STAGE AND SCREEN
MUSIC
Christmas Fare SADLER'S WELLS'S contribution to Christmas entertainments is a new production of Die Fledermaus, and the restoration of the ballet to its programmes. Johann Strauss's operetta has been staged by Mr. Hedley Briggs, who has an eye for amusing colour and design, which he keeps within the bounds of good taste. The result is a fantasy upon the period of bustles and bobbles that delights the eye as much as Strauss's music delights the ear. Mr. Briggs has also produced the work, and to this also he has brought a fresh mind. One may regret the omission of some of the familiar business—Adele's passionate farewell to the boar's head in imitation of Rosa- linde's farewell to her Gabriel—but Mr. Briggs has usually invented something else as good.
The production would be better still if the company were more accustomed to the operette style. Singers trained to high tragedy are apt to be completely floored when confronted with a trivial text, and descend from the high-falutin' A to the spoken word like very amateurs. So the action takes on at times the air of an impromptu charade. There are individual exceptions, notable among them Mr. Matters, who times Frank's words and gestures with a brilliant precision. Mr. Ronald Stear, too, presents an admirably fresh Frosch, though nothing can quite redeem the loss, inevitable in translation, of that sense of utter bewilderment and despair that makes itself felt in the very sound of " Ich bin eingemauert! "
The ladies capture the atmosphere of Viennese chic, which is heavier and softer than the Parisian variety, with the help of the costumier. Miss Dusseau has a quite devastating con- fection of mustard-yellow and pink, and Miss Naylor carries off by sheer impudence a combination of scarlet and magenta that ought to be dreadful, but turns out to be ravishing with just the dash of vulgarity that should distinguish the lady's- maid in disguise. Miss Dusseau let fly at the big dramatic moments with splendid effect, but she was apt to let the wit go inaudibly by default. Miss Naylor obviously enjoyed the fun hugely, and succeeded in communicating it to the audi- ence, who would have liked a repeat of her song in the last act. Mr. Collingwood conducted and got some fine playing from the orchestra, notably in the prelude to the third act, but generally there was too little light and shade.
At the Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, an interesting version of Julius Caesar in modern dress, now transferred to His Majesty's, has been succeeded by a pasticcio of eighteenth-century music with the romance of Elizabeth Linley and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the dramatic excuse for a series of attractive songs. This form of operatic anthology was much in favour in the eighteenth century, and it has the advantage of rescuing the gems that occur in other- wise mediocre works. Miss Beatrice Saxon Snell has succeeded in discovering some delightful songs. It is perhaps permissible to regret the inclusion of so famous a song as Purcell's "• I attempt from love's sickness to fly," and still more the addition to it of a duet to make an operatic finale. The only other familiar piece in a good collection that draws upon Rameau (a delightful bravura air for Miss Eisinger), Handel, Bononcini and the prolific Mr. Anon, was Linley's setting of "Here's to the maiden "—which was inevitable in a play in which the composer appears. And it would be pedantic to object that The School for Scandal was not yet written at the period of this play.
What will be found an objection in Georgian Springtime is a certain tenuity in the action combined with a too small measure of wit and a somewhat stilted style of speech. Nevertheless those who like their entertainment mild and pretty will be pleased. And, if the drama is thin, the singing js good, and as a concert in costume it is enchanting. Miss Eisinger is a wholly delightful Elizabeth and Mr. Eric Starling sings the music allotted to Sheridan excellently. It is not altogether his fault that he is unable to give any impress of a strong personality to the part, for the script does not help him. The best piece of acting comes from Mr. Geoffrey Dunn; who makes a tipsy scene really funny by dint of restraint.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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