The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-27 00:00:00

ADELPHI THEATRE.

There was a terrific rush to this favourite house.
Boxes, pit, and gallery were crammed, like the actors,
at least twenty minutes before the curtain was rung
up for Jessie Gray, and a good deal of noise and con-
fusion occasionally prevailed, but on the whole, the.
audience exhibited,much patience and good humour,,
and laughed and joked each -other with hearty perse-
verance. -Nowf.,stul then a 'rumpus' broke -out in the
pit or gallery, but it would seem to arise lnore but Of
fun than an angry temper, and directly the drama
opened the rioters became silent and attentive wit-
nesses of the progress of poor Jessie, whose wrongs
they mourned and' whose fortitude they partially ap-
plauded. Nor did they lack sympathy for the unfor-
tunate medical student, who struggled on desperately
with a bottle of brandy to fortify himself for " pass-
ing the Hall," or neglect alternately to laugh and cry
at the misfortunes of the poses plastique professor, but
towards the close of the sad history they mani-
fested some impatience, and the denouement was
judiciously hurried over. Then came the great event
of the evening. The orchestra rattled through a
medley by Mellon, during which the 'gods settled
themselves quietly down, and at a general exclama-
tion of " Now for it," or " Here it comes," the act
drop rose 'upon the first scene of an entirely new
extravaganza, done into English from the best French
materials, and called La Tarantula; or, The Spider
King. The principal characters, of mortal mould, are
--=-Luidgi, a young Chasseur of Calabria (Miss
Woolgar), attached to Loretta (Madame Celeste) ;
Boskigetti (Mr. Paul Bedford), who plays second
fiddle to Sanguineo, a bandit leader (Mr. G. Honey);
Omeopatico, a quack doctor (Mr. Wright) ; and
Chlorinda, his wile (Miss K. Fitzwilliam.) Among
the immortals are Sancta, the genius of general har-
mony (Miss Collins) and her attendants ; and of non-
descripts we have the Spider King (Mr. Sidney), and
the Tarantula (Mr. Mitchenson), both of whom ap-
pear to be under the command of Mephistophiles
(Mr. 0. Smith), and are along with him employed in
working-the greatest possible amount of mischief in
the world. It is not necessary, if indeed it were pos-
sible, to describe the plot—so disconnected-were the
incidents—'but if the kind read,er will take the best
scenes of any number of operas and ballets of foreign
origin, end intersperse them with snatches from
Macbeth, Richard the Third, Othello, and other
Shaksperian dramas, and put them together, with-
out regard to order or connexion, they will have a
tolerably accurate idea of the last Adelphi hit, al-
ways providing that the chief characters should be
dressed in brilliant masquerading costume, as brigands,
reptiles, or Tyrolese peasants.. The cast is fer a
burlesque as powerful as possible ; and though Mr.
Wright was suffering from a cold, which made his
voice at times quite inaudible, he exerted himself to
the utmost to make his part—which is, by the way,
far from the best in the piece-=a hit. Mr. Honey, -
as the chief of the brigands, bad a telling little part,
and by his treatment of it he Sustained a growing
reputation. Mr. Paul Bedford was rich in his pon-
derous levities, indulging ad libituM in that kind of
leaden funniness which appears so-to charm 'the
kdelphi audience. Miss Woolgar was graceful and
piquante, and sang her songs with more than. her .
usual effect. The piece was better mounted than we
ever remember to have seen one at this theatre
the last scene was worthy of the Lyceum ; and in
saying that (with the Island of Jewels in
,re-
collection) we are perhaps giving the greatest
amount of praise that could be awarded. The dances,
tantastic, demoniacal, and otherwise, bore evidence of
the judicious arrangement of the fair manageress. So
much then for the stage department. It remains for
us to say a word or two of the authorship, which is
,attributed to Albert Smith, and which displays no
remarkable amount of wit. The doggerel, though
smooth is wretchedly pointless and insipid. llere
and there a dismal attempt at a pun peeps out, but so'
tortuously far-fetched that the audience frequently
failed to see the drift of the joke, and while some
keen-sighted mortals indulged in boisterous laughter,
others, who were less penetrating or quick in their
perception, rebuked them for interrupting the thread
'of the Spider King's web with indignant cries of
silence. Nevertheless, owing partly to the smartness of
the acting, the splendour of the scenes, the beauty of
the costumes, and the perfection and ingenuity of the
machinery, the piece was highly successful, and in all
probability will "draw" for a lengthened period.