The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-27 00:00:00

IIIYNIARKET.

The Bevan' Opera went oft' last night as the
Beggars' Opera always does, whenever there is a present-
able Polly, and a Macheath not absolutely absurd. Mr.
Harrison's impersonation of the latter character is well
known. The Captain is to be sure somewhat gigantic ; and
his voice is occasionally rather flat. Nevertheless, Mr. Hera-
son has made the part his OWII, and deserves cm the whole to
keep it. The Polly of the evening was Miss Louisa
Pyne, who is not a mere singer, like to many
young ladies who are entrusted with this character, but is
also an actress of considerable pretensions. The Lucy of
Mrs. Fitzwilliam is so well known tothe public that nothing
need be said of her performance on this occasion, except
that the points and breadth of the character lost nothing in
her hands. But the great event of the evening was the
production of a new romantic fairy extravaganza, by our
old friends the Brothers Brough. la the absence of
Madame D'Anois, who is considered to be in a very bad way
from previous depredations of the comic tribe; in the
°lncase of classical stories, used up by the same cause; in
the absence even of historical subjecta, like the
" Ivanhoe," for example, the Messrs. Brough have
been driven to a new source. The fairy -tales of
Count Anthony Hamilton, the delightful author Of
de Grammont's Memoirs, although not very readable, yet
contain much that is ingenious ; and the authors have not
only selected their subject well, but dealt with it better.
The Story of Mayfrucer, for reasons shove indicated, may
not have been read by everybody, and certainlv the version
of the Brothers through would be anticipated 6y few. We
are introduced in the first place to the spirit of Count
Hamilton—materialised by Mr. Caulfield—who introduces
us to the principal personages of the drama in somewhat
hazardous, but always happy verse. The authors, by the
way, in this as in some other portions of the piece, have de-
parted from their most usual style, and introduce a
description of rollicking and rattling metre that is
equal to Ingoldsby himself in wilful and perverse &yin-
ing. But to the story : King Hardbake the Great—
one of those mighty potentates whom Mr. Bland has made
!disown property—rules over the people of Kandy, in whom
are included his daughter, Mrs. L. S. Buckingham, that is
to say, the Princess Radiant. The l'rincess is a most
amiable and respectable young person, but has a most
awkward way of killing her admirers—by looking at them.
Her eyes, in fact, are so dazzling that no man can stand
their gaze, and the returns of " killed and wounded " be-
come something tremendous. There is, however, a
" coming man," who, unlike our old friend of that appella-
tion, does come, and comes to some purpose. Mrs. Fitzwil-
, IMm arrives in fact—a green satin prince, in boots of most
bewildering polish. Dropping the princely title of Bull-
finch, the young adventurer is content to travel under the
mystic name of Pooh-Pooh, his object being to discover a
hitbrother,PrineePlicenix. Ile starts a new object, however,
new, and determines to overcome the fatal fascination of the
Mem& A pair of green spectacles enable him to do
towards this object as far as he himself is con-
cerned; this is not sufficient. He has a good genius—
the Fairy Serena—on his side, and a bad genius—Mr.
Buckstone, most filicitously transformed into the witch
Dentata—against him. In order to remove the charm from
the Princess it is necessary to remove sundry substantial
objects &maths witch—namely, a beautiful girl, named May-
flower, who has long suffered by the domestic tyranny of
the witch, by whom she is held a prisoner; next, a certain
magic mare, who keeps discreetly behind the scenes
throughout the piece; and, thirdly, a magic hat. The
Prince, having accomplished these objects, with the aid
of Mayflower, falls in love with her in due course, and
elopes. This is the material of the first act. In
the next we find Dentate, disguised as n Bloomer
lecturer' (Buckstone in Bloomer costume—need we
say more), accomplishing, a coup (fetal, in Kandy, with
the assistance of the Princess and a band of Amazons,
whom she has induced to rise in defence of woman's right!.
Pooh-Posh and Mayflower fill into the despotic power. In
the meantin c, Prince Phoenix, who had been changed by
the Fairy Dentate into a comic parrot, at an early period o'
the proceeding., and has been hopping about the stage and
sharpening his beak in the most approved manner in the
course of the first act, gets up a sentimental attachment
with the Princessosho, although prevented by popular pre-
judice from marrying him, " respects him as a friend" in
the orthodox way. But not to fatigue the reader with
onvenient
smi
wlls adetails,rere. Tuctliaceby ittirtenranay
yse(vsieraa;
fivoewryerinfoc:
instance,
returns to her natural character of a Princess, and Pluenix,
' ceases at last to be a bind), and everybody comes in for the
usual share of theatrical happiness. For the rest, we may add,
that the dialogue is perhaps more pointed, arid certainly
more elegant, than in roost of the Messrs. Brough's former
productions. The Lord Chamberlain has sadly curtailed
political bits ; but hits of a general kind were plentiful and
well applied. It may be presinned,eko, that the piece met
with distinguished success--euthusiastic would perhaps be
a bane word—that the authors and the principal actors
were loudly called for and profusely welcomed at the can-
, elusion; and that it was announced for repetition every
' evening.

In these days of burlesques, extravaganzas, and
fairy dramas, adherence to the old practice of producing a
pantomime for the benefit of the Christmas holiday folks is
gradually becoming rare. Mr. C. Kean, however, does not
believe in the downfal of pantomimes, and the audience at
the Princess's lost night confirmed the manager in his disbe-
lief. To judge from the laughter and applause, the visitors
of the Princess's arc determined to uphold the ancient
practice. As is common on such occasions, the first piece—
the Merehan:or Venice, with 3lr. C Kean, as Shylock—
was very much cut down, and was got through with
I great rapidity. The pantomime was founded on the adven-
tures of the celebrated Billy 'fayler, of Tooley.Arcet, whose
adventures are so frequently sung by street ballad-singers.

Oily Taylor was s gm young fellow,
Egli of mirth and full of Klee,
And his mint he iLd disaiver
lo a maiden fair and free.
Much additional romance is added to the historical records
contained in the old ballad, and in the pleasant jumble of
periods, character., and places, which pantomime writers
are allowed to effect, a genial humourous Christmas pro-
duction has resulted. Billy Taylor, his fond devoted
sweetheart, tho Flying Dutchman, and the King of
Haritongo, are associated with brilliant effect. Of course,
the introduction to the adventures of the unfortunate Billy
Taylor is a conspiracy of certain maliciously merry Tritons,
fairies, and other beings of another world, visible only at
Christmas time, who, burning to influence the destinies
of the unhappy knight of the needle, concoct a plan
for bestowing on him a spouse, and subsequently a
couple of dozen of' small pocket editions of himself.
Their plot is discovered and frustrated by Britannia, who
causes Billy to be pressed and carried to sea on board the
Thunder Lomb. Terrific stru:s4les and sanguinary combats
now take place, followed by hia seizure, and the naval en-
gagements in which it was his unhappy late to figure. Ho
is finally transformed into Harlequin. After the trans-
formation, the ordinary pantomimic games of Harle-
quin, Clown, and Pantaloon, with their tricky, slip-
pery proceedings, engrossed the attention of all. Bloomers,
Punch, patent locks, smart lessons in drawing, inedel farms,
and other well-known subjects appeared and ilisspreared,
providing plenty of opportunity for fain and mischief. Many
of the tricks performed and characters introduced were of
• novel and remarkably ingenious nature ; they all worked
well, an unusual circumstance on a first night's perform-
ance. The dialogue in the first part displayed • good
amount of jokes and happy allusions, notwithstanding
the L .rd Chamberlain's interference. The authors of the
pantomime are the Brothers Sala and Mr. George Ellis.
Mr. Flexmore. the favourite c! iwn, danced a novel "pas
de paraphde," which gained mach applause. His imitation
of several stars of the ballet wan very good. Miss C. Leclercq
merits notice as au excellent Columliine. While advising
all lovers of pantomime by all means to pay a visit to the
Princess's, we must call their attention to the brilliant
scenery and decorations, which fully equal anything that
has ever before been accomplished iu this branch of art.