"POLLY" AT THE CHELSEA PALACE:
WE might call the Chelsea Palace production of Polly the proletarian version in contrast to its Savoy rival. There was certainly a great deal that one would call " common " in the snobbish sense of the word about the whole affair, but to me, at any rate, it was extremely charming. Even my untrained ear could observe that Mr. Bath made some obvious and ridiculous mistakes in his adaptations, and some of the numbers manufactured by the Gay Opera Company were absurd, but where tunes were given originally the orchestration and arrangement of the accompaniment were fascinating. The scenery is excellent though freely imitated from Mr. Nicholson's. work. at the Savoy Theatre.
Miss Jean Aylwin as a comic Scotch servant was certainly an astonishing interpolation ; but, however improperly intro- duced, she was very amusing. Miss Elizabeth Hay looked charming as Mrs. Ducat, and I thought the Polly= of Miss Winifred O'Connor entirely fascinating- She is very small and looks very young and has a delightfully light voice- and a great simplicity of manner ; and, though her uniform was- not so fetching as - that of Miss: Lilian Davies, I completely - lost my heart to her. Miss Phyllis Harding as Jenny Diver (a- whole-hearted and most admirable crib from the Lovat Fraser tradition) was charming. I much preferred her to the other Jenny, and the scene in which she makes love to the disguised Polly was charmingly, given by both actresses —the production's hairy heel did not intrude here. The Moreno of Mr. Foster Richardson was greatly inferior to that of Mr. Pitt Chatham. He has not got the spirit of the thing ; also he should not wear a head handkerchief like an Italian ice-cream man.
The charms of Miss. Winifred. O'Connor and' Miss Phyllis Harding and the scenery and dresses make the Chelsea Palace production very well worth seeing. TARN.
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