The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

HE PRESS

JANUARY 9,

and Khorsanbad (Mr. J. L. Toole), the chief of the
fire worshippers, represented by himself. She rejects
all three, and accepts Feramorz, who in the disguise
of a troubadour pleads the cause of himself, the
King of Bucharia. She sets out to meet him,
accompanied by Fadladeen (Mr. S. Calhaem), and
her maid Hinda (Miss E. Jacobs, originally known
as the heroine of " The Fire•worshippers"). On the
way the party are attacked by Khorsanbad and Hg red
(Mrs. Buckingham White), who is " keeping com-
pany" with Hinds. The Ohebers are discomfited by
Namoune, who waves fire over them, and Lalla
Rookh and her escort arrive safely in Bucharia,
where Feramorz leaves her, not a little dissatisfied
with her matrimonial prospects. Here Auruogzebe,
" with carpet-bag and umbrella," suddenly arrives,
having been informed by Namoune of Feratnorz's
real rank. Hafed and Khorsanbad having been
taken prisoners, the former is released at the request
of Hinda, and on promising to become respectable
and forswear Gheberism ; Khorsanbad remains
coarse and bad to the last. As regards Feramorz
and Lalla Rookh all of course, is " quite serene." The
Pen is pardoned, and received back into the " Peri
home " and the " golden corridors of the aerial
amphitheatre," gorgeous in the extreme, and we
trust comfortably warmed as well as lighted.
To this succeeds the Pantomime, with the usual
tricks and transformations.

Mr. Brough has shown much ingenuity in the con-
struction of his burlesque, and his puns are quite up
to the average standard ; but the pantomime public
appears to be sated with puns, and they wore not
" taken " so often as perhaps they deserved to be.
The part of Fadladeen has been made very amusing ;
his dress is most excellent, and is acted with great
spirit by Mr. Calhaem. The idea of introducing the
Orhebers, who are represented as a sleepy set of
ruffians, always drowsy with keeping up their fire all
night, is nct a very happy one. They rather, as a
body, overweight the piece, and are only male tole-
rable by the acting of Mr. Toole. whose imitation of
Robson was received as one of the most telling bits.
It is a pity that Mr. Brough—for the sake, appa-
rently of introducing Anrungzebe with a carpet•bag—
should have departed from his original so far as to
omit the scene where Lalla Rookh, on being led into
the court Bucharia, recognises Foramorz in the
person of the King. This would have been more
dramatically effective as a "situation," and would
have afforded quite as good an opportunity for the
" Oriental alcove " business as the Peri's garden,
while the latter might have been kept for the con-
clusion of the pantomime. That is at present
occupied by an illuminated repetition of Scene 1.,
which, after the blaze of magnificence occurring at
the end of the burlesque, produces the effect of an
anti-climax. Miss Woolgar displayed her usual
languid energy as the troubadour, and her song of
" The Minstrel Boy," apropos of organs, is perhaps,
in a facetious point of view, the best in the piece,
though we must not forget to express our admira-
tion of Miss Webb's singing in Scene 11. A mild
crusade against street nuisances is kept up through
the piece, and is expressed in Scene lll.—probably
on the principle of "taking a hair of the dog that
bites you"—in a parody of " Old Dog Tray," which
was of course one or the songs most appreciated.
Of the pantomime the less said the better. There
are no tricks which even rise to the level of ab-
surdity, and its merit may be estimated from the fact
that the audience began steadily to melt away from
the conclusion of the burlesque, and that we do not
remember to have heard a single child's laugh during
the whole course of it. It is, indeed, rather notice-
able, as showing bow conventional the mirth of pan-
tomimes and burlesques really is, that far more
amusement, to all appearance, was derived by the
audience from that excellent play The King's Mos-
heteersiwhich occupied the first part of the evening,
than from its more ambitiously facetious successor.
Here Mr. Charles Dillon was naive, humorous, and
spirited as D'Artagnan, and embodied the concep-
tion of Dumas with perfect success, while Miss
Woolgar, whom we must confess we much prefer in
petticoats, was tender and fascinating as Constance
Bonacieux. But during the pantomime pit, boxes,
and gallery were attentive, solemn, and silent, or
only excited by the certainly marvellous feats of en
athlete, whose name we cannot find in the bills, but
who is all legs and no backbone, and, with his little
brothers (?), constitutes the most elastic family we
ever saw. What the pantomime lacks in invention
is made up in advertisements, but as these develop
into nothing more funny than the corresponding
sheet of the Times, and as we can see them all on
any dead-wall, we should prefer some other back-
ground for the evolutions of harlequin and clown.

THE ROYAL MARRA of FICEITIVAL.—The dramatic
performances to take place at Her Majesty's Theatre
in honour of the Princess Royal's marriage are
announced. They are to be under the direction of
Mr. John Mitchell. The first night (Tuesday, 19th)
will comprise Macbeth, with Mr. Phelps and Miss
Helen Fauna in the principal parts, and Mr. and