The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-31 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

Madame Celeste and Mr. Wright have returned
from the provinces, and appeared here last night in
the Harvest Home. There was a bumper house to
welcome back these favourite artistes to the scene' of
their many triumphs. At the conclusion of HarOst
Home, a new farce (so called in the bills, albeit the
interest is of a somewhat serious nature) entitled The
Dance of the Shirt; or, the Sempstress's Ball, was
produced with a tolerable degree of success—a success
which would have been complete if the author had only
condensed his piece so as to bring the good things, of
which there are more than enough in it, closer
together. The scene is laid in the workroom of a
sen►pstress, Miss Mary Wheatley (Miss Woolgar)—
a good young lady—and we find her various " young
ladies," Sally Mander (Mrs. F. Matthews), the jealous
young lady ; Cordelia Gimp (Miss Emma Harding),
the affected young lady, Julia Ginger (Miss Marian
Taylor), the passionate young lady, and a variety of
others hard at work stitching. These young ladies
have each a beau.—Mary's, is George Leslie (Mr.
Boyce), a poor artist—Sally's, is Mr. Pipes (Mr. Paul
Bedford), a fireman--- Cordelia's, is Mr. Evergreen
(Mr. Lambert), a retired nurseryman—Julia's, is Mr.
Augustus Hopper (Mr. Munyard), a purveyorlof asses'
milk. These young ladies subscribe to give a ball, to
which their respected admirers are invited, and Mary is
entrusted with the money and with the care of making
preparation. She, however, gives the money to a
poor old woman, whose husband has been confined
for months to his bed, and who is threatened
with an execution for rent. The young ladies and
their friends arrive, and the consternation among the
sempstresses at finding no preparations for the fete,
is excessively amusing. Sally chatters and Cordelia
faints, and finding her fainting not noticed, recovers
in a rage—(this little bit was excellently given by
Miss Emma Harding); and Mr. Pipes is in a fume,
because Sally discovers he has been making love to
Mary ; and old Evergreen is nearly stifled in a closet,
and all is in confusion, when George Leslie, who turns
out to be a rich, instead of a poor, ' artist, ex-
plains what Mary has done, provides a
supper, and the piece ends with a dance.
Never was any farce better acted than this was last
night by all concerned. Paul Bedford, as the fire-
man, was superb. Munyard, as the purveyor of
asses' milk, was the very beau ideal of a" gent." His
polkaing , was the perfection of Catinoism. Miss
Woolgar was deliciously sentimental, and -Mrs.
Frank Mathews delightfully jealous. The piece was
given out for repetition, not, however, without some
opposition ; but if the scissors are used so as to make
it act closer, it will have a run—there is stuff in it. 1

PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
DEBUT OF MADEMOISELLE DE EOISSI.

The chef d'oeuvre of the lamented young composer
Bellini, the popular opera of Norma was produced
last night with complete success. Madlle. De Roissi,
of the Grand Opera, Paris, was the representative of
the Druid priestess, and sung and acted throughout
the opera with a fervour that was rewarded with
many genuine bursts of applause. Madlle. de Roissi,
is stature, is about the size of Madame Persiani, with
pretty expressive features, and beautiful dark eyes,
and is a very graceful actress.. She made
her debgt in Paris at the Grand Opera,
in May, 1842, in the role of Alice,
in Robert le Diable. During the same season she
performed Mathilde in .Guillaume Tell, and Isabelle
in Robert le Diable. She subsequently appeared as
the Comtesse in Le Comte Ory, Marguerite and the
Page in .Les Huguenots, Lucia in Lucia de Lamnzer-
muir, Elvire in La 21luette, and Zaida in L'Etoile de
Seville, in which role she was eminently successful.
She is a pupil of the celebrated tenor Nourrit, Bor-
dogni, and Galli, and has a soprano sfogato of much
sweetness and brilliancy. She can slog. D in alt.
with facility, the etendue of her voice being two
octaves. The debutante took the audience by storm,
having sung the slow movement of " Casta Diva" with
so much genuine taste, finished school, and feeling,
that an unanimous encore was demanded with enthu-
siasm, and gracefully responded to by the charming
debutante. She was also encored, with Miss Poole,
in the two duets, which were sung by the fair canta-
trices with a delicious ensemble. At the conclusion of
the first act the applause was so rapturous that Mr.
Allen led forward the debutante and Miss Poole, when
several bouquets were thrown upon the stage, two of
which Mademoselle De Roissi presented to Miss
Poole. We particularly remarked the nuances with
which Mdlle. De Roisse invests every piece she sings,
which is the test of an accomplished artiste. Miss
Poole's Adalgisa was a charming performance; her
fine voice being heard to the greatest advantage in
the duets. Mr. Allen's performance of Pollio, and
Mr. Weiss's Oroveso are too well known and appre-
ciated to require more notice than to say they were
indeed excellent and highly effective. At the con-
elusion of the opera the principal characters again
appeared before the curtain, when a shower of floral
favours were liberally accorded to the talented
debutante, who was a third time summoned before the
audience, when she seemed quite overpowered with
the rapturous applause she received from a very fash
ionable and crowed house.