The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-26 00:00:00

_MUSIC AND. THE DI?A_IWzi.

AT THE Taineette-Royeas Miss Cushman hae-appeared on
tare evenings daring the paseweek, vize on those of• Wednes-
day and Friday, and on both i occasions she was successful in
bringing together large and fashionable audiences. On
• 'Wednesday shn•performed her favourite and well-known
character of Me-g ,Merriliee' ,in the Anima of' "-C-ay Nan-
- Tiering, and presented to ,the.adaniring assemblage her per-
- sonation of the- -fine embodiment of Scott with all her-wonted
energy of actiona and her wanted; vehemence of tleelaniation,
' both combined. and heighteeed: by the accompaniments of
picturesque costamei• and studiechstage effect. As usual, she
was received with- warm- enthusiasm, and her performance
-throughout was !Lividly and freltiently applauded. On-;Friday
she appeared as-the heroine of: a play somewhat new, to her,
• and performed for the •first time- on that occasion, at this
theatre. It is a:: new • version- of Victor Hugo's "'Angelo,
• nratis de Padosses'7 and was laree• as it had been at the Hay-
• market in Londoneproducecl under- the title of " The,Aetress
of Padua." As a drama, it ben piece of which no great
amount of goodacan be, said ; dialogue it is commonplace,
presenting few outbursts of poetical- attraction to redeem the
fiat, bald language of exaggerated -though common. passion.
It: is marked lass- no fine descriptive flights : and c' en those
tinsel - ornaments-of the playwright—well-concocted. senti-
ments—are far *ben plentiful..inaits composition ; Bee Oast is
meagre and unnatural, and theaneans by which that plot is
wrought, out ace sadly deficient in ingenuity—aralnat, . its
`4nouement thadrama leaves no.pleasing, no impreailig im-
pression on the minds of theeauditers, who, by its singular
meat-ruction, Ilene been, long beforetbe curtain fallsareduced
to, the unpleaseint level of Mere.. .apathetic spectators.. The
piny is composed with a vieweto• show the depravity. of the
high'aristocraey of a highly artificial state of societyeandaby
inference, although no contrast: is attempted, to exalt the
virtues.of the Bumbler ranks. Angelo Malipieri, tiao tyran-
rjeal governor of Padua, under sway of the Tene:ian
Yenpublic, is -married to • C &terrine, whom he cares .- not a
straw about, although he has-been . cruel enough to force
her - into- the.' marriage, which she detests ; yet careless
thOugh he appears to be, and isrin regard to her affections, he
•ii-intensely Jealous of her. He ishirnself the slave of Tisbe,
ethiS despises-him, and is greatly enamoured of RealeY, a
bf' led lords, whose real name is Ezzetino, but wliza is frans
tidally in lone with Catarinai to whom he was betintheda and
he: treats and her affeetianoxith the most complete indif-
ference. A.nondescript called theiodei, a spy of the Council
of Tens, has. also been a layer, though a discarded one, .ofs
Catalioa. He insinuates himself successfully into an under- -
standing of the feelings- and desires of all the parties,- and.
resolves towork upon them, all to gratify his MD. revenge.
Meowing-the mutual inclinations of ItodoVo and ealarina,- he •
Nimes to introduce the- former into the -chamber of the
letter. in. the palace of her husbaud, and this en=gensenthe.
contrive:. to fulfil thronglia the agency of !name whose
jealousy he whets by promising to unmask Rasieffosin.thca
chamber of his mistress and. her rival, without even binting
who that rival is. Tisbas an actress, who has risen toemissl
nence from being a ballad-singer in the streets,. is-ascreatur-as
of the most violent and: impetuous passion, yet she retains, ta-
hUrniv- affection for tlseeleineluess and love of heramothere al
whom she narrates that on one occasion, when condemned. tea
speedy death by the -caariee of a cruel noble, she was saved
from her impending fate by the urgent entreaty. ofthat noble's
daughter, to whom the rescued mother gives a rade -crucifix in
token of her gratitude, For this benefit conferred on her
now deceased parrot;- Zlisbe also entertains- a-feeling ofatlee
liveliest gratitude,. and: determines to requite•it. Introduced
surreptitiously into, tire- chamber of Catarina, by °Nadel,
who but a few minutes. before had also introduced Itoeitaafo ;
the latter, on the alarm caused by Titles. entrance, is
concealed in anoratorio leading out of the-chamber. Tiebe
is satisfied of rho s lover's concealment, although orly suspi- j
eious as to who that lover is, and after smbraiding Catarina
with her infidelity, and making such a disturbance-as alarms
the jealous Argelo, discovers ihat. Catarina is. messed of
the lost crueitix, and investigation satisfies.her that that lady
is the child to whose intreaties her mother owed his' life. The
filial love afTisbe is now stimulated,and she ingratitude assists
in deceiving Angelo, and allowing the finsoured loser to escape.
A letter- from RodoVo to Catarina falls into the hands of
Angelo, and confirms his half-lulled suspicions as to the infide-
lity of his- wife, and he dooms her to. death. To prevent this,
Tislht interferes, and advises him to poison her instead of I
having her beheaded as he had at first intended, and she fur-
nishes the potion which is to do the-work of death, but sub-
stitutes for it a sleeping draft, and has the sleeping Catarko,
carried. to her horse. Somehow there was also conveyed along,
with the sleeping draft a deadly poison which Angelo mistak-
ing. for- the other, swallows it,, and of course dies. nybe
then introducing liodolfo t 4 his inamorata, whom he is
now at liberty to marry, stabs herself with his poignard and
dies, The character of Tis6e. was supported by Miss Cushman
with fully more than her usual energy, and was correspondingly
successful. As Catarina,Miss Anderton acquitted herself with
gOod effect, and both theme ladies were called before the. curtain
at the conclusion of the- piece and received loud plaudits as the
reward of their exertion. The character of Angelo was fairly I
rendered by Mr. Lorraine, as was also that of .Rosiotfo by Mr. I
Villiers. The play was well put upon the stage, and had a
faYourable reception on the whole, although it would be ha-
zardous
to predict for it a continuance of that favour, which its
character as a drama does not by any means entitle it to.
AT THE ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE, the chief attractions of
the week have been the lively facinations. of Perea Nena and her
eompanious of the Spanish corps. de ballet. They have each
night delighted numerously crowded houses by their lively
and expressive as well as graceful and characteristic dancing.
As in London they have been very popular iu Liverpool, and
have met with deserved success. On Saturday evening, Perea
Nona took her benefit, on which occasion she was well patro-
nized and warmly applauded. The opening piece was Shitikosi
peare's favourite play of " As you Like It," the
by Mr. Loraine. Of the former, it is only justiced
rnannish,,
and to her author to remark, that royster
111111‘4it little associated
Rosalind being performed by Miss Anderton ; tliat
swagger are foreign to the character, and
t •
of
ojclierarsnefilf
deli-
cacy of feeling and truly feninineogit-a
f hceefroward boy-man is
assume even in masquerade the airsSrish national dances intro-
to mistake the character. The ,
I •characteristic
eirminn in t
intro-
duced in • the ballet were el e
in the varied vet easy grace
with its faithful personation. It is a hart
of
fepseenetimmetlhd ito,
liveliness, as they were pleasing
of their complicated evalutiente