Punch: Punch (81.1881)

193

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[October 29, 1881.

A MERRY GO-ROUNDER.

The Royal Comedy Theatre is in Panton Street, "within a Stone's
throw of the Haymarket, (there are those who will recognise the
definition). It is called "The Comedy" "because they play Opera
JBouffe—which practical joke of Manager Henderson's prepares an
audience for any amount of fun to follow. True to his predilection
for Trench dishes with English sauce, Alexander, the Grate-ful
Henderson presents to us the Mascotte, a piece to whose licence in
the original tongue our virtuous Examiner of Plays would not have
granted the Lord Chamberlain's. Morally filtered by Messrs.
Earnie and Reece, it becomes a most innocuous concoction; a trifle
flat to the taste, but bright and sparkling to the eye. The dialogue
is indeed so exotic, that one of the principal jokes of the evening is
derived after an international fashion from the phonetic resem-
blance of " glou "—the Gallic equivalent for the turkey's " gobble "
■—to the English name for the adhesive material associated with
a pot. It would be unfair, however, not to record the fact that
Mr. Lionel Beoegh is accommodated with an entirely new and
original gag, " S-mother your father," which is clearly intended
to be a regular side-splitter. After its fifth repetition, there was
scarcely a dry eye in the theatre. Alas! poor Joke ! According
to the Adapters, the Mascotte is a kind of "good fairy." In
legendary reality she is, however, a mortal bringing good luck,
a sort of antidote to the Evil Eye. We wonder whether MM.
Chevot and Dure, the Authors of the original libretto, understand
English, as, if so, they would doubtless be delighted with this speci-
men of versification—

" Who sees a Magpie solus,
Portent and presage grim,
Spite of draught or bolus,
Soon it's all up with him."

M. Andran's music is pretty, but not particularly striking.
There is one air that runs right through it—like a draught—but not
in at one ear and out at the other, as it is decidedly catching—like a
cold.

Miss Violet Cameron plays the Mascotte. She looks very hand-
some, and evidently means well. She is, doubtless, actuated by the
most praiseworthy ambition to do something with the part, but as to
what that something is to be she has not yet made up her mind.
The really original country accent adopted by her in Act I. is

A Drop too much, or the Panton Street Curtain.

cast aside with extraordinary adroitness when she develops into a
full-blown Countess. This is clever, but inconsistent; but then
isn t Genius invariably inconsistent? Throughout the piece she is
full of a sly, quaint, subtle sort of fun, which no one enjoys more
than she does herself,—or, perhaps, so much. Like the Nymph of

L,Allegro,,,_ she is overflowing with nod and beck and wreathed
smile. She sings better than she plays, and some of her best notes
have the sterling ring of real metal about them.

Mr. Lionel Broegh, who is described as a Duke in the programme,
but who becomes a King, or a Prince, before the curtain rises, is
provided with a Brough-and-tumble role, in which, when he has
nothing else to do, he is very funny. The-ibest piece of character,
and perhaps the best character in the piece, is the Prince Fritellini
of Mr. Henry Bract, though why he wears what appears to be a
large bit of beetroot in his hat we could not understand, unless it
was to lead up to some joke about his mother having "sold her
mangel, ' which, however, was not said in our hearing, and we re-
mained to what sve thought was the end of the Opera. According

to the programme aforesaid, Miss Agnes Mitchell appears as the
Princess Fiametta. If this be so, Miss Mitchell and. Miss St.
Qeeniin must be a kind of Corsican Sisters. Mons. Gaillard
(programme again) sings well in an unknown language, and Mr. T. P.
Haynes is most accurate in his make-up as Mr. Arthur Cecil.
Miss Ada Wilson is graceful and nimble in the Saltarelle. The
" Act Drop " at the new theatre is a real work of Art, apparently
belonging to the early Penny Valentine School. The stage business
of the chorus is the same as it usually is in all Bouffes with which
Mr. Henderson's theatres are Farnieshed by the experienced Mr.
Earnie.

Whittington and his Cat, at the Gaiety, is a burlesque drama. So
are plenty of other dramas in which there are not pretty dresses (d la

Pilotell), pretty music (a la
Meter Lctz), and pretty
faces {d la Compagnie Gene-
rale de la Gaiete assuree).
Like the Forty Thieves,
Whittington is the sort of
piece to which you might
take your children, if you
have any; or anybody else's
if you haven't. You can't go
wrong, because the story is
clear. That is a great point,
in fact, one of the greatest
points in the piece. It is on
the old lines, with lots of
new ones thrown in, and
not generally thrown away.
Miss E. Farren, as Dick,
beats any of her previous
performances. There is a
very pretty dream-scene on
Pretty Dicky, the Cat, and Somebody Highgate Hill, wherein she
Alice. sees Alice, in which character

Miss Kate Vaughan looks
more fascinating than ever, and, moreover, is very funny, as she
can be when she likes, in the1 Second Act. Mr. E. W. Royce shares
honours with them as Mynheer Van der Shuttle, a Dutch Sea
Captain, and, as evidenced
by his dancing, a capital
skipper. Capital skippers
too are Mr. J. J. Dallas and
Miss Phyllis Broeghton.
But—

"See Mr. Johnny D'Auban,

He's so quick and nimble, ')

He'd dance on a tbimble,
He' s more like an elf than a
man."

So he is. In the bills he is
described as an "Enchanter
of Serpents." He was en-
thusiastically encored. So
what a lot of serpents there
must have been in the house !

In the last Act of Whitting-
ton there is a panorama of

the Lord Mayor's Show, by efts
Mr. H. J. Banes. Mr. Hol- ^ '

lingshead should draw on The Cook and the Skuttle.

his Banks for more carica- .
tures ; for these are all admirably conceived and executed m a
truly humorous spirit; and the Artist has evidently such " power to
add to his number," that by the 9th of November the Procession of
these Figures of Fun may be produced to any length, with lots of
breadth. Mr. Banks can draw; and, at all events, his Panorama
wiU.

We give a most cordial welcome'to Mr. Fred Clay atlthe Opera
Comique, though we could have wished that he had produced an
entirely new opera instead of warming up his and Mr. Gilbert's
Princess Toto, which he has re-served for this occasion; but as his
audience warmedthemselves upto it as well, weforgive him. Of course,
any composition of Clay's must be "very putty," and the music
throughout Toto is this, and more ; but there's nothing m it that, at
a first hearing, you can carry away with you and keep it to yourseli
as if it were your own.

We heard it ages ago at the Strand—about"the time, we suppose,
that we heard " Ages Ago " at the German Heeds', and wasn't the
music of this charming and catchy ? and didn't we catch it P rather,
—li So please you, Sir, 'twas /"—how pretty—we mean, as before,
how putty, which we must always say when speaking of Clay s work
—to be placed on a par with that other song, " Nobody knows as1
know," which, sung by Kate Santley, created such & furore at the