The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-02 00:00:00

THE ►SUN, LONDON, TUE SDAY EVENING, APRIL 2, 1861.

EASTER AMUSEMENT S.

DRURY-LANE.

For the delectation of the Easter holiday folk, at
this theatre last night was produced for the first
time the "Amber Witch," a romantic opera, in
four acts, written by Mr. Henry F. Chorley, and
composed by Mr. W. Vincent Wallace. We fully
noticed this opera while it was being performed a
short time since at Her Majesty's Theatre. The
public are, therefore, sufficiently acquainted with
the nature of the plot and the musical excellence
with which it abounds. But they have a treat in
store for them in witnessing Madame Parepa's per-
sonation of the character of Mary, the heroine of
the piece. Her acting was excellent, and her sing-
ing, as usual, both surprised and delighted her
audience. In the last rondo her execution was a
perfect miracle of vocalisation, and the audience for
some tittle after the curtain fell continued to render
the most enthusiastic plaudits.
Taking the performance as a whole, it was un-
doubtedly successful, but its success was mainly
due to Mdlle. Parepa. Before it can be described
as perfect the choruses will have to go through
several more rehearsals. Messrs. Swift and Santley,
too, will do well to give their parts a little more
study. Still they both in several instances received
well-merited applause. So, also, did Miss Huddart
and Mr. Patey, who possesses a very fine bass
.The-opera abounds with charbling- nio;ceaux
—one especially a ballad in the third scene of
the third act, brought down rounds of applause,
and an attempted encore for Mdlle. Parepa, and
Mr. Wallace was loudly called for at the end of
each act, but did not appear. A grand Ballet Diver-
tissement, in which Mdlle. Albina di Rhona ap-
peared, with 60 coryphees, concluded the perform-
ances of the evening.

manoeuvring by turns, made up the humour of the
drama; and it was sustained by Mr. Wigan with
great spirit. At the conclusion, and at intervals
during the performance, he was called before the
curtain, as was also MissAferbert and Miss'Oesten,
to receive the token of pa*lic approbation.

" Vandyke Browne," of ancient celebrity, brought
the entertainments of the evening to a close.

SADLERS' WELLS.

Mr. Josephs has taken this theatre for a short
season, which commenced last evening, but without
any special novelty, the chief attraction relied upon
being the clever Lauri family, and this would seem
:to have been attraction enough, for the house was
filled in every part. The bill of fare consisted of
the time-honoured "Time Tries All," the never-
fading farce of the " Swiss Cottage," and a most
amusing and ludicrous ballet of action, called the
"Rivals' Rendezvous," in which the Lauri family
were excessively diverting, and caused bursts of
:merriment by their grotesque antics. Mr. Josephs
appears to have opened his season successfully, and
we observe he is about to produce the drama of
" Ruy Blas, which is calculated to maintain the
success with which he has commenced.

-SURREY.

This popular place of entertainment was:crowded
in every part last night;the attraction being the
appearance of Mr. and-Mrs. Charles Mathews (who
hate been engaged for 12 nights), and a new spec-
tacular drama, produced for the first time, and
adapted from the French, entitled " The Pirates of
the Savannah."
--The first piece' preSSiited to the holiday folks on
this occasion was " The Adventures of a Love
Letter," a comedy in two acts, written by Mr. C.
Mathews, and in which the able author acted
Major Blunt, the principal character. Mrs. C•
Mathews appeared as Miss Catherine Bright, and
Miss Elizabeth 'Webster as Mrs. Penceolin. This
piece having been frequently enacted at the
Adelphi and other theatres on the Middlesex side
of the water it is unnecessary for us to dwell at
any length upon its merits. suffice it, then, to
say, that they were as fully appreciated last night
by our friends on the Surrey side as they have
been by the more fastidious audiences that have
already marked their approbation of the piece.
The new scenery, which was painted by Mr.
Frederick Fenton, was extremely beautiful and
picturesque.
The entertainments, which concluded with" The
])evil's in It," did not terminate until nearly one
o'clock.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—The capabilities of the Crys-
tal Palace for holiday makers were never more fairly
tested than yesterday. Despite the cold wet morning
the London-bridge and Victoria-stations were at an
early hour crowded with persons eager to reach the
Palace, and by 1 o'clock not less than 15,000 were
dispersed about the Fine Arts Court, Picture Gal-
lery, Machinery Department, and elsewhere. The
varied amusements in the Centre Transept included
Mr. Hackney and Mr. Stead, the American Old
Folks Concert Company, in their quaint costumes,
and the Conrad Brothers on the tight-rope, all of
whom were loudly applauded. The fountains played
at 3 o'clock, after which the Company's Band gave
a performance, followed by the Great Organ, the
whole concluding with a promenade while the
building was lighted up. The amusements will be
continued daily during the week.

THE COLOSSEUM.—This • exhibition had its full
share of holiday visitors. In addition to the
standard attractions, a lecture was given by Mr. Jas.
Taylor, on modern magic and spirit-rapping; and
Mr. Nighton gave a new entertainment a la Woodin,
entitled " Odds and Ends of London Life." It was
his first appearance, and he appeared to make a
favourable impression.
THE POLYTECHNIC.—This favourite place of
resort of those who are in search of instruction and
amusement combined, was well attended; indeed
almost too numerously for comfort. In addition to
the usual attractions the managers had provided a
lecture by Mr. Fredrick Chatterton, the accom-
plished harpist, on "The Bards and Harps of all
Nations," illustrated by his own performances on
the harp, with vocal accompaniments by Miss Pal-
mer Lisle. We hardly need say that Mr. Chatter-
ton's performances on the harp were highly esteemed
by the audience, most of whom had probably never
before. had an opportunity of hearing him. Besides
this the managers had also provided a new enter-
tainment by Mr. George Buckland, consisting of
scenes and incidents from English history pic-
torially illustrated, with vocal and instrumental
music.

THE GREAT GLOBE.—There is such a collection
of curious and interesting materials for study in
this exhibition, which at the same time is not on
account of its educational tendencies rendered les,
amusing, that it is not surprising that it commands
to a very great extent the attention of holiday
seekers, especially of that class who seek to com-
bine entertainment with instruction. These were
present yesterday in considerable numbers, and it
was curious to note the various gradations of won-
der, attention, and inquiry with which the ethno-
graphical models, the monster maps, and the
numerous aids to geographical study, were con-
templated by the crowds of busy admirers who
wandered through the corridors, listened to the
lectures, and gazed upon the pictorial illustrations.

THE ,FEMALE SWISS SINGERS.—An entertain-
meut quite new to the metropolitan public was
given last evening at the St. James's Hall. A
number of Swiss ladies, dressed in the quaint cos-
tume of their country, sang several of their national
part-songs, which, although given in a language
understood probably by very few of the audience,
were so characteristic in style and musically inter-
esting as to excite general sympathy, and elicit
unanimous demonstrations of approval. But even
more successful than the ensemble performances
were the efforts of two soloists, Madame Decker-
Schenk and Madlle. Johanna Clauses, whose
" comic songs," really perfect things things of their
kind, full of fresh fun and original humour, won
the chief honours of the evening, and will doubt-
less render the concerts of the " Female Swiss
Singers" permanently attractive.

BURFORD'S PANORAMA.—.Mr. Burford seldom
fails to present some novelty to his holiday friends
—generally it is a change of view—one quarter of
the globe gives place to another, or one city spreads
its roofs and churches beneath the eye of the spec-
tator, vice some other city superseded. Such,
however, is not the change just now effected,
which is one of tariff, the whole of the three
panoramas being thrown open to the public for one
shilling, a sum which could rarely be better spent
than in visiting the well-painted and interestin
views which are here exhibited, consisting of Rome,
Messina, and Switzerland. The merit of these is
too well known to need any remarks upon them,
and it is only to be lamented for the sake of the
holiday folks themselves that the weather yester-
day was not favourable for seeing them.
THE OXFORD MUSIC HALL.--ThiS recently
opened building was thronged last night. The
attention of the audience was divided between the
attractions of the musical entertainment and the
appearance of the ball itself. The musical pro-
gramme of last night was well selected by Mr.
Jonghmans, and gave unlimited satisfaction both as
regards the concerted pieces and the lighter medleys
which fell to the more exhilarating comic vocalists.
CANTERBURY HALL AND FINE ARTS GALLERY.—
As is usual on such special occasions, the Canter-
bury Hall last night had a bumper audience. The
Picture Gallery was largely visited, Martin's
three grand pictures absorbing a good deal of
attention.

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