Pearsisze THEATRIC8.LS.
Le Nabob, the new comic opera by MM. Scribe and St. Georges, with-, music by Halevy, has proved successful, chiefly, it seems, on mita:rant of the ingenuity of its plot The " nabob " is an English resident in Cal- cutta, who by virtue of his wealth has become that favourite French. character "un homme blase." He thinks of committing suicide, to get rid, of his ennui ; but a wise doctor counsels poverty as a cure ; and he ac- cordingly leaves India, and his wife into the bargain, and, raking up his abode In Wales, becomes—what ?—a carpenter ?—a smith ?-=an agri- cultural labourer ?—No, he becomes a workman in a large snuff-manu- factory On an old medical principle, one malady is healed by the intro- duction of another ; and Lord Evendale, cured of ennui, falls &spent,* in love with a new object, and finds himself greatly perplexed by ttlid'esxeSs istence of a wife. His wife does not hire hirn—not a bit ; on the eon= trary, she is greatly attached to her cOrasth, one eh Arthur ; but she is de-
tennined not te r ika.igagtimate lord from her clutches. Luckily,
boweVer, Lord :Evthdaln Ilaa a friend named Cliffort, (Clifford with a "t" a la mode Franeaise,) who turns out.to be Lady Evendale's first husband, vet (dive. .Thus. my lord's marriage is null and void, and he is at perfect ilberty to ebntract - another. watefitre Lyeigne on the Boulevard du Temple has reopened with *.i,cifiera, eclipsed 'by M. Vogel to words by MM. Masson and bet• The libretto contains four acts, full of startling adventures, in Magnetism plays' a prominent part. In England we talk and we ‘410. a great deal about mesmeric science, but we do not greatly use it es,apugent in playa and romances. In France, on the other hand, it is yea by romantic authors almost as freely as the agency of sylphs and uaiads by the contrivers of ballet. Here it is put to a new use. The magnetizer makes the clairvoyant° lady inform him as to the whereabouts °Oa icertahr sum of money, and puts the same into his pocket.
J,The "Christmas-book" of The Battle of Life, which Mr. Charles Dens published some seven years ago, has been turned into a three-act 4i-oia by rag. .Melesville and De Gay, and produced at the Vaudeville.
Previous page
