[Illustration: "A Warde with you."]
[Illustration: Stock Exchange Swell (Empire Period).]
At this moment there is really a very excellent extertainment at
the Empire Theatre of Varieties, something, or rather many things
of which the Management may, and should be proud. A capital troupe
of Bicyclists, a Spanish Dancer and singer--whose gestures to the
multitude are more intelligible than her language--a graceful,
serpentine dancer, and "a very peculiar American Comedian"--all these
are a part of the programme. But the best item in this liberal bill of
fare is _Round the Town_, a characteristic Ballet, in five _tableaux_.
The composers of this pleasing piece are Madame KATTI LANNER, and Mr.
GEORGE EDWARDES. As the lady is well known for her admirable dances,
it may be safely presumed that the gentleman is solely responsible for
the plot, or rather "the argument." It runs as follows:--"_Dr. Burch_,
newly arrived in London with his pupils, wishes to show them the
sights. What better to begin with than Covent Garden Market in the
early morning?" Quite so, the more especially as the lads must be very
backward boys. There are six of them, and the youngest seems about
thirty, and the oldest about double that age. The Doctor must have
rescued them from Epsom Race Course, and apparently is attempting to
give them an education fitting them to follow what seems to be his own
calling--the profession of an undertaker. These elderly pupils follow
their kind preceptor (for, although he is called _Burch_, there is
not the slightest suggestion of the rod about him, and, moreover, his
charges are really too elderly to receive chastisement) to the Royal
Exchange, the Thames Embankment, and, lastly, to the Empire. During
their travels, they meet _Mr. Rapless_, known as "the Oofless Swell,"
(a part amusingly played by Mr. W. WARDE), and _John Brough_, a
carpenter with a taste for ballet costumes and drink, the carpenter's
wife, and the carpenter's child. _Dr. Burch_, who is evidently
easy-going, but good-hearted, after flirting with a lady who has her
boots cleaned before the Royal Exchange, suddenly developes into a
philanthropist, not to say a divine. On the carpenter's wife and
child appearing on the Thames Embankment in the characters of would-be
suicides, the worthy pedagogue convinces them (to quote the programme)
"That they have no right to take away the lives which the Almighty has
placed in their hands." Mother and child are quickly convinced, and
the neat but drunken father (Signorina MALVINA CAVALAZZI) appearing
on the scene, the good man informs him that his wife and child are
dead, "driven to an untimely grave by his (the intemperate but natty
artisan's) desertion and cruelty." The effect of this inaccurate
statement is startling. To quote once more from the argument,
"incontinently the now penitent ruffian falls fainting to the ground."
But he is brought back to himself, his better self, by his child
whispering "Father!" The situation is full of pathos, even when
witnessed from the Stalls. Recovering his senses, the converted
carpenter promptly borrows money from the good old Doctor, and when
that estimable gentleman is about to enter the Empire Theatre of
Varieties (accompanied by his school), a little later he has the
"satisfaction of seeing his _protégé Mortimer_ (the ex-ruffian),
returning contentedly from his work." This is the simple but pathetic
story that Mr. GEO. EDWARDES touchingly tells with the assistance of
a full _corps de ballet_, five _tableaux_, and last, but certainly not
least, the hints of Madame KATTI LANNER.
[Illustration: Jolly Tar A.B. "Hip, Hip, Hooray!"]
[Illustration: Dramatic Situation on the Embankment, as seen from
Empire Stalls.]
There are many remarkable persons in _Round the Town_. Notably
an effeminate but substantial stock-broker, who looks like a
stock-jobber's maiden-aunt in disguise. Another important personage is
a representative of the Navy, whose figure suggests as an appropriate
greeting, "Hip, hip, hip, hooray!" Both these characters are
well-played, and although subordinate parts, make their mark, or
rather, we should say, score heavily. Altogether; the ballet is
excellent both in dances and plot. The first is a testimony of the
good head of Madame KATTI LANNER, and the last of the equally good
heart of Mr. GEORGE EDWARDES. There is no doubt that _Round the Town_
will draw all London to see (in its realistic scenes) all London
drawn!
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