Fragrant and Flowery

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 444, 26 December 1947, Page 8

Fragrant and Flowery

HE 4ZB programme Musical Comedy Theatre, in the excerpts from The Belld of New York, gave listeners something more than just average musical comedy; other plays of similar vintage are now in the limbo of forgotten things, but

the Belle continues to grow in popularity with @ach revival. It has about it, by now, that bouquet and aroma associated with wine from a vintage year, and can be sipped with relish by epicure and ordinary diner alike. It ‘would be absurd to claim immortality for this or any other operetta, bit there must be some reason for its frequent and successful revival, and the answer certainly isn’t in its plot, which, examined at all carefully, reveals no more solidity than the featherweight plots of most musical comedies. However, it boasts a set of striking characters, and while listeners are able, from memories of past performances, to visualise the appearance of the Ornamental Purity Brigade, Blinky Bill, and the Salvation Army lass herself, it little matters what nebulous plot has been concocted in order to introduce their various acts. In the broadcast vefsion, the plot was happily relegated to nonentity by a rather de-bunking commentator, and listeners were free to concentrate on the music. The more I hear of The Belle of New York, the more I think ‘that it is the only musical comedy which neatly approaches the 'standard of the Savoy Operas. Why didn’t Gilbert and Sullivan think of it first?

EF Ean notes are not written by the staff of "The Listener’ or by any member of the New Zealand Broadcasting Service. They are independent comments for which "The Listener" pays outside contributors.