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

DRURY.LANE,

The Spirit of Pantomime reigned supreme last
night at Old Drury, and Mr E. L. Blanchard's 15th
Christmas offering at this theatre, " Hop o'my
Thumb and his Eleven Brothers, or Harlequin and
the Ogre and his Seven Leagued Boots," ontrivalled
all his former productions, successful as they have
been. " What a glorious house 1" was the expres-
sion of nearly every person within our hearing ; and
certainly the observation was literally true, for a
more animated or crowded holiday assembly it has
never been our good fortune to witness. Of course,
there was the usual differences of opinion with
respect to the right to certain seats, and high words
sometimes ensued, but the observation "All right,
it's Christmas time," reproduced good humour, and
all went as merrily as the heartiest holiday-
maker could wish. The preparatory farce, "A
Young Man from the Country," was tolerated, we
cannot say listened to, although now and then
some good-humoured personage would insist on
shouting out " Pantomime," but the green curtain
descended, and then occurred that peculiar perfor•
mance on a boxing night, viz., the gods exchanging
civilities with the pitites in the shape of showers of
orange peel and other unconsidered trifles. The
" wait" was patiently endured, but at length the
conductor of the band gave his signal for the
commencement of the overture, and amidst a jolly
cheer the music commenced. As the medley com-
position proceeded, many of the favourite ditties
were recognised by the gods, but when the first
few notes of the "Organ Grinder" were heard
the whole of the scathing mass in both galleries
burst out into a chorus, and thus we had a mon-
ster concert of the most animated description.
" Encore," cried many a one as the last note was
played, but there was no time for reflection, as
another well known ditty broke upon the ear, and
as in the previous instance, ic elicited a jolly chorus.
Amidst the most unbounded cheering the curtain
rose on the pantomime of 1864 5.
The first scene shows us the Welkin, with various
atmospheric changes, and where we find the witch
Okriki, with her two gigantic demon cobblers at
work at the seven-league boots of the Ogre. The
next scene is that of the Valley of Mosses and
Lichens, in which the brilliant Actinia, the active
principle of the So!ar Rays, appears. This formid-
able sprite, Solar Ray, does not discover to us any
of her once enormous powers when she was sup-
posed to be the great go!d producer, and the very
essence of the elixir of life, bat she discourses of the
things of the day, and informs the spectators of the
morning performances of the pantomime in the
'allowing neat manner :
I: "After the late rams, look how verdure springs;
Late trains are really most convenient things I
Those living out of town well know them such,
The rural resident now sees so much.
But let us not forget we have some pleasant
Morning performances on hand at present."

The badinage of this scene is very cleverly written,
and at the same time carries on the story as the
Man in the Moon (Miss Weston) who enters, en-
gages ail the sunbeams in favour of his little pro•
lege Hop o' My Thumb. This too is the grand bal.

let scene; and we think we may use the phrase,
though we have said it before, that in extent of
view, beauty of forms (it is a stalactite cave), and
the vast number of dancers, it is a scene of the
most effective nature. Great use is made of the
new lights, lime and other, and the most refill.
gent efftcts are produced. The Misses Gunniss
perform the principal pas; but the whole of the
ballet is very finely devised by Mr Oscar Byrne.
The third scene introduces the more domestic
part of the story; and here we are introduced into

the family of the Thumbs, consistiog of Dame
Thumb (Mr G. Weston) and Daddy Thumb (Mr
Tom Matthews), with Hop and his eleven brothers.
The father, who it appears—and we believe for the
first time—was a decayed gambler, resolves to lose
bis overpowering family of children in the forest.
The Maa in the Moon appears to Hop, and pro-
mises him that he shall save his family. The
business of this scene is chiefly of a comic kind,
and is humorously carried out by Mr G, Weston,
Mr T. Matthews, and Master Percy Roselle.
The fourth scene carries us into the Depths of
the Pine Forest (a capitally-painted scene), where
we are introduced to the grim Ogre (Mr Belmore),
who both acts and sings with a remarkable gusto
for devouring young flesh. Here the little family
are abandoned, and are beset by a tropic:, of Trolls,
who slide from the boughs of the pine trees, and
perform many strange tricks. The fifth scene gives
us the Great Ogre's Castle Hall, and we are intro-
troduced to his twelve daughters, who are repre
sentatives of all the detestable qualities of pride,
spite, &e. The youngest, however, is supposed to be
represented by Sungleam (Miss Lydia Thompson),
who has taken her form ; and she goes through the
various dances, which are received by the galleries
with absolute transport. The Ogre comes in, and
is eager for food, and is abut to devour the
Thumbs, when they escape. The sixth scene is the
usual dark and gloomy one before the transforms^

tion, and it shows us the Ogre pnrsuicg the
Thumbs over the Snowy Mountains and Icy Plains
of the North. He, however, lies down to sleep, and
Hop steals one of his boo's and gets off. A grand
chats is seen on the summit of the Sun Mountains
of the Ogre pursuing Hoy ; but Gloriosa calls the
Sun Sprites to her aid, and the mountains dissolve,
and the grand transformation Beene rises amidst the
outpouring of the sunbeams, when all the powers
of stage light are brought into play, and certainly
with a gorgeousness that cannot be surpassed.
The great novelty here is that the suspended fairies
are in constant motion, and rise and fall in a per-
petual succession that is dazzling. They are in-
cased in gold gossamer wings, which expand and
glitter, and as they revolve produce a new and
dazzling effect. The entire scene is surpassingly
brilliant, and received long and loud approbation,
ending with a call for Mr Beverley, who responded
to it.

The fairy characters in the opening were very
charmingly embodied by Miss Weston as the Man
in the Moon, Miss Hudspeth as Aotinia, Miss L.
Thompson as Sungteam, Miss E. Falconer as Sun-
beam, and Master Percy Roselle as Tiny Hop o'
my Thumb, was amazingly clever.

The harlequinade was supported in capital style
by Messrs Cormsch and Saville as Harlequins,
Madame Boleno and Mdllo. Gunnies as Colum.
blues, and Messrs. Boleno, Lauri, Barnes, and
Morris as Clowns and Pantaloons. The fun was
kept up with without the slightest intermission,
and the gloriously refulgent last scene brought the
curtain down amidst a perfect hurricane of ap.

plauee.

We have again to congratulate Messrs Falconer
and Chatterton upon the triumphant success of the
Christmas entertainment, which we do in the
heartiest manner, and at the same time we pre.
dict an estraordisary run for their brilliant pan-
tomime of "Hop o' my Thumb."