G. AND S. OPERAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 December 1940, Page 9

G. AND S. OPERAS

OLD TIME FAVOURITES. To the older generation of playgoers the Gilbert and Sullivan operas will bring back memories of the days when Nellie Stewart, Alice Pollard, Maud Beatty, Harry Quealy, Charlie Albert, Harry Roberts, Claude Bantock, Will Percy, Ernest Fitts, Gertie Campion, Zoe Karkeek, May Beatty, George Laurie, Florence Young, Gladys Moncrieff, Wallace Brownlow, William Kenningham, Howard Vernon, and John Ralston portrayed the leading roles, and to the younger generation they will doubtless prove a revelation. Sir Arthur Sullivan’s glorious music is much more melodious and more refreshing than any of the musical plays created during the past twenty years, and Sir W. S. Gilbert’s brilliant wit is presented in the clever and satirical dialogue in all of the operas. There existed a perfect harmony between the author and the composed which is not apparent in other comic operas, and throughout the English speaking world there will always be large audiences for .“The Gondoliers,” “The Mikado,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “lolanthe, ’ and “H.M.S. Pinafore.” Critics in Australia are almost unanimous in declaring that the latest J. C. Williamson Savoy Company is equal to any which has previously been seen and heard in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and in both Sydney and Melbourne new records have been established in the length of the seasons and at almost every performance the theatres have been taxexd to their limit. To cope with the demand for seats during the run of “The Gondoliers” in Sydney daily matinees had to be presented. The New Zealand tour will be inaugurated at His Majesty’s Theatre, Auckland, with a magnificent production of “The Gondoliers.”