. Rttftie Wright, whose ''.patter' was delightful and humor broad, sweeping, and eleS-n. We liked her all the time, foecrtiteti Wherever wo saw her—whether chatting ■with the "Johnnies," love-making with the young Lord Kynsford who, like the hero in the popular novel, threw oil' his nllegianae to a bright tilled girl lo marry the shopgirl, or when, forgetting ■ her London life altogether she was just the girl from Yorkshire in her chats with, "Timothy.' the country cousin. "Little Tim" (.Mr. Wright) had his full share'of the limelight, and he deserved it. : He was always happy, and the audienee was happy with him. Still another comedian, Mr. Leslie Holland. He was the lion. Hughie Picrrepoint, one of the aristocratic class, an inane youth who fancied: himself a "crook." and "cracked cribs" in a style that would have .brought the genuine Bill Sykes to an untimely sentence. He made all the running in the comedy line (for a time, and: scored heavily, but in the second act one of hi*

"turns' was over long. Alius Connie, Milne as Lady Elizabeth Thaiwt. according to the scraps of story, was responsible for much of the mischief. A 'smack of Americanism in many of her unconvpiilional sayings made them delightful, and the whole of her work was good. "Madame Jeanne," (i "French" modiste, was Miss Nellie Wilson, and the cleverness" of her pigeon French, followed by her own natural broad .Scotch, was delightful. Our old friend Mr. Fred Leslie appeared as "Slithers," a professional crook, and he always conveyed the impression .that he was .born to his parents sleight-of-hand being very entertaining. He and Miss Ivy Schilling produced the celebrated "Dance du Yiiurien," a piece of wonderful dancing and clever acrobatic feats intertwined. Mr. Frank Stirling was natural as the manager of Oarrod's store, in which we saw the whole of the first act. Mr. Andrew Iligginson, who played the part of Lord lOynsford, over whom "Mary" exercised a remarkable infatuation, was outshone; by the .brilliant girl to whom he had to "j)lay up to," to use n colloquialism. There was a tremendous ca.st, which included the self-made Karl of St. Iv«-s (Mr. V. R, Bantock). ladies of fashion, scores of dudes, bridesmaids, and so on. "bur Miss flibbs' filled the bill exactly. The people went to be amused, and they came away delighted. This talented lady and all her talented colleagues will be at home again ih the Theatre Koyal tonight.