22 NOVEMBER 1851, Page 9

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From the manner in which the Haymarket opened on Monday last, it appears that opera is intended to form an essential feature of its season. Macfarren's pretty comic opera, King Charks tlw Second, was got up and performed in a way which would be deemed respectable even in a regular musical theatre. The caste was nearly the same as when the piece was brought out at the Princess's, two years ago ; Harrison, Weiss, Miss Louisa Pyne, and Madame Macfarren, in their former parts ; that of the Queen was now well supported by the elder Miss Pyne ; and that of the Earl of Rochester by Mr. Durant, a young performer who has a good baritone voice and gives considerable promise. The superiority of the Haymarket performance to the original at the Princess's lies in those im- portant accessories the orchestra and chorus, which exhibit no contempti- ble degree of strength and discipline ; in the taste and richness of the decorations; and in the completeness of the ensemble.

Operatic and dramatic evenings alternate with each other. The chief entertainment in the latter has been sin English version of the Bataille do .Dames; in which the principal charaoters are sustained, as at the Olym- pic, by Mrs. Stirling and Mr. Leigh Murray. This piece is admirably suited to Mrs. Stirling, who is the best English representative of French finesse : still, we cannot help thinking that something more novel would have given greater effect to her (laid. The Princess's Theatre, according to announcement, opens tonight, with The Merry Wires of Windsor; which derives a new feature from the extraordinary strength of the caste.