The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-13 00:00:00

PRINCESS'S TEIEikTRE.

The extraordinary run which the Easter piece en-
joyed at this theatre last year was less attributable to
any peculiar humour in the dialogue than to some
very picturkaapie scenery, to the extraordinary and
inimitable personatien of a monkey by Flexmore, and
to the convulsing exploits of Keeleyx and Wigan as
" the bounding bricks of Babylon. Not that the
dialogue was, as regards fun, much below the average
of that employed in fairy burlesques, but the fact is,
'that the profusion of puns, 'old and new, good and
'indifferent, which has signalised productions of this
nature for several seasons past at divers of the Lon-
don theatres, has so jaded the public that the speaking
parts have become in their estimation completely sub-
servient:6 the effects of scenery, costume, and ballet.
People go more to see than to hear a burlesque. In
the entertainment, however,: produced last evening at
the Princess's Theatre ' under the title of Wittikind
and hi, Brothers; or, The Seven Swan Princes and
the Pair lllelusinc, this stale trick of punning has
been wisely abandoned by its author. The
dialogue is amooth = and unpretentious, not
destitute of humour, but free from pointed
absurdities. The story of Wittikind and his Brothers
is founded on the German fairy tale, yclept " The
Seven Swans," which, if we 'recollect right, has been
also handled by Andersen. Esel, King of Miirchen-
land,' the father of seven sons and one daughter,
Melusine, by a first wife, is married to a sorceress
Queen, Mandragore, who persuades her henpecked
spouse to send Melusine, when a child, to be reared
by the shepherds of Miirchenlsnd. The opening
scene of the fairy tale finds her celebrating her birth-
day, among the peasants. Their rustic merriment is
broken in upon by the arrival of Adelmann, the
mayor of the palace to King Esel, with a summons
of Melusine to the court, on the occasion of the
knighting of Wittikind and his brothers. Melusine
leaves her shepherd friends with regret, and one of
them, Ulf, her, -foster. brother, contrives to fol-
low her to the court. Here, by the spells
of Queen Mandragore, who poisons her bath, Me-
lusine is transformed into hideousness, and is driven
from the court as an impostcir. Ulf alone recognises
her, and protects ber from the bldevs and the insults
of the, lacqueys. With him she wanders away into
the woods;- and there, by the intervention of the fay
Rinnilde is restored to her original beauty. Mean-
while, the Queen,*anxious to obtain the sole power,
transforms the King into an owl, and the seven
princes into wild swans, who fly forth incontinently.
At nightfall, however, the spell is suspended, and the
princes resume their human forms. During the night
they discover their sister. Anxious to escape from
pursuit of their step-mother, they weave a net of
rushes, and fly with Melusine over the sea to Avalon,
leaving Ulf behind to follow as he can; and this
flight closes the first act. The second act discovers
Melusine sheltering in a cave overlooking the
plains of Avalon. The fay Rinnilde, in a vision, points
out to her that she may restore her brothers to their
human shapes 'by .spinning- shirts of thistledown,
during the spinning and weaving, of, which she is
neither tee-apeMe' nor smile. Ulf arrives, having some-
how crossed the sea, and is perplexed to find Melusine
dumb and sad. She sends him to 'gather thistles
for her,- and whibelle is- absent Lothaire, Lord of
Avalon, entering, the cave in pursuit of his hawk, is
charmed by her beauty and silence,—he happening to
be blessed with seven sisters who are inveterate
chatterers. Melusine is taken to court, and there
Lothaire weds her with great-splendour. Meanwhile
Mandragore, who has been_driven from Mirchenland
by the revolt of her people, hail. arrived in Avalon to
ask Lothaire's against--the • rebels, attended by
Adelmann, and bearing her wretched husband with
her in his new shape of a horned owl. Recognizing
Melusine, she persuades the King she is a witch, and
induces him to follow her to one of her nocturnal
eoh,visitsititac lrit
ei,troes
consents
nhi
aoseeef
thsu
brother'sr
tc h yh aerr,
execution
v,
iwho
whithero av e b
. in she goes to gather
r
thistles for her spinning. The King, believing her a
Witch,
prison she en-
een arrested on a
maligning the princess (with
whoa,, du •
interviews ea. the. piece, • they have secret
still_ unceasingly spins on, and, distrusted by all but
succeeds in )
about, to fire the pile
prinoeliewhich she is to be burnt as
restored
have flown down to
a sorceress. The
the pile as swans, are
King Esel having previousried tob their human forms,
the presence of mind of NViYttiki:Cll disenchanted by
having been, in her turn, char, and Mandragore
911 a
'The • a
ge into an owl by one
of her owa spe prince recognises MI the faith
and innocence of e usine, and
the seven
r'n
Wittikind the Wise, and his giddy-pat e d plprinces,
Rudibrethren,
Ottocar the Obstreperous, ger the Rough, Wil-
libald the Wavering,Bginbard the Energetic Hilde-
brand the Headstrong, and Luitprand the Energetic,
wed the voluble-tougue4. rrinceeeee of Avalon, Clo•

-

11' ;1

I tilde, Ysonde, Yolande, Odette, Renne, Blanche, and
Mathilde.
The fair Melusine, the leading character in the
piece was represented by Miss Carlotta Leclercq, of
whom We may at once say that no artiste on the
boards could possibly have acted the part better, or
have looked it so well. In addition to her personal
attractions, the brilliant lightness of her dancing,
her expressive pantomime and clear delivery, and
the becoming elegance of her several dresses,
rendered Mies Leclercq the most delightful em-
bodiment imaginable of an enchanted and enchant-
ing heroine of fairy romance. If anything were
wanting to constitute her an established favourite, it
was fully supplied by her performance of last even-
ing, and we feel much satisfaction in contributing
our gratulations to the triumph achieved by a very
charming and meritorious young actress. In Ulf,
the faithful and disinterested foster-brother of
Melusine, Miss Robertson displayed not merely a
singularly pretty figure, but a feeling and energy in
her acting which elicited frequent applause. (These
are the two ladies of whose " manifest inauffi-
ciency" a certain profound critic writeth!) The
terrible Mandragore, whom a righteous Nemesis
ultimately consigns to eternal owlhood, was pour-
treyed with imposing malignity by Mrs. WinstenlCY.
Miss Marshall (a recent and valuable acquisition to
the establishment) did the part of Wittikind cleverly,
as she does everything, and Miss Murray was the
happy King of Avalon, who, if poetical justice were
rigidly carried out, ought to have found less favour
in the eyes of Melusine than the affectionate and
gentle Ulf. Harley
had a part that precisely fitted
this favourite and rejuvenescent comedian; a swag-
gering, consequential major-domo, faithfully holding
discretion to be the better part of valour, cringing
to
the mighty and bullying the mean ; and Meadows 's
make-up as the hapless King of Marchenland was
admirable. The enchanted owl fell to the lot of
Flexwore, who looked a very grave and reverend
fowl, blinking and hissing with ornithological pro-
priety, but sadly belying the proverbial gravity of
the bird of Pallas by getting helplessly inebriated at
feeding time, to the great enjoyment, however, of
the spectators. Flexmore's genuine talent was
strongly evinced in making
a small part so promi-
nent, for in any other hands it would have been all
but lost. A most agreeable surprise was afforded
(there having been an inadvertent omission in the
bills) by a ballet in the file scene in the second act,
in which Madlle. Auriol executed a pas with a vigour,
grace, precision, and firmness, that brought down
most deservedly cordial plaudits. We have rarely, if
ever, seen• this admirable danseuse to greater advan-
tage than in this scene, in which she contributed one
of the brightest gems of the entire entertainment.
The scene-painters have done themselves infinite cre-
dit, especially in the final scene, which we hold to be
unequalled for exquisite effect, even with the fear of
Beverley before our eyes ; and in the flight of
Melusine over the sea, in which Miss Leclercq is the
prominent form of beauty. The innumerable cos-
tumes, on which the outlay must have been
enormous, are not merely rich and varied,
but superlatively tasteful; Miss Marshall's attire
is the perfection of stage dress. The orchestra,
which is considerably increased, was led by Mr.
Robert Stopel, who furnished the music of the piece,
which is generally good. A chorus by Melusine and
in the Seven Princes, in the first act, is
.a very pleasing
composition, and was unanimously encored. There
may be a little pruning, especial.y in the earlier por-
tions of the piece and in the music, but we trust no
paring to the quick.
enment cor-
diality, after his
recTennte
due on such an occasion to the best of managers
irllen-easpsp, eaN:aasncge
roefetel\dlr.wCithhartlhees Ivileeha
and actors. Mr. Kean bore no traces of indisposition
in his unrivalled performance of the twins of Corsica,
" within which circle none dare walk but he." The
house was crowded to the ceiling, and the boxes filled
with fashion. The success of the magnificent after-
piece (which by the way is n a fairy tale," not a
" burlesque," and written by Mr. Tom Taylor) was,
it is unnecessary to say, unequivocal. .

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
The performances at this house, were resumed last
evening, 'and, despite the popular; festivities of the
day, were attended by a numerous and fashionable
audience. Two pieces were acted, both new, we be-
lieve, in this country, and both were most favourably
received, particularly the second, entitled Mademoi-
selle de /a SiegNre, something between a domestic
drama' and a genteel comedy, which for some time
has had a great run at the Theatie Francais in Paris.
The incidents and the story generally being altoge-
ther French may, in some respeots, be deemed less
natural than we'inight wish it, hut, the acting is so
good, the audience seemed so determined to enter
fully into the spirit of the scene, that the whole
went off with great éclat, and the actors, some of
whom are old favourites, the others new to the
British public, all shared and shared , alike in the
general applause, and may pride themselves upon
having won the genuine sympathy of all present;
but a few words of details may be acceptable to our
readers, and currente catamo we will try to give a rude
sketch of our first impressions of Le Cachemire Vert.
A gallant naval officer is on his return from the
West Indies, and meets as a fellow-passenger,
a lady, who at once wins his good opinion
and his heart. He, having improved his opportunity,
on landing, informs against this very lady, and she
loser, in consequence, a valuable Cashmere shawl;
great is her anger, of course. They go to the same
hotel and meet; a good deal of sprightly
wrangling
eosuesthe gentleman admits his crime, and coolly
declares that by so acting he has succeeded in turning
away suspicions from himself, and saved a goodly
number of shawls, intended as presents to his
lady friends. Then follows a declaration of his
sentiments; then the lady gets into trouble
because she lost her passport; then the gentleman
discovers that his own contains the name of his future
wife (who has in the meantime become another's),
and the curtain falls upon a bappy',Couple but, not so
as to screen from applause Monsieur St. Maria,
Madame Roger &lie, and our old friend Tourillon,
who makes a capital thing of the gendarme. Of the
the second piece, Mademoiselle de la Siegliere,
the plot may be thus briefly stated :
During the French Revolution the Marquis de la
Seigliere has emigrated. His property has been
sold to one of his old farmers, who has by dint of in-
dustry and labour much improved it, and, in fact, be-
come a rich agriculturist. The Marquis has
a daughter, the farmer a son. Mdlle. de la Seigliire
returns to France at the restoration, with ber family;
the farmer's sou, who has joined the army under Na-
poleon, is supposed to have died in Russia. The
farmer, believing his son to be dead, is induced at the
point of death, to make a donation of his estate to the
former owner, the Marquis, who believes the money
is merely restored to him. The son re-
turns to claim his father's estate, under
French law encounters Mdlle.de la Seigliere, and falls
under the charm—he had come an opponent, an
enemy, he becomes a friend, a benefactor (unknown).
A conflict of generosity takes place between certain
of the parties, of craft and deep design between others ;
a certain lawyer does, partly out of ambition, partly
for amoment, we congratulate a
great deal of good ; and
once
m aell,e
at of t
happy couple upon the termination of their troubles,
osriTeernigtiec, a,
and ourselves upon a delightful evening. Monsieur
Regnier, who played the Marquis, is a first-rate
actor, and acted the light-hearted, stubborn old noble
to the life. Bernard, the farmer's son, was ably de-
lineated by Lafont, and Monsieur Roger, imparted
great spirit to an ungrateful part—that of the lawyer.
The crafty Baroness was acted by Mdlle. Devin, who
looked and dressed the part admirably. But the
whole interest centred at last upon Mdlle. Marquet,
who elicited much sympathy and applause
in the
character of Mdlle. de la Seigliire. At the fall of
the curtain the actors were all Balled for, when a little
incident occurred which added, if possible, to the in-
terest already excited by the performance. Monsieur
Lafont' came forward, thanked the audience for their
kind patronage, and in a few words, feelingly spoken,
intimated the anxiety felt by himself and brother
per
formers that the audience should know that talented
Mon-
sieur Regnier, the delineator of the Marquis
de la Sigliere, was also one of the joint authors of the
piece. Of course cries, many, loud, and imperative,
of "L'auteur" forced Monsieur
Regnier to re-appear,
and he once more acknowledged the gratifying plau-
dits of the audience.

THEAAT:Ec.haries
Selby,
gLtYheMEPaisCter holiday folks at this place
;ir
ooftolfzre :she; fiorra, t thetim e;lwy sittihc
Last evening
of amusement
aenntietxletrdavTaghaenzcaafmrobmer
Cambe
erwell
Milkman. The author takes his idea from the Cor-
sican Brothers; the successful dramatic romance at
the Princess's Theatre ; but, availing himself of the
were presentpeßed
privileges of his fraternity, he works out that idea by
means of the most heterogeneous materials. He has
forgotten, however, that even in the most outrageous
burlesques some little connexion of incident is
desirable, and that an audience never so well
appreciates the ludicrous and comical as when
exhibited in the development of some
intelli-
gible plot. Mr. Compton, who is the
mainstay
of the piece, represents the twin_ brothers, Funky
Franky and Fighting Franky, the "1:13 of Airs. Save-
loy Franky, the renowned proprietess of a milk esta-
blishment in Cow-lime, Camberwell.: A
somewhat
wide stretch of the imagination is required
to recon-
cile the singular unity and yet _ separation, but the
inventive genius of Mr. Selbyclears up the mystery
by a novel device. The two brothers were born like
that almost fabulous species of humanity Which we
are told has two distinct bodies united in one ; but
Guy's Hospital was had recourse to to cut them asun-
der, an operation which happily succeeded without
destroying the life of either. Here the mystery
commences, and continues without intermission; for,
e to confess the truth, the finale no more explains mat-