The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-18 00:00:00

EASTER AMUSEMENTS.

THE THEATRES, &c.
ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.

The band, conducted by M. Sainton (in the
absence of Mr. Costa), formed, as usual, one of the
chief attractions.

DRURY-LANE.
Milton's Mask of " Comus."

The production of Milton's mask of " Comus" by
the managers of Drury-lane, to celebrate the Easter
holidays, has resulted in a grand and triumphant
success. With a full recollection of the care and
splendour with which it was represented under the
Macready management of the theatre many years
ago, we can safely assert that it quite equals, and
in some instances actually exceeds, that celebrated
epochs in the annals of " Old Drury." In reviving
" Comus," Messrs. Falconer and Chatterton have
sought to do honour to a poem which has received
at the hands of actors, composers, and singers the
greatest tributes of respect ; and in order to give due
effect to the mask the managers of Drury-lane
enlist in their enterprise Mr. Beverley for the
scenery, Mr. Henri Drayton, Mr.. Wilbye Cooper,
Miss Poole, Miss Augusta Thomson, and a chorus
of upwards of 100 voices for the vocal department,
Mr. Robert Roxby undertaking to direct
the general action of the piece. In point of fact
" Comas" may be regarded in the same light as one
of those Shaksperian revivals with which of late
years playgoers have been made familiar. In trans-
ferring such a work as Milton's " Comus " to the
boards of a theatre, it will be readily understood
that, with every anxiety to respect the perfect
structure of the original composition, the manager
must obey those exigencies of dramatic effect, the
absence of which in so different an area, and under
circumstances so totally opposite to those for which
it was in the first intended, would compromise the

. ... _
general result, and render a composition really full
of life, grace, fancy, and poetry, tedious and flat in
effect. Whenever therefore "Comus" has made its
appearance on the stage, it has been with such
modifications as the nature of the case required, and
these have in some sort become traditional. We
have therefore in the present version all those cele-
brated musical gems of Handel, Dr. Arne, and
Bishop, which have earned an established fame,
rendered by artists who, each and all, pay a
reverence to the score that is deserving of especial
praise. That the cast of characters is
complete, we may as well at once mention
that the part of the arch enchanter Comus is sus-
tained by Mr. Walter Lacy, the Elder and Younger
Brothers by Mr. E. Phelps and Miss Falconer, the
First and Second Bacchanals by Mr. Henri Drayton
and Mr. Wilbye Cooper, the Attendant Spirit by
Miss Poole, Sabrina by Miss A. Thompson, and the
Lady by Mrs. Hermann Vezin. It will thus be
seen that better performers could not be obtained ;
whilst the arrangement of the revel rout following
Comus, the bacchanalian dances, and the grouping of
the masses occupying the stage were strikingly pic-
turesque, and proved that Mr. Cormack, the
arranger, was a perfect master of his art. Award-
ing special praise to Mr. W. Lacy, Mr. E. Phelps,
Miss E. Falconer, and Mrs. Vezin, for the correct
and beautiful reading of the text, we come to the
vocal portion of the entertainment, and here we
give unmeasured approbation to our own incom-
parable ballad-singer Miss Poole. Her warbling of
the music allotted to the part of the attendant

spirit, was perfectly enchanting, especially Bishop's
air, "" On the smooth enamelled green," which she
gave with a delicious sweetness that elicited an
universal and rapturous encore. Mr. Wilbye
Cooper, however, had the novelty of the evening:
it was a ballad, the words of which were paraphrased
from Milton and Spencer by Mr. E. Falconer, and
the music by Mr. Barnard, commencing " Waste
not in dreams youth's ever fleeting hour." Nothing
could be better than the manner in which Mr.
Cooper rendered the graceful composition—it called
forth general applause and, of course, an encore.
Another very noticeable feature was Miss Augusta
Tliompson's singing as Sabrina, to the harp accom-

paniment of Mr. Frederick Chatterton. The effect
was exceedingly beautiful, and tended much to in-

crease the pleasure of the audience.

As to the scenic illustration of the poem by Mr.
William Beverley, there is no artist more capable
of realising, without vulgarity or conventionalism,
the imagined glories of the palace of Comus, the
mysterious gloom of the wild wood in " the
navel" of which it is reared, or the limpid
depths of Sabrina's subaqueous retreat. None who
behold the enchanter's:pa/ace with its glittering and
luxurious allurements can fail to admire the skill

with which the effect of unlimited vastness is pro-
duced. Sabrina's home is a splendid production,
but completely separated from the halls of dazzling
light and coral grottoes which Mr. Beverley
annually gives to his own invention and fancy for
the benefit of Christmas holiday folk. Admirable
as is the scenery, no less excellent are the dresses
which have been designed by Mr. R. W. Keene.
They are all of them rich and effective, and as
during the mask the stage is nearly always crowded,
it is almost impossible to convey an idea of the
effect produced. The mask of " Comus" is unques-
tionably a great success, and one which will carry
on the season of 1864-5 to a triumphant and brilliant
close.

THEATRE ROYAL LYCEUM.
Mr. Pechter as Belphegor•
Another character was added last evening by
Mr. Pechter to the list of his great impersonations.
And it was one, moreover, of those exceptionally
suitable impersonations of his that he contrives
somehow to make, at once, peculiarly his own, in
very despite of their having been—as was the case
in this present instance—rendered already familiar
to the stage by previous interpreters. M. Frederic
Lemaitre, years ago in Paris, and more recently both
Mr. Charles Dillon and Mr. Benjamin Webster,
here in London, have pourtrayed again and again
to delighted audiences the joys and sorrows, the
griefs and gambols, of the itinerant juggler and
acrobat, Charles Belphegor. Yet—it almost seemed
to us at times last evening as though the character
could hardly ever before then have found so apt an
interpreter of it in all its varying phases—so
exactly fitted does the part seem to Mr.
Fechter's peculiar and exceptional capabilities, nay,
we are almost tempted to say—to his very idio-
sYneracy. Nevertheless, it could not but appear to
us last evening as in many ways rather unfortunate
that the representation by Mr. Fee/Ater and his

accessories--of a very careful, of even a minute exa-
mination—an examination extending to the very
side walls of the reception-room, to the very paint-
ings hanging on those walls, to the carpet covering
the floor, to the chandeliers pendant from the ceil-
ing. Reproduced as the picture will be upon a
large scale and in the highest style of art, under
the graving tools of Mr. Stacpoole, this remarkable
painting by Jerry Barrett of " A Drawing Room at
St. James's Palace in the Reign of Queen Victoria"
has apparently a very fair prospect of attaining a
wide and lasting popularity in the form of an en-
graving worthy of preservation.

The holiday people were afforded an opportunity
for enjoying one of the most popular operas of the
day last evening at Covent-garden, for "Faust"
was given with Signor Mario, Madlle. Berini, and
Signor Attri in the principal characters, and the
usual grand ensemble to which the public has been
long accustomed at the Royal Italian Opera.
Signor Mario, in better voice than he had pre-
viously been this season, sang his very best through-
out, and in the much-admired " Salve dimora,"
which he sang with soul-felt fervour and exquisite
taste from first to last, raised the enthusiasm
of the audience to the highest pitch. The per-
formance was indeed encored, although not re-
peated. Maddle. Berini increased her artistic credit
by an impersonation of Margherita, improved in
many respects by the confidence of self-possession
acquired since her recent debut on the Anglo-Italian
stage, and the Mephistopheles of Signor Attri was,
as on former occasions, a vigorous and musicianly,
if not a very refined, delineation of the " sneering
devil."