THE THEATRE
Humpty Dumpty." At the Coliseum.—" Cinderella." At His Majesty's.—" Peter Pan." At the Cambridge.
Humpty Dumpty is far the best of the new Christmas shows and is, in fact, the best pantomime I have seen for years. First of all it is exceptionally attractive visually, the scenery and costumes being- quite excellent ; next it has remarkably well-arranged children's dances—the Terry children are a delight whenever they appear and they dance their way in a brilliant silver thread through the show. The comedians, Nervo and Knox, are more restrained and therefore more effective than they have been latterly. Hal Bryan is a sound comedian with a pleasing vitality and the right sort of voice. Edna Proud is wistful and appealing as Humpty Dumpty and there are those remarkable acrobatic dancers Juanita and the Ganjou brothers. Acrobatic dancers have to be very good to be tolerable ; these are not only extraordinarily good but the poses that Juanita assumes have an exceptional beauty and her virtuosity is simply amazing. Finally there is Pat Kirkwood as the Prince, never failing in dash and charm, who has several Cole Porterish songs to sing which, if not up to that master's level are nevertheless not quite banal. But what makes the show outstanding is the unusually high degree of taste shown throughout and the extremely good comic invention, in which Naughton and Gold are extraordinarily funny. This pantomime will delight both children and adults.
Cinderella is a much more ordinary affair and rather dull by com- parison. Evelyn Laye does her best with poor material, so does George Moon, but neither the script nor the songs are good enough. This year's production of Peter Pan is not as good as last year's but
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