The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-27 00:00:00

LYCEUM.

In the extravaganza at this theatre poetry and
music have combined to revive " Little Red Riding
Hood" for the amusement of the Christmas holiday
makers. In the first scene we find Little Red Rid-
ing Hood residing in England and engaged to marry
Colin, but their happiness is disturbed by the ap-
pearance of Baron Reginald de %Volf, who is also a
suitor for her hand, and, being an unsuccessful one,
he determines to carry her off. In this enterprise
he is aided by a trusted squire,known as Diavolino,
and well qualified, as his name implies, for such a
service.; he has, besides, deluded his too credulous
master into the belief that he is a great man with
the demons in the nether world. But Little Red
Riding Hood has friends among the fairies, who are
generally more than a match, especially in panto-
mime and Christmas pieces, for the votaries of his
Satanic Majesty. They give her a magic sprig or
branch, and by plucking a bud from it she will
always be protected or rescued from any peril in
which she may find herself placed. The first trial
of the charm, on being closely pursued by the Baron,
results in the little lady being transformed into a
tree, and she immediately re-appears disguised as a
British sailor ; but, in order to place a greater dis-
tance between herself and her pursuer, she suddenly
sinks into the ground to take an imaginary subter-
ranean train to Scotland. To mark the spot, we
' suppose, where this extraordinary dive into the
earth takes place, she no sooner disappears than,
according to the programme, " a rose tree arises."
We will not say that she gave her lover a seat in her
carriage underground, or whether he travelled in
mid-air on the wings of love, but certain it is that
the next scene shows us we arc in Scotland, and the
rustic Colin is there as soon as his lady-love. The
Baron has taken a different mode of conveyance,
and also a hint from the ancient Greeks, for he
proceeds in search of Little Red Riding Hood not
inside, but outside, a wooden horse drawn by Dia-
volino, who assures him the whole process is the
work of magic. During her peregrinations in Scot-
land she once more encounters the Baron, and is
consequently obliged to quit her new friends, the
Scotch peasants.

In her flight from this ill-favoured adorer she
runs into a danger more unexpected and, for the
moment, more alarming, which is nothing less than
being crushed by amass of falling rock, but instead of
destroying her it only changes her dress, and she
comes forth a Highland chieftain. The detective
perceptions of the Baron, aided no doubt by his
wolfish instincts, enable him to discover the object
of his pursuit, and Little Red Riding Hood, in
sportinephrase, is again " run to earth," and with
one bold dive in Scotland she comes up quite re-
freshed in Ireland.

Miss Lydia Thompson was delightful throughout.
Miss Cicely Nott made an interesting rustic lover;
sang several songs in a delicate and pleasing
manner, and was deservedly applauded. The music
selected by Mr. Frederick Kingsbury, kept up a
rapid succession of pleasing and well-known airs,
assisting the progress of the piece very materially,
and which, when somewhat condensed, will, we
think, prove an attractive entertainment for the
Christmas holiday folks.