The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-27 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS AMUSEMENTS

COVENT•GARDEN.

After Benedict's opera,

"The Bride of Song,

supported by Henry Haigh, Alberto Lawrence,
Fanny Huddart, and Miss Hiles. the holiday-
making many were regaled with the standard
Christmas entertainment of a pantomime, or rather
from the splendour, length, variety, and comic ex-
cellence of its introduction, a fairy spectacle. Its
title tells its story to the youthful mind, and its po.
polarity in the form of opera and melodrama at once
convinces us of the fitness of the legend for panto.
mimic working. " Cinderella ; or, Harlequin and
the Magic Pumpkin and the Great Fairy of the
Little Glass Slipper," needs no preamble to show
why it should be susceptible of the most amusing
and gorgeous effects in the hands of such artists as
the Brothers Grinn, with the eldest of the modern
eohool of scenic art, Mr Thomas Grieve, assisted by
a talented follower of the pencil. The dresses and
scenery are as remarkable for their taste and their
comic extravagance, as for their material richness
and propriety.

The story is only so far interfered with as to
render it the vehicle of broad pantomimic fan in
the persons of Mr W. H. Payne (the Baron), Mr F.
Payne (his servant Pedro), Mr H. Payne (Clown),
without question or flattery the most talented family
of burlesque performers on the boards. The Prince
Ugolino (Mr E• Danvers), a fat and selfish Prince,
Bantingised and humanised by the beauty of Chi.
dorella, was performed in the broadest of humour.

The opening scene exhibits a rocky cave on the
summit of an inaccessible mountain, wherein we
discover a misanthropic necromancer, bight Hob-
goblin (Mr Lingham). He is sadly annoyed at
the familiarity and intercommunication which
mortals are pretending to or establishing with
u perna t ura Is, and delivers some punning and
pungent remarks on the Davenports, the rope-
tyings, and other humbugs of the day. His
solitude is broken in upon by the fairy Papillon
(Miss Craven), who woes him back to the wcrld he
has forsaken. The only human being Hobgoblin
has cared for, it appears, is a certain Prince ligolino,
who, as we have said, is very fat end exceedingly
selfish. The fairy undertakes to cure the Prince of
his engrossing regard for himself by making him
fall in love with a beautiful girl, and Cinderella is
chosen to accomplish the object, which, of course, is
eventually achieved. The great ballet scene of the
Butterfly Haunt of the Fairies introduces the Prince
and his retainers on a hawking excursion, and this
is followed by the interior of the Baron Pumpolino's
mansion, where the persecution of Cinderella by her
tyrannical father and her cruel sisters is humorously
exhibited. The preparations for the ball are made,
and the hapless Cinderella, receiving a visit from
the fairy, who, with the help of the pumpkin, the
mice, the rats, and the 'fends, provides the tradi-
tionary carriage and suite of attendants, is enabled
to follow her father and sisters in yet grander style.
The ballroom is a singularly splendid scene, and the
visitors are so richly apparelled that it may be
doubted, reliance being placed on greenroom report,
if any court festival ever exceeded this in sumptu-
ousness of wardrobe. By a device of Hobgoblin, who
figures disguised among the guests, the clock is made
to lose to a quarter of an hour, which is sufficient to
mislead Cinderella, and reconvert her brilliant equi•
page into the common objects from which it was
originally composed. The loss of the glass slipper,
however, proves her gain, and, having established
her claim to the missing article, and her right to
the hand of the reformed prince, the fairy Papillon
appears with her brilliant court to attend the
nuptials.

The scene in which the transformation occurs
is ecrtainly a marvel of magnificence. The
dancing, too, in the Butterfly's Dell, supported
by Mettles. Duchateau, Montero, and Bonfanti,
with an unsurpassable corps de ballet, was worthy
of the reputatio❑ of its arranger and composer, M.
Displaces. Thepas of that deesse de dance, Mdle.
Bonfanti, were magnificent, and raised a tempest of
applause. The opening of the scene, too, upon the
vanishing of Hohg,blin's dismal retreat, the splen-
did aerial perspective, the gorgeously tinted flowers,
the myriads of fluttering butterflies (metamor-
phosed quickly into lovely damsels), the transparent
waters, the artistic contrasts of light and shadow,
made this scene a tirumph of spectacle. Mr Augus-
tus Harris's care and experience, too, were visible
throughout. The d flicalties which rendered the
appearance of the long-announced one-legged
dancer Donato doubtful, are alluded to elsewhere.
'the legal irjunction, which, upon an ex parte ap-
plicitioa, was granted on Saturday, has been sus-
pended in its prohibitive operation, and the Signor
made his first bow, and achieved his first London
triumph last night, in the scene of a rifle review on
Wimbledon Common.

Tha pantomime has been produced, with the
greatest completeness and magnificence, and there-
lore " Cinderella " at Covent-garden is sure of a
prosperous career,

HER MAJES IY'S.
Mr H. Byron, the acknowledged prince of pun-
sters, has furnished the pantomime at this theatre.
The subject is the nursery quatrain of " The Lion
and the Unicorn were fighting for the Crown," which
'we have hitherto been told ended in "the Lion beat
the Unicorn round about the town ;" but to this Mr
Byron demurs,and treats the legend in another-guess
fashion. The secnery by Messrs Denson is worthy of
their established reputation. The dances, tasteful and
effective, are arranged by M. Petit. The music is se-
lected by Mr Montgomery—the pantomime pro-
duced under the experienced stage management of
Mr Edward Stiriing. The story of Mr Byron's bur-
lesque introduction is thus carried out :—The first
scene represents the Home of the D,2mon Sulks
(Mr. Anderson), a grim and morose monster, who
has a special objection to Robin (Miss Furtado), a
huntsman, who will defy the demon, and persists in
retaining his natural cheerfulness, in spite of every
annoyance and misfortune. The Fairy Good Tem-
per (Miss E. Bufton) professes friendship for the
youthful hero, and she makes a compact with the
demon. The demon agrees that, if Robin:can re-
frain from losing his temper up to the time of his
marriage, he shall never more be molested. The
next scene is the Rsplendent Grotto, or Haunt of
the Fairy Protectors of Robin, in which an allego•
rival ballot occurs. The scene then changes to an
Enchanted Forest—the forest when King Roary-
borealis, otherwise termed the Lion (Mr. Rouse),
and his cub (Master Newham) are hunting with
retainers. Great is his horror and indignation
when, at luncheon al fresco, with his beautiful
daughter the Princess (Miss Cottrell), the
marauding Robin rushes in, makes furious love ,
to the Princess, and carries her off before her
father's eyes, Roaryborealis, like Lord 'Ullin, is
"left lamenting." This ho does with a singular
mechanical accompaniment that created much mer-
riment. The younger poacher and outlaw bears
away the Princess to his home, viz , the succeed.
ing scene, a Georgous Palace, wherein takes place
the march of the unicorn guards, fairy elves, and
the smallest drummer in the world. In a subsea
(pent scene we view King Roaryborealis and all
the lion retinue bursting into the Enchanted Castle;
a terrible combat occurs, in the course of whioh
" the fiery tamed steed" Robin, whose crest is
a unicorn, now comes to grief, until, meeting
the Ring alone, a tremendous encounter takes
place between them, the bakers' assistants
to Messrs Brown and White (Messrs T):la-
vanti) giving them at intervals the legen-
dary " white bread and brown " as a restora-
tive. Fortune co ,• a to frown upon Robin,
and he is covered with manacles by his remorseless
conqueror. The Damon Sulks naturally thinks this
is a most favourable moment for testing R)bin'.-,
temper, and he asks him to admit that h 3 is in a
bad temper, but Robin replies that he was never
better tempered in his life, at which his chains fall
from him, and the demon gives him up. Finally
the marriage of Prince Unicorn w::11 the Princess is
celebrated in the grand transformation scene, the
Maze of Silver Dewdrops: forming a coup d veil of
unsurpassed splendour.

Much credit is dus to the pintomimic artists, and
an invention entitled somewhat pedantically .Ettlos
Aeides, declared to be an improvement upon the
ghost apparatus of Professor Pepper, Is introduced
in the pintomitne, Is F.4frets we must examine On

some other occasion more minutely, and with a bet-
ter opportunity, before we express an opinion upon
its merits. Its principal feature is the rendering
persons, while speaking and acting, instantaneously
invisible, and vice versa,