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

ASILEY'S.

The pantomime at this theatre is entitled " Hare
fc quin Jack Sprat ; or, the Three Blind Miee, and
Great A, Little A, and Bouncing B, the Cat's in
the Cupboard and She Can't See." The opening,
as we are informed by the playbill, is written by
" the Brothers Grinn.', First we are introduced
to Tom Tiddler's gold and silver grounds in the
centre of the earth, where we are shown how Tom
Tiddler behaved on the arrival of Merry Christmas
time. We are then introduced to the Abode of
Amusement,with preparations for the rejoicings on
the New Year's coming of age. This is followed by
a grand procession, the cars being drawn by horses.
Next we have a grand ballet, pourtraying the four
seasons of the year. The story of the pantomime is
founded on the adventures of the famous Jack Sprat,
" who could eat no fat and his wife could eat no lean,
and so between them both they licked the platter
clean." Jack falls In love with load, a miller's
daughter, but the lovers are thwarted by a mischief
making Tell Tale Tit, a servant of a potentate
named Robin de Bobbin, a great gourmand. Jack
is befriended by Mother Shipton, who promises
Jack that he shall marry Joan if he can bring to
her Tell Tale Tit's nose. Jack obtains admission to
Robin de Bobbin's castle, and seeks to propitiate
Robin de Bobbin by the bribe of a blackbird pie.
"Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie."
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When out pop'd a blackbird and picked off her nose."
The blackbird flies off with it to his nest, but Jack
eventually obtains it and with it his promised bride,
and then we have the grand transformation scene,
and Jack Sprat is changed into harlequin, hand-
some Joan into columbine, the miller into pantaloon,
and the great De Bobbin becomes clown.

There are ten scenes altogether, each of which
may be pronounced good, but the transformation
scene was gorgeous in the extreme, and drew forth
the loud and deserved plaudits of the house, which
was crowded from pit to ceiling. The tricks of
course followed ; they were of the old amusing de-
scription, and were rendered the more amusing by
the addition of a diminutive clown, harlequin, and
pantaloon. The tricks were divided into scenes,
the first representing a preparatory school, which
is quite a novelty. Mr Milano made a very good
&own, albeit it was his first appearance in that
character. Miss Annie Cook acquitted herself well
as Columbine', and Mr Denlin Johnson as Yenta-
loon, Miss Caroline Parkes, as Joan, sang an ex-
cellent song, and accompanied it with a dance, in
imitation of Taglioni, and Leon, and Milano which
got an encore. We should also not omit to mention,
though they are omitted in the boil, a troupe of
acrobats, who filled up the intervals with marvel-
lous feats of agility.

SURREY.

The whole of the resources of the management have for
months past been concentrated upon the production of
" King Pumpkin ; or, Harlequin Richard yo Lion Heart,

invented and written, as usual, by Mr Martin Dutnal, and
for the scenic effects of which the invaluable aid of Mr W.
Calcot has been secured. The plot turns on the story of
the Lion-heart King, not narrated strictly according to his•
tory, but interwoven with fairy lore. The pantomimists
are "little" Rowella, a vary good clown—Mr John Beck-
ingham, Pantaloon—Mr Fred Evans, Harlequin ; Madame
Schmidt and Miss Emma Collins, Columbines. The entire
pantomime has been arranged and produced by Mr Shep-
herd.