The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-07-31

on Saturday night. His new play,
"Oceanica," was anything but
success, dramatically or financially,
besides which the author had many
smaller discomforts to put up with.
To begin with, several of his
principal thespians went back on
him, and at the last moment re-
fused to go on the stage. 1t being
impossible to fill all Of these vacan-
cies at such short notice, it was
necessary to cut the play, although
this cannot be considered as a
great drawback.
To add to Crowley's miseries
someone quietly walked away with
the whole manuscript of his play
during the morning. Then another
villain took his costume and hid it,
and these capped the climax of
the unfortunate authors troubles.
The part of second importance
was that of Captain King. The
man who was to have assumed it
arrived at the Opera House on
time, but when he started to dress
himself for the play, he found that
the coat he was expected to wear
was about four sizes too small.
He rebelled and refused to play the
part, so there was no Captain
King.
The play itself Tor perhaps it
was its rendition), was what
south-of-market street boy would
call very punk The plot must
have been lost or have been cut out
with a few of the scenes, for it did
not appear at all.
When the curtain rose on the
first scene, about a hundred ex-
pectant persons faced the stage.
Great things were looked for, as it
had been stated that the company
had been rehearsing steadily, and
were so perfect in their parts that
Dailey's company would be put to
shame, and Irving at once cable to
Crowley to come to him for the
next season, at a fabulous salary,
as stage manager. The first scene
was supposed to be Greenwich fair,
where the sailors for Cooks expe-
dition were to be "shanghaed."
They went peaceably enough, how
ever, and the "shanghae" opera
ton was a most painless one. A
few of the sailors from the Cham
pion appeared in the play, and,
during the first act, one of them
sang, as a break in the monotony,
a sailor song. As he tried to reach
high c with a lower-case voice, and
made no attempt to keep in tune,
the effort was not all it should
have been. When he finished, a
sailor named Russell danced a
hornpipe, and danced it well, much
to the surprise of the audience.
The second act represented an
ancient Hawaiian council. If the
ancient Hawaiians looked as these
did, it is a good thing they became
civilized. The chief of them all
had volumious whiskers that ap-
peared to be made of hay, and
were rather struggling. His army"
of six men was dressed in Feather"
cloaks and a suit of brown under
clothes.
Captain Cooks reception by the
ancient aliis" was very touching. |
Cook, who was Mr.. Crowley dis |
guised with a pair of knee breeches
and sword, sat on a stump and |
told the old chief how the whole
thing came about, and that he was
a god of the first water. This pre-
posterous statement was believed
by the chiefs, and Cook was given
the cloak of royalty and the helmet
of authority, which he put on his
head. The gallery then sang and
whistled where did you get that
hat" and Cook looked reproachful.
Soon after this pleasing reception
of the great navigator, two demure,
but far from little, Hawaiian maid
ems strolled on the stage and the
sailors Immediately commenced to
make violent love to them. The
tars asked one of the girls to sing
'that beautiful little song | taught
YOU yesterday" The maiden coyly
agreed, and proceeded to sing
Sweet Violets." There has been
no doubt that this song is very
old one, but that it originated in
Cooks time, was great surprise.
The last act was in the pro-
yramme to contain "a fierce con-
iict between marines and natives,
and the death of Cook" This was,
rs all stage fights are, looked for
ward to with thrilling expectation.