[Illustration: One of the Points of the Piece. The Queen of the
Amazons gets the Needle.]
What is an "Original Farcical Romance"? The immediate reply is that
_The Amazons_, by Mr. PINERO, is a specimen of the genus. To see _The
Amazons_ ought to supply the terms of the required definition. I have
seen it, and yet the definition does not satisfy me. "_Original_"!
Well--more or less; but to use old materials in a novel manner is
quite enough for originality. The girl brought up as a boy is not
absolutely new or original, _vide_ _Tom Noddy's Secret_, and multiply
the heroine of that farce by three. The three men hunting after the
three girls and obtaining access to them at school--substituting, in
this case, home for school, and a mother for a school-mistress--is not
absolutely new or original; but, again, what matters this to anyone,
so long as the new shape given to the old material is genuinely
amusing? So "farcical" goes with "original." But now, as to its being
a "Romance?" Would not the term "burlesque" be a better term than
"Farcical Romance?" The characters of the three adventurous lovers
are not less burlesque than were those of the three Knights in ALBERT
SMITH'S romantic Extravaganza, _The Alhambra_, played then by ALFRED
WIGAN, and Mr. and Mrs. KEELEY. So if I may take it that "Farcical
Romance" is only a way out of describing the piece as "burlesque,"
then I know how to class it, and what to expect. Now I must own that
my puzzlement is due to my own fault, for it so chanced that I did not
look at the author's description of his play until after leaving the
theatre. I thought I was seeing something that was intended to be as
broad a farce as _Bébé, alias Betsy_, but I soon found that, whatever
it might be, it wasn't this. It is capitally acted by all, but
especially, on "the Spear Side," by Mr. WEEDON GROSSMITH and F. KERR,
the former as an effeminate Earl, and the latter as a manly Viscount.
But, even from a burlesque point of view, Mr. ELLIOT overdoes the
Frenchman, a part which belongs to a stage-family of Frenchmen, of
which, in former times, ALFRED WIGAN was the best representative; and,
later, Mons. MARIUS, who, as the French sporting nobleman, in _Family
Ties_, in love with an English "Mees," and so proud of his English
slang, was simply the character to the life, without any more
exaggeration than was artistically necessary. On "the Spindle Side,"
Miss LILY HANBURY looks handsome, and is generally fairly well-suited;
Miss PATTIE BROWNE has the most difficult part of the three, and it is
not to be wondered at if she a bit out-tommies _Tommy_. Miss ELLALINE
TERRIS looks, acts, and sings charmingly as _Lady Wilhelmina_, and
Miss CALDWELL gives a good touch of low comedy to "the Sergeant."
The places where the fun comes in, as it does occasionally, and is
therefore the more precious, are chiefly with WEEDON GROSSMITH, and in
the scenes between Mr. F. KERR and Miss HANBURY. The piece is not up
to the former "screamers," such as _Dandy Dick_, _The Magistrate_, and
_My Aunt_, or whatever was the title of the farce in which Mr. WEEDON
GROSSMITH played the part of Mrs. JOHN WOOD'S solicitor. The scenery
by Mr. HALL is Hall good, specially the woodland scene in Overcote
Park.
[Illustration: "We loathe Music."]
* * * * *
"MUCH ADO ABOUT _NIL_."--Were the Temporal Power in existence, the
LORD MAYOR, in proposing the toast of the POPE before that of the
QUEEN, would have been guilty of a blunder, and we all know, on
TALLEYRAND'S authority, how far worse is a blunder than a crime. But
the POPE, being no longer "two single gentlemen rolled into one," but
simply, as it might be set down in a Play-bill of _Dramatis Personæ_,
"First Bishop," and also by his own style and title, "_Servus
Servorum_," the health of His Holiness (which is uncommonly good)
might, in British Dominions, be introduced after that of the QUEEN and
Royal Family, and could be fitted into Church and State as neatly
as possible, that is, where such a toast is a necessity of the
entertainment. But the stupidity of the incident has been surpassed by
the idiocy of the notice taken of it, and, for the sake of the common
sense of the Common Council, it is to be hoped that a large majority
will be on the side of Alderman and Sheriff RENALS, and refuse to
toast the LORD MAYOR on the Gridiron of LAWRENCE.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
DRURY LANE OPERA RECORD.--_Bohemian Girl_ going strong, _Cavalleria
Rusticana_ still the attraction. "Happy Thought" (_vide_ DRURIOLANUS'S
Diary)--"Revive _La Juive_." Done it! and done it well. GIANNINI, as
_Eleazaro_, excellent. _Rachele_ not up to RACHEL in acting (for those
who may remember that _tragédienne_), but Mlle. GHERLSEN, representing
the Jew's daughter, does what the great RACHEL could not do, that is,
sing. _La Juive_ will be given during the Covent Garden season; so
these performances may be considered as very superior rehearsals.
_Carmen_ on Thursday, instead of _Il Trovatore_.--the _Trovatore_
being _Il_, couldn't appear. With all due sympathy and respect for
_Trovatore_, _Carmen_ was gratefully received. Signor PIGNALOSA,
as the _Toréador_, very good, and obtained his _encore_; so _this_
_Toréador_ was "_contento_." Mlle. GUERCIA was a fascinating _Carmen_,
and what is any _Carmen_ if not fascinating?
* * * * *