DOI Heft:
October 31, 1874
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16939#0187
180
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[October 31, 1874.
OUR REPRESENTATIVE MAN.
At the Philharmonic and elsewhere, with Notions and Opinions on
the subject of Opera-Bouffe in England.
V'-
ESPECTED Sir,
I have heard a good
T Opera-Bouffe, or rather a
work partly bouffe, and
partly of the Opera Comique
order, well done in English
by an English company.
Very well done, even when compared with the French company,
which produced it here.
I am speaking of Girofle- Girofla at the Philharmonic. Of this
piece, it was said, that it couldn’t be done here on account of the
story. There is no sort of harm in the story ; it is a good farcical
notion, just the very plot for the purpose; differing herein from
Les Cent Vierges at the Gaiety, which has been pared down in order
to fit. By the way, Mr. Arthur Cecil’s performance of a part
which doesn’t suit him is, as is his singing, most careful and
artistic. The French fun has been taken out of Les Cent Vierges,
and English fun has not been substituted.
A.t the Philharmonic Miss Julia Matthews plays the twin sisters
capitally, and, of course, sings the music equally well. She shows
a tendency to exaggerate, where, however, exaggeration is pardon-
able, i.e., in the exaggerated situation of the drinking song and
chorus (you see, there must be a drinking song and chorus in every
opera), which belongs to what may be termed the burlesque portion
of the opera.
Mr. Fisher is the nearest approach to that French specialite, the
comic tenor, that has yet been seen in London. He played Mr.
Gladstone in the Happy Land at the Court Theatre, where his
make-up, his singing, acting, and dancing, were good specimens of
our English burlesque style. It is to be feared that he will mar
his fortunes by attempting to be too much of a tenor, and too little
of the comedian. If he once thinks it necessary to adopt the tradi-
tional tenor style of impossible action, without indicating to the
audience, that he is intending burlesque, he will lose the special
qualification he now possesses, and which, it is but fair to him
to say, he alone possesses in London just at this particular
moment. He has only to be very careful in his musical study, to
improve in that line, and to retain all that is natural to him of
genuine burlesque fun, and the fame and fortune of an English
Dupuis are before him. Mr. Fisher is not as eccentric as he could
be (he has been very much so in the provinces, long before he had
any name at all) in his present character; perhaps one of these days
he may find something with greater scope for his burlesque
powers, and when that opportunity arrives I hope it will be an
original part in a successful original work, by an English librettist
and an English composer. In all these reproductions from the
Trench we can but compare our people with the originals, very
much, as a rule, to the disadvantage of the former.
Miss Everard makes an energetic Dame Bolero; and she, too,
has a good notion of the ridiculous. Mr. Rosenthal’s Mazook the
Moor (I do not know whether I am spelling the name right, having
lost my bill of the play) is from first to last, to my thinking, excel-
lent. It might, perhaps, have been occasionally more grotesque;
but-, remembering what I have seen Mr. Rosenthal do, and what a
heavy line it has generally been his fate to appear in, Your Repre-
sentative cornd not but be convulsed, when he saw this Othello
doing as comic a dance with Dame Bolero, as it has been his good
fortune to see, since the days when Demoiselles Marie Wilton,
and Charlotte Saunders, with Messrs. James Rogers and
Clarke used to do such wonderful steps at the Strand Theatre,
or when Miss Oliver and Mr. Danvers sang and bounded to the
six-times-encored nightly tune of Pretty Seeusan at the Little
Royalty.
If that eminent Tragedian, Mr. Phelps, could sing and dance,
he might, perhaps, astonish Your Representative as much, if he
suddenly broke out during his performance of Othello, as did Mr.
Rosenthal with his impersonation of Mazook. The little people
are all good too—I mean the Pages, who have to sing a little, and
speak a little. In fact, it is well done all round, and well put on the
Stage by Mr. Shepherd, who, by his management of Opera-Bouffe,
has no less astonished Tour Representative, than Mr. Rosenthal,
with his Burlesque. Evidently he is quite the gentle shepherd for
that part of suburban London which is under his pastoral care,
yclept Merry Islington.
As for the music of Girofle- Girofla, there is nothing in it which we
can carry away after a first hearing, as one could the Telle etait la
mere Angot of Lecocq’s now worn-to-death Comic Opera. Girofle-
Girofla will grow on you, it struck me, by repetition. The Pirates’
Chorus sounds like a prig from the Huguenots, and doesn’t go for
anything, though the critics were sure it would be one of the
greatest hits in the Opera. So the Opera-Bouffe- Comique of Girofle-
Girofla is a bright particular star just now in the London firmament
of this sort of entertainment.
As to the opinions of critics about burlesque, just look at the
Charing Cross Theatre. It is merely burlesque of the old pattern,
in five or seven scenes (I forget which), succeeding one another
rapidly, though each separately occupies far too long a time, and
the first is the best. It is not Opera-Bouffe, it is burlesque;
and it is American burlesque, too, imported by a favourite Eng-
lish burlesque actress, who is the life and soul of the entire
piece. Except Mr. Brough as Blue Beard, Miss Lydia Thompson
is the attraction, for without her manner of giving them, the Ameri-
can importations would not have a chance, and it would be very
dangerous for any other Manager to fancy that the American ele-
ment would succeed, without such a help to it as is given by the
Manageress of the Charing Cross. There is an American soprano at
the Gaiety—a pretty face, an elegant figure, a well-trained style of
vocalisation, and fairly gifted with a voice; but there is no fun in
her acting, and not the slightest approach to anything humorous in
her strong Yankee intonation. We send out Mr. Toole, and, in
revenge, the Americans, not to be outdone in generosity, send such
specimens of dramatic humour as may be just now met with in
this country. “When the Pope weeds his garden, he throws the
rubbish over the wall into ours,” said Sidney Smith ; and this is
very much what America is doing with us.
But, seeing what succeeds at the Charing Cross, and what was
the hit of the evening (namely, Mazook and Dame Bolero's, dance)
at the Philharmonic, Your Representative can’t help asking, sup-
posing we were to get together such a company as the Strand or the
Royalty once had, wouldn’t a burlesque like Aladdin, for example,
succeed just as well now as ever it did P _ What a cast it was!
Charlotte Saunders as the Chinese Emperor, made up and acting
in such a wonderful way that the eccentric gentleman who now
plays the “ Heathen Chinee ” isn’t a “patch upon her,” nor any-
where near her; Marie Wilton as the Scamp, Clarke the
Magician, Fanny Josephs the Handsome Chinese Prince, Miss
Bueton the Princess, and—oh—James Rogers as the Widow
Twankay !
Then at the Royalty, there was Mr. James, now of the Vaudeville,
playing Mercury, and Miss Ada Cavendish, in all her glory,
playing Venus in Lxion ; with another Mr. Rogers—Felix Rogers
—-coming out as a wonderful Minerva ; and later, _ Mr. Danvers
and Mr. Dewar as Widow and Captain Crosstree_ in Black-Eyed
Susan. I mention these in support of my thesis, viz., that we have
a genuine English bouffe school of our own, and can collect together
one or two good companies of bouffe actors and actresses; whose
only want, now, is a certain amount of musical training. We don’t
require our English composers to occupy the ground of Offenbach,
Herve, or Lecocq, but to take up their own position, which shall
be a good one, in this particular line of light amusing work. That
it may not be long ere such a chance is afforded by a far-seeing
Manager, is the sincere wish of
Your Representative.
P.S.—The above interesting subject has prevented me from giving
you a short but stirring account of Newmarket at the Holborn
Theatre. I regret this, as it was a painfully amusing melodrama.
Perhaps, since the first night, they have spoilt it by improvement.
By the Author of “ Tyne-y Travels.”—“ Carrying Coals to
Newcastle."
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[October 31, 1874.
OUR REPRESENTATIVE MAN.
At the Philharmonic and elsewhere, with Notions and Opinions on
the subject of Opera-Bouffe in England.
V'-
ESPECTED Sir,
I have heard a good
T Opera-Bouffe, or rather a
work partly bouffe, and
partly of the Opera Comique
order, well done in English
by an English company.
Very well done, even when compared with the French company,
which produced it here.
I am speaking of Girofle- Girofla at the Philharmonic. Of this
piece, it was said, that it couldn’t be done here on account of the
story. There is no sort of harm in the story ; it is a good farcical
notion, just the very plot for the purpose; differing herein from
Les Cent Vierges at the Gaiety, which has been pared down in order
to fit. By the way, Mr. Arthur Cecil’s performance of a part
which doesn’t suit him is, as is his singing, most careful and
artistic. The French fun has been taken out of Les Cent Vierges,
and English fun has not been substituted.
A.t the Philharmonic Miss Julia Matthews plays the twin sisters
capitally, and, of course, sings the music equally well. She shows
a tendency to exaggerate, where, however, exaggeration is pardon-
able, i.e., in the exaggerated situation of the drinking song and
chorus (you see, there must be a drinking song and chorus in every
opera), which belongs to what may be termed the burlesque portion
of the opera.
Mr. Fisher is the nearest approach to that French specialite, the
comic tenor, that has yet been seen in London. He played Mr.
Gladstone in the Happy Land at the Court Theatre, where his
make-up, his singing, acting, and dancing, were good specimens of
our English burlesque style. It is to be feared that he will mar
his fortunes by attempting to be too much of a tenor, and too little
of the comedian. If he once thinks it necessary to adopt the tradi-
tional tenor style of impossible action, without indicating to the
audience, that he is intending burlesque, he will lose the special
qualification he now possesses, and which, it is but fair to him
to say, he alone possesses in London just at this particular
moment. He has only to be very careful in his musical study, to
improve in that line, and to retain all that is natural to him of
genuine burlesque fun, and the fame and fortune of an English
Dupuis are before him. Mr. Fisher is not as eccentric as he could
be (he has been very much so in the provinces, long before he had
any name at all) in his present character; perhaps one of these days
he may find something with greater scope for his burlesque
powers, and when that opportunity arrives I hope it will be an
original part in a successful original work, by an English librettist
and an English composer. In all these reproductions from the
Trench we can but compare our people with the originals, very
much, as a rule, to the disadvantage of the former.
Miss Everard makes an energetic Dame Bolero; and she, too,
has a good notion of the ridiculous. Mr. Rosenthal’s Mazook the
Moor (I do not know whether I am spelling the name right, having
lost my bill of the play) is from first to last, to my thinking, excel-
lent. It might, perhaps, have been occasionally more grotesque;
but-, remembering what I have seen Mr. Rosenthal do, and what a
heavy line it has generally been his fate to appear in, Your Repre-
sentative cornd not but be convulsed, when he saw this Othello
doing as comic a dance with Dame Bolero, as it has been his good
fortune to see, since the days when Demoiselles Marie Wilton,
and Charlotte Saunders, with Messrs. James Rogers and
Clarke used to do such wonderful steps at the Strand Theatre,
or when Miss Oliver and Mr. Danvers sang and bounded to the
six-times-encored nightly tune of Pretty Seeusan at the Little
Royalty.
If that eminent Tragedian, Mr. Phelps, could sing and dance,
he might, perhaps, astonish Your Representative as much, if he
suddenly broke out during his performance of Othello, as did Mr.
Rosenthal with his impersonation of Mazook. The little people
are all good too—I mean the Pages, who have to sing a little, and
speak a little. In fact, it is well done all round, and well put on the
Stage by Mr. Shepherd, who, by his management of Opera-Bouffe,
has no less astonished Tour Representative, than Mr. Rosenthal,
with his Burlesque. Evidently he is quite the gentle shepherd for
that part of suburban London which is under his pastoral care,
yclept Merry Islington.
As for the music of Girofle- Girofla, there is nothing in it which we
can carry away after a first hearing, as one could the Telle etait la
mere Angot of Lecocq’s now worn-to-death Comic Opera. Girofle-
Girofla will grow on you, it struck me, by repetition. The Pirates’
Chorus sounds like a prig from the Huguenots, and doesn’t go for
anything, though the critics were sure it would be one of the
greatest hits in the Opera. So the Opera-Bouffe- Comique of Girofle-
Girofla is a bright particular star just now in the London firmament
of this sort of entertainment.
As to the opinions of critics about burlesque, just look at the
Charing Cross Theatre. It is merely burlesque of the old pattern,
in five or seven scenes (I forget which), succeeding one another
rapidly, though each separately occupies far too long a time, and
the first is the best. It is not Opera-Bouffe, it is burlesque;
and it is American burlesque, too, imported by a favourite Eng-
lish burlesque actress, who is the life and soul of the entire
piece. Except Mr. Brough as Blue Beard, Miss Lydia Thompson
is the attraction, for without her manner of giving them, the Ameri-
can importations would not have a chance, and it would be very
dangerous for any other Manager to fancy that the American ele-
ment would succeed, without such a help to it as is given by the
Manageress of the Charing Cross. There is an American soprano at
the Gaiety—a pretty face, an elegant figure, a well-trained style of
vocalisation, and fairly gifted with a voice; but there is no fun in
her acting, and not the slightest approach to anything humorous in
her strong Yankee intonation. We send out Mr. Toole, and, in
revenge, the Americans, not to be outdone in generosity, send such
specimens of dramatic humour as may be just now met with in
this country. “When the Pope weeds his garden, he throws the
rubbish over the wall into ours,” said Sidney Smith ; and this is
very much what America is doing with us.
But, seeing what succeeds at the Charing Cross, and what was
the hit of the evening (namely, Mazook and Dame Bolero's, dance)
at the Philharmonic, Your Representative can’t help asking, sup-
posing we were to get together such a company as the Strand or the
Royalty once had, wouldn’t a burlesque like Aladdin, for example,
succeed just as well now as ever it did P _ What a cast it was!
Charlotte Saunders as the Chinese Emperor, made up and acting
in such a wonderful way that the eccentric gentleman who now
plays the “ Heathen Chinee ” isn’t a “patch upon her,” nor any-
where near her; Marie Wilton as the Scamp, Clarke the
Magician, Fanny Josephs the Handsome Chinese Prince, Miss
Bueton the Princess, and—oh—James Rogers as the Widow
Twankay !
Then at the Royalty, there was Mr. James, now of the Vaudeville,
playing Mercury, and Miss Ada Cavendish, in all her glory,
playing Venus in Lxion ; with another Mr. Rogers—Felix Rogers
—-coming out as a wonderful Minerva ; and later, _ Mr. Danvers
and Mr. Dewar as Widow and Captain Crosstree_ in Black-Eyed
Susan. I mention these in support of my thesis, viz., that we have
a genuine English bouffe school of our own, and can collect together
one or two good companies of bouffe actors and actresses; whose
only want, now, is a certain amount of musical training. We don’t
require our English composers to occupy the ground of Offenbach,
Herve, or Lecocq, but to take up their own position, which shall
be a good one, in this particular line of light amusing work. That
it may not be long ere such a chance is afforded by a far-seeing
Manager, is the sincere wish of
Your Representative.
P.S.—The above interesting subject has prevented me from giving
you a short but stirring account of Newmarket at the Holborn
Theatre. I regret this, as it was a painfully amusing melodrama.
Perhaps, since the first night, they have spoilt it by improvement.
By the Author of “ Tyne-y Travels.”—“ Carrying Coals to
Newcastle."