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

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, cr 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'
pularity 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
school 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 fun 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 burlesqae performers on the boards. The Prince
ligolino (Mr E• Danvers), a fat and selfish Prince,
Bantingised and humanised by the beauty of Cina
derella, 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, hight Hob-
goblin (Mr Lingham). He is sadly annoyed at
the familiarity and intercommunication which
mortals are pretending to or establishing with
Eu pe rnaturals, 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 Cgolino,
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 reeking 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 lizards, 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 certainly a marvel of magnificence. The
dancing, too, in the Butterfly's Dell, supported
by Mdlles. Duchatecu, Montero, and Bonfanti,
with an unsurpassable coips de ballet, was worthy
of the reputation of its arranger_and composer, M.
Desplaces. The yes of that dtjesse de danee, Idle.
Bonfanti, were magnificent, and raised a tempest of
applause. The opening of the scene, too, upon the
vanisting of Hotg,blin's clitinal retreat, tha splen-
did aerial perspective, the gorgeously tinted flowers,
the myriads of fluttering butterflies (metamor-
phosed quickly into lovely damsels), the transparent
waters, the artistic contras's 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 fficulties which rendered the

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appearance of the long-announced one.legged
dancer Donato doubtful, are alluded to elsewhere.
The legal injunction, which, upon an ex parte ap-
plcltion, we gra“tra uu o.4tuldoj, La, bteu Sue.
pended in its prohibitive operation, urrd the Signor
made his first bow, and achieved his first London
triumph last night, in the scene of a rifle review on
IVirabledon Cone ion.

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

HER MAJESTY'S.
Mr H. Byron, the acknowledged prince of pun-
a'ers, has furnished the pantomime at thii 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
faahion. The secnery by Messrs Danson 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 Stirling. The story of Mr Byron's bur.
league introduction is thus carried out :—.The first
scene represents the Home of the Demon Sulks
(Mr. Anderson), a grim and morose monster, who
has a special objection to Rabin (Miss Furtado), a
huntsman, who will defy the demon, and persists in
retaining his natural cheerfulness, in spite of every
anuoyarica 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 Resplendent Grotto, or Haunt of
the Fairy Protectors of Robin, in which an allego.
rival ballet 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 eUllin, is
"left lamenting." This he 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.
lug scene, a Georgous Palace, wherein takes place
the march of the unicorn guards, fairy elves, and
the smallest drummer in the world. Ia a subse.
quent 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 fieryatamed steed" Robin, whose crest is
a unicorn, now comes to grief, until, meeting
the King alone, a tremendous encounter takes
place between them, the bakers' assistants
to Mess? Brown and White (Messrs Dela-
vanti) giving them at intervals the legen-
dry 4, white bread and brown" as a restora-
tive. Fortune continues to frown upon Robin,
and he is covered with manacles by his remorseless
conqueror. The Demon Sulks naturally thinks this
is a most favourable moment for testing Robin's
temper, and he asks him to admit that he is in a
bad temper, but Robin replies that
whesich
he Was never
his
chains
fall
better tempered in his life, a
from him, and the demon gives him up. Finally
the marriage of Prince Unicorn with the Princess is
celebrated in the grand transformation scene, the
Maze of Silver Dewdrops, forming a coup d tea of
unsurpassed splendour.

Much credit is dus to the pantomimic artists, and
an invention entitled somewhat pedantically Etdos
Acides, declared to be an improvement upon the
ghost apparatus of Professor Pepper, Is introduced
in the pantomime. Its trfects We muet examine on