Punch (82.1882)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIYARI.

[January 7, 1882.

OLD DRURY, GAIETY, AND OTHER SHOWS.

Mr. CiESAR Augustus Harris, Emperor of Old Drury Lane, with
I the aid of Pantomime Pontifex Maximus E. L. Blanchard and a
j whole College of learned Augurs and talented Assistants, has in
Robinson Crusoe given the world a capital Children’s Pantomime.

Mr. Arthur
Roberts, as Mrs.
Crusoe, is im-
mensely funny; so
is Mr. James Fawn
as Mr. Timothy
Loveage. Their
duet, ‘ ‘ You 're no-
thing of the sort,"
will be the vocal
hit of the Panto-
mime.

The only weak
part in the Drury
Lane Pantomime,
on the first night,
was the music,
which had a ten-
dency more to
Wagnerism than
waggishness, and

A. R. You ’re a timid Fawn!

J. F. You ’re an-Arthur !

Both. We ’re nothing of the sort !

A very active Lord
Chamberlain.

imparted a solemn
kind of religious-
service sort of tune to_ the slowly-developing, but really_ splendid,
transformation, which is as novel in design as it is hoth original and
effective in execution. There is one disappointment very generally
felt, and that was that Mr. Arthur
Roberts does not sing “ We are a Merry
Family," which he has made so popular.

Mr. John D’Auban, as the Chamberlain
to King Hoity- Toiiy, King of the Cannibal
Islands, is invaluable. No use placing this
Mr. Chamberlain in the Cabinet. Such a
restless, energetic spirit would be the very
man to lead a revolutionary movement,
and to keep it going as long as he had any
go left in himself. Miss Emma D’Auban,
too, is a most expressive pantomimist: she
means so much, and tells it all, plainly,
in action.

There is one great novelty at Old Drury
this year, and that is a bevy of young and.
pretty girls, whose forms set otf to the
greatest advantage the dresses designed
for them by Mr. Alfred Thompson, who
has also provided the sketches for the very
ingenious properties which occupy so pro-
minent a place in the grand Trades’ Proces-
sion in honour of Crusoe’s safe return to
Old England. A touching spectacle this,
which never entered into Defoe’s limited imagination.

As Robinson Crusoe, Miss Fanny Leslie never lets the fun drop
for a moment, and she has to act for herself and partner, Polly
Loveage, as Miss Amalia, taken for all in ali,
and there ’s not much of her, is too small and
quiet for the vast stage of Old Drury, and the
boisterous requirements of its Pantomime.

Mr. Harry Nicholls is very funny as Will
Atkins, a character conceived on an old-
fashioned pattern, which has been pretty well
worked threadbare in Nautical Burlesques and
Bab-Ballad Operas. It is not new, but he is
very droll.

We did not recognise Mr. Harry Jaceson as
the Cockatoo : he evidently had some excellent
things to say : but what’s the use of the most
telling lines when you ’re done up in feathers
with a cockatoo’s head on your shoulders, and
your whole attention given to the mechanism
which works your tail and wings ?

_ As Friday, Master Charles Lauri showed
himself first-rate, both as Acrobat and Panto-
mimist. His really serious pantomime acting
was worthy of what tradition tells us about
won’t Atkins—rather! Grimaldi. Pity there is not more of this.

_The Dresden China Ballet, danced by Madam
Katti Lanner’s pupils—they should have danced a Bric-a-brac-
down—is a real treat for the children who look on, and the children
who perform the dance; little mites some of ’em, to whom Drury
Lane Boards will do as much good as all the School Boards ever

“Will Atkins? ”—•

invented by an Electric-Enlightened age. Think too, Ladies and
Gentlemen, what a provision this Drury Lane Annual Pantomime-
finds for many and
many a poor and
honest family, father,
mother, sons and
daughters, down to
the very youngest, all
making money while
the gas-light shines ;
and mind you,your so-
vereigns and shillings
not only purchase a
great pleasure for
your own children
home for the holidays,
in whose delight is
your greatest plea-
sure, but do real good
to an industrious,
steady, hard - work-
ing class ; giving a A meeting with Robinson arranged for this Friday.
start in life to many

who would find their daily bread very difficult to earn were it not for
our great Pantomime Houses, to which, beginning with Old Drury,

Pupils of the Drury Lane-School-Boards.

under the management of Husar Augustus Harris, we most heartily
wish continued and well-merited prosperity.

The Gaiety.—Walk up! walk up! and see the third of the
Three-Act Burlesque Series. Aladdin's newsacredlamp of Three-Act
Burlesque takes the place of the old ones, which it excels in
spectacular brilliancy, though the necessity laid on the Author,
Mr. Reece, for perpetually keeping the ensemhle of “ all the
talents” before the audience is the “ reece’un why” (this with
apologies to Mr. Reece) the simplicity of the old familiar story
is obscured, and its genuine dramatic interest muddled away.
The three hits of the piece are — Aladdin's mother’s song
(capitally given by Mr. Dal-
las), Miss Farren’s song
and chorus, “ I'll tell your
Mother ivhat you've done!"
and her Street Arab’s song in
the Second Act, in which the
change from real pathos to
thorough-going chick-a-leariness
exhibits a true touch of genius
of the old Robsonian type, and
stamps it at once as certainly one
of the best things this clever
Burlesque actress has ever done.

This combination of song and
dance was vociferously _ and
deservedly encored three times,
and each repetition was giyen
with some new effect, showing
that the artiste was heart and
soul in her work. This alone
would be enough to make the
fortune of Aladdm, without
the sayings, doings, and danc-
ings of Miss Kate Yaughan,

Messrs. Terry and Royce, and
the rest of the company; but no doubt Lord Chief Justice Coleridge
will be delighted to hear that Miss Connie Gilchrist comes to the
front a good deal, and that her dancing is thoroughly appreciated
by several of his Lordship’s legal brethren in the Orchestra Stalls.

Lyceum.—The Revival of the Two Roses is an instance of the
Survival of the Fittest. Seldom has any character-part been so
perfectly adapted to the peculiarities of an Actor, as is the rble of
Digby Grant to those of Mr. Irving,—peculiarities which, in some
instances real, in others affected, now developed by experience and
stereotyped by time, make up the professional individuality of
Henry Irying. His Digby Grant is a masterpiece, not a “ creation,”
for no Actor ever “ created” a part unless he was also its Author.

“ I ’ll tell your Mother what you ’ve
done! ”—A-laddin quotation.