The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-28 00:00:00

BAYMARKET.

Messrs. Gilbert ATeckett and Mark Lemon have
revealed the secrets of the World Underground to the
patrons of the Haymarket, and a very entertaining
set of personages are its inhabitants. King Quartz
is the very beau ideal of what a king should be—of
what kings were in the good old time before parlia-
ments were heard of, and when the Monarch was his
own legislator, judge, and executioner; and how glo-
riously tyrannical was James Bland last night as
King Quartz ; then there was his son Emerald, most
interesting of princes, most interestingly personified
by Miss P. Horton, who is placed under the tutelage
of the living essence of Brass (Mrs. Keeley), and
those who recollect Mrs. Keeley as Young Bailey,
can form an idea of what a concentrated essence
of Brass she can be. Then there was
Miss Reynolds (whose clear bell-like yoice
told with great effect in the beautiful
snatches of melody with which her part was inter-
spersed) as the Princess—and a most fascinating
Princess she is—with whom Emerald and all the
other unmarried Princes of the world are desperately
in love, and whose marriage, it would appear, created
an infinitely greater sensation than that of either the
Queen of Spain or her sister. These all exerted
themselves according to their wont to the utmost.
The scenery was good, and the jokes not few, but
somewhat too far between. A little judicious con-
densation would make this one of the best burlesques
ever produced. It was preceded by The Rivals, cast
as it ccn be only cast at this theatre. The house was
crowded.

iDELPHL
A genuine Adelphi audience last night crowded pit
and gallery of the " favourite theatre," prepared to
enjoy with due gusto the Christmas fare provided for
them. The boxes showed a much larger sprinkling
of foreign costumes and physiognomies than we are
accustomed to see within the walls of an English
theatre lupon "Boxing night," the:reason probably
being that Pantomime has on this occasion to assume
a foreign dress ann exhibit foreign character, the
Italian Pierrot and Polichinello superseding our old
friends Pantaloon and Harlequin. The story of the
pantomime, as developed last night in ten tableaux is
sufficiently simple. Pierrot in a dress of white calico,
with empty pockets makes love to a farmer's daughter,
and is of course rejected. He presently comes into a
large fortune, and dressed in white satin, NS ith splendid
offers of pin-money, is equally of course accepted,
and becomes, as the bill calls him, "Pierrot the mar-
ried man." Polichinello, the "gay single fellow," is
present at the courtship and at the wedding, where
he lays the foundation of the plot, of which the sole
paint is that Pierrot finds himself blessed with an in-
creasing family, very few of whom are the " the
exact image " of Signora Pierrotte's husband. The
tableaux showed how, by Polichinello's practices,
Piefrct was tricked and buffeted ; how he was half
poisoned, and wholly made drunk, on his wedding
night; how he was enlisted as a soldier; how his wife
was run off with, and his wine drunk before his face,
or rather behind his back. But the "fun " chiefly
lay in those kicks, thefts, and escapes which are al-
ready stale, or almost so, to our youngest playgoers,
while some of it was perhaps unintelligible to an
English audience, and some was so coarse that it had
better have been so too. M. Paul Legrand, who
played Pierrot, showed considerable powers as a
mime, and was well seconded by the Polichinello
(Mr. C. J. Smith).

LYCEUM.
Madame Vestris, Planch6, and the Countess
d'Anois, united, have given to us one of the most
beautiful Christmas pieces ever produced; no fire-
and-fury romantic melodrama, no mere vulgar bur-
lesque, but a burlesque such as was wont to be pro-
duced at the Olympic at its best days, a burlesque in
which witty dialogue and witty parodies, set to the
most popular melodies, and sang with the most ex-
quisite taste, are combined with excellent acting,
splendid costumes, beautiful scenery, and tasteful mise
en scene, in the manner in which they can only be com-
bined under the management of a Vestris. The story
chosen for this year's burlesque is " Le Rameau
which under the title of the Golden Branch was pro-
duced last evening with the most complete success.
To give the plot of these burlesques is a work of
supererogation, inasmuch as it is generally well
known beforehand, being founded on some popular
legend, and it is, moreover, the matter of the least
possible importance in connexion with the piece, in-
asmuch as a good plot never secured the success of a
witless burlesque, and a witty dialogue will always
secure the success of a burlesque without a plot. The
Golden Branch is supported by almost the whole
strength of the Lyceum company. We have Madame
Vestris, a host in herself, who sung and acted delight:rb!
fully; Miss Kathleen Fitzwilliam, Miss Marshall;:'
who sung, acted, and danced exquisitely; H. Hall &s-
-old King Bear (the name is suggestive), the
King of all the Browns, who gave some admirable
imitations of " great tragedians" of the preient and
of the past times ; Frank Matthews as Hugmuffin, the
grimmest of all grim enchanters ; and though last,
not least, Harley, as a Captain of the Guards, and
afterwards as a shepherd,
" Tityre to patulo recubans sub tegmine fagi,"
with crook and pipe in Arcadia. With such a cast, I
and with the most exquisitely perfect mise en scene, it
is not necessary to say that the success of the piece
was complete. As to the plot, we recommend the
reader to go to the Lyceum and discover it for him-
self. The house was crowded in every part.