DOI Heft:
December 7, 1889
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17688#0273
268 PUNCH, OK THE LONDON CHARIVARI. [Dbombbb 7, 1889.
PICKING UP THE PIECES.
jL Golden Piece at the Criterion—A. Tempestuous Piece at the Lyric.
Casts is a masterpiece. It is full of those touches of nature which,
as affecting the use of pocket-handkerchiefs, should gladden the
Ar, , ~ heart of the washerwoman.
A Caste at the Cri and a Cry at the It ig irresistib]y comic . it ig
irresistibly pathetic. With
1 two exceptions, namely,
CfiITEJRSUN firs^that speech of
THEATRE upturned faces,” and^the
^ great, strong, loving arms ”
—both of which are^quite
; ■ ,/ Efti A' characters in whose mouths
^^SeYEN'IN(j the words are placed—the
j | Robertson’s mission was to
WAmaking which, till his time,
TIT - tad been expected from
stage-lovers. In Caste the
lovers talk as they would,
L T> talk, that raises a sympa-
'v^ : thetic smile by its perfectly
The Wicked Abbe leans upon his stick, T the Criterion, David
and wipes away a tear. " AMES, as Pccles, is inimi-
table. His business, con-
siderably developed, when he holds the audience watching him
as closely and as intently as though he were about to commit a
melodramatic crime, when he is simply filling and lighting his pipe,
without saying a. word, is a triumph acknowledged by a round of
genuine appreciative applause.
The performance of Mr. Leonard Boyne and Miss Olga Brandon,
as George D'Alroy and Psther Pccles, is as near perfect as it can
he: and his scene with the baby is perfect. Miss Lottie Yenne’s
Polly Pccles is Ecclesent,—I should say, excellent. Mr. Brook-
eield’s Sam Gerndge is a living type of the honest mechanic; careful
and economical, he is hound to get on in the world; kind and
generous, he will win the affection of those who come to know him;
yet capable of turning so nasty if anything rubs him the wrong way,
that one trembles lest after the honeymoon is over, the lively Polly
may occasionally regret her bargain.
Brookfield-Gerndge'1 s genuinely hearty and awkward shake of
Hciwtree's hand is an inspiration, hut Major Haivtree, a brave
soldier who has fought for his country, is not the sort of man who at
that time and place would turn round to pity his own squeezed hand,
and shrug his shoulders by way of making a cynical apology, to him-
self and society generally, for his recent condescension in fraternally
greeting a horny-handed grubby gasfitter. The Marquise is the one
character that Robertson couldn’t write. He meant her for a Grande
Dame, and he has produced a Lady Snobhess.
The Play is one which no lover of the Drama ought to miss seeing.
It commences at the rational hour of 8'45, May I be permitted to
suggest, for the benefit of those who hate ‘ ‘ turning out of their
homes after dinner,” that from the Criterion dining-room to the
Theatre is but a step, and, if you don’t mind a few more steps, you
could do yourself ” worse, but scarcely better, than at the Cafe
Royal in Regent Street, superior to any similar Restaurant in Paris
certainly as to the wines,—and, ahem! not much behindhand in
prices, which you will do well to study before ordering, remembering
that it costs very little more for two persons to dine than for one
a^d then having smoked two-thirds of your cigar, and taken your
coffee at the table where you dine—a great boon, smoking permitted
at and after 8 o clock—you can finish the other third as you walk
quietly and digestively down to the “ Full Cri.”
Tempestuous Nights at the Lyric.—In The Ped Hussar, Mr.
Edward Solomon has composed an Opera, and scored a success.
His collaborateur, Mr. H. Pottinger Stephens, has just escaped
writing & good Libretto. It might have had a second title, The
Military Billy laylor, if that hadn’t been done years ago at the
Royalty, ine piece goes smoothly enough, yet it is nearly all
Tempest. Act I., Tempest as a ballad-singer, nice little hussy,
in which she sings a taking waltz; Act II., Tempest as a dapper
officer, nice little hussy becomes nice little Hussar, in uncommonly
tight pants, reddy, aye, reddy—very dandy boots—and with a Song
of the Regiment, which is full of 4?go” ; Act III., Tempest again
as an Heiress, in a sedan-chair, who marries the man she loves,
but, being still of an eccentric turn, elects to reappear on her
wedding day in the costume of the Jled Hussar.
Billy Taylor was a “ fine young fellow,” and so is Ralph Rodney
(Mr. Ben Davies).. Billy was pressed and sent to sea: Ralph,
pressed by debt, enlists and joins the army. Billy's young woman
was a “maiden fair and free” (I forget her name, and believe she
never had one in the ballad), so is Ralph Rodney's sweetheart, who,
when Ralph is enlisted, follows him to the wars in the disguise of a
soldier—a brilliant Red Hussar, “ unattached,” except to Ralph—
just as Billy'8 young woman follows him to sea dressed as a sailor,
her hands smirched “ with the nasty pitch and tar,”“ under the name
of Richard Karr." Billy's sweetheart, finding him faithless, shot
him and his new flame, and received the
commendation of the Captain for the deed,
as well as promotion in the British Navy from
reward merit in those days. But Miss Kitty
CarroZ, when she sees Ralphvnth. Barbara Bel-
cessarv’eseeptfor “ Ah si Ben Mio ”; or, The Lyric edition of
Henry Neville.
song, which is not the happiest of Composer Solomon’s inspirations.
To my mind, there’s not an air in it equal to the “ Bake-a-roll" in
Pickwick. It was a cold night. I came into the theatre myself, and
I went out Coffin’, and haven’t been the same man since. Perhaps I
may now get engaged as a tenor, or to replace one of the supers, who
shaved off his moustachios in order to do his best, as he said before
the Magistrate, for the success of The Red Hussar. Bravo, super !
The scenery and costumes are charming. This Red Hussar ought
to do what no soldier ever should do, and that is,—run.
Holland House at Monte Carlo.—Fogs, snow, North-east
winds, sunless, joyless weather in London, and then to read the
journalistic summary of the very summery state of the weather at
Monaco and Monte Carlo, where the new Metropole Hotel, under the
Management of Mr. Alfred Holland, has just been opened fresh
as one of the Dutch natives. Would that we could take a month’s
Hollanday, and be like the swallow flying South towards the South
Pole, or quite far enough to the Metro-pole. No such luck, and
luck’s everything at Monte Carlo ; so we hope there’s plenty of it,
with the new and superior sanitary arrangements, at “Holland
House,” in the Paradise of Principalities, where play is work, and
demand-notes, Sohoolboard-rates, and taxes, are unknown.
PICKING UP THE PIECES.
jL Golden Piece at the Criterion—A. Tempestuous Piece at the Lyric.
Casts is a masterpiece. It is full of those touches of nature which,
as affecting the use of pocket-handkerchiefs, should gladden the
Ar, , ~ heart of the washerwoman.
A Caste at the Cri and a Cry at the It ig irresistib]y comic . it ig
irresistibly pathetic. With
1 two exceptions, namely,
CfiITEJRSUN firs^that speech of
THEATRE upturned faces,” and^the
^ great, strong, loving arms ”
—both of which are^quite
; ■ ,/ Efti A' characters in whose mouths
^^SeYEN'IN(j the words are placed—the
j | Robertson’s mission was to
WAmaking which, till his time,
TIT - tad been expected from
stage-lovers. In Caste the
lovers talk as they would,
L T> talk, that raises a sympa-
'v^ : thetic smile by its perfectly
The Wicked Abbe leans upon his stick, T the Criterion, David
and wipes away a tear. " AMES, as Pccles, is inimi-
table. His business, con-
siderably developed, when he holds the audience watching him
as closely and as intently as though he were about to commit a
melodramatic crime, when he is simply filling and lighting his pipe,
without saying a. word, is a triumph acknowledged by a round of
genuine appreciative applause.
The performance of Mr. Leonard Boyne and Miss Olga Brandon,
as George D'Alroy and Psther Pccles, is as near perfect as it can
he: and his scene with the baby is perfect. Miss Lottie Yenne’s
Polly Pccles is Ecclesent,—I should say, excellent. Mr. Brook-
eield’s Sam Gerndge is a living type of the honest mechanic; careful
and economical, he is hound to get on in the world; kind and
generous, he will win the affection of those who come to know him;
yet capable of turning so nasty if anything rubs him the wrong way,
that one trembles lest after the honeymoon is over, the lively Polly
may occasionally regret her bargain.
Brookfield-Gerndge'1 s genuinely hearty and awkward shake of
Hciwtree's hand is an inspiration, hut Major Haivtree, a brave
soldier who has fought for his country, is not the sort of man who at
that time and place would turn round to pity his own squeezed hand,
and shrug his shoulders by way of making a cynical apology, to him-
self and society generally, for his recent condescension in fraternally
greeting a horny-handed grubby gasfitter. The Marquise is the one
character that Robertson couldn’t write. He meant her for a Grande
Dame, and he has produced a Lady Snobhess.
The Play is one which no lover of the Drama ought to miss seeing.
It commences at the rational hour of 8'45, May I be permitted to
suggest, for the benefit of those who hate ‘ ‘ turning out of their
homes after dinner,” that from the Criterion dining-room to the
Theatre is but a step, and, if you don’t mind a few more steps, you
could do yourself ” worse, but scarcely better, than at the Cafe
Royal in Regent Street, superior to any similar Restaurant in Paris
certainly as to the wines,—and, ahem! not much behindhand in
prices, which you will do well to study before ordering, remembering
that it costs very little more for two persons to dine than for one
a^d then having smoked two-thirds of your cigar, and taken your
coffee at the table where you dine—a great boon, smoking permitted
at and after 8 o clock—you can finish the other third as you walk
quietly and digestively down to the “ Full Cri.”
Tempestuous Nights at the Lyric.—In The Ped Hussar, Mr.
Edward Solomon has composed an Opera, and scored a success.
His collaborateur, Mr. H. Pottinger Stephens, has just escaped
writing & good Libretto. It might have had a second title, The
Military Billy laylor, if that hadn’t been done years ago at the
Royalty, ine piece goes smoothly enough, yet it is nearly all
Tempest. Act I., Tempest as a ballad-singer, nice little hussy,
in which she sings a taking waltz; Act II., Tempest as a dapper
officer, nice little hussy becomes nice little Hussar, in uncommonly
tight pants, reddy, aye, reddy—very dandy boots—and with a Song
of the Regiment, which is full of 4?go” ; Act III., Tempest again
as an Heiress, in a sedan-chair, who marries the man she loves,
but, being still of an eccentric turn, elects to reappear on her
wedding day in the costume of the Jled Hussar.
Billy Taylor was a “ fine young fellow,” and so is Ralph Rodney
(Mr. Ben Davies).. Billy was pressed and sent to sea: Ralph,
pressed by debt, enlists and joins the army. Billy's young woman
was a “maiden fair and free” (I forget her name, and believe she
never had one in the ballad), so is Ralph Rodney's sweetheart, who,
when Ralph is enlisted, follows him to the wars in the disguise of a
soldier—a brilliant Red Hussar, “ unattached,” except to Ralph—
just as Billy'8 young woman follows him to sea dressed as a sailor,
her hands smirched “ with the nasty pitch and tar,”“ under the name
of Richard Karr." Billy's sweetheart, finding him faithless, shot
him and his new flame, and received the
commendation of the Captain for the deed,
as well as promotion in the British Navy from
reward merit in those days. But Miss Kitty
CarroZ, when she sees Ralphvnth. Barbara Bel-
cessarv’eseeptfor “ Ah si Ben Mio ”; or, The Lyric edition of
Henry Neville.
song, which is not the happiest of Composer Solomon’s inspirations.
To my mind, there’s not an air in it equal to the “ Bake-a-roll" in
Pickwick. It was a cold night. I came into the theatre myself, and
I went out Coffin’, and haven’t been the same man since. Perhaps I
may now get engaged as a tenor, or to replace one of the supers, who
shaved off his moustachios in order to do his best, as he said before
the Magistrate, for the success of The Red Hussar. Bravo, super !
The scenery and costumes are charming. This Red Hussar ought
to do what no soldier ever should do, and that is,—run.
Holland House at Monte Carlo.—Fogs, snow, North-east
winds, sunless, joyless weather in London, and then to read the
journalistic summary of the very summery state of the weather at
Monaco and Monte Carlo, where the new Metropole Hotel, under the
Management of Mr. Alfred Holland, has just been opened fresh
as one of the Dutch natives. Would that we could take a month’s
Hollanday, and be like the swallow flying South towards the South
Pole, or quite far enough to the Metro-pole. No such luck, and
luck’s everything at Monte Carlo ; so we hope there’s plenty of it,
with the new and superior sanitary arrangements, at “Holland
House,” in the Paradise of Principalities, where play is work, and
demand-notes, Sohoolboard-rates, and taxes, are unknown.