Le monde des musicals

Home and Beauty (1937-02-Adelphi Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Adelphi Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée :
Nombre :
Première Preview : mardi 02 février 1937
Première : mardi 02 février 1937
Dernière : Inconnu
Mise en scène :
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Avec : Miss Minnie Hale, Mr. Nelson Keys
Commentaires : THE CORONATION REVUE
H0ME AND BFAUTY at the Adelphi, is a revue which contains Miss Minnie Hale and Mr. Nelson Keys; therefore it is a good revue. It has been written by Mr. A. O. Herbert, with music by Mr. Brodzky, which means that the words and tunes are always worth hearing, if late-comers. coughers, and conversationalists will give you a chance. Mr. Herbert's wit is apt to be a bit too good for the theatre, especially for a musical show, whose patrons may easily miss the neatness of the verbal play amid the general hurly-burly.
Commentaires longs: H0ME AND BFAUTY at the Adelphi, is a revue which contains Miss Minnie Hale and Mr. Nelson Keys; therefore it is a good revue. It has been written by Mr. A. O. Herbert, with music by Mr. Brodzky, which means that the words and tunes are always worth hearing, if late-comers. coughers, and conversationalists will give you a chance. Mr. Herbert's wit is apt to be a bit too good for the theatre, especially for a musical show, whose patrons may easily miss the neatness of the verbal play amid the general hurly-burly.
Presse : "H0ME AND BFAUTY at the Adelphi, is a revue which contains Miss Minnie Hale and Mr. Nelson Keys; therefore it is a good revue. It has been written by Mr. A. P. Herbert, with music by Mr. Brodzky, which means that the words and tunes are always worth hearing, if late-comers, coughers, and conversationalists will give you a chance. Mr. Herbert's wit is apt to be a bit too good for the theatre, especially for a musical show, whose patrons may easily miss the neatness of the verbal play amid the general hurly-burly.
However, so Iong as the patrons like paying for the wit that goes over their hearts and Mr Herbert draws the appropriate proceeds, there seems to be no cause for grumbling. Perhaps Mr. Herbert will note, for future use, that jokes about the Stock Exchange and trousers coming down appeal a great deal more than does clever allusion to political and psycho-analytical detail. Certainly the funniest sketch in the show was that in which Mr Nelson Keys, as a multi-millionaire who had collected a repulsive cold and had also lost his braces, continued to "play the market” and support his menaced trousers single-handed. This was superbly done.
“Home" in this revue is represented by baronial halls to which all and very sundry come for a week-end. For beauty there art numerous "lovelies," one or two enchantmgly lit scenes of ballet, costume, and fantasy, and the top-notes of Miss Citta Alpar, who brings an operatic virtuosity to enliven the stately homes of England. Miss Binnie Hale manages to be admirably everything and everywhere when fun is wanted; while Mr. Nelson Keys gets in and out of hunting pink, farmer's brown, and plumber's blue, sharing Miss Hale's magnificent ability to be everything by turns and nothing long. The stately home is well supported bv Mr. Norman Williams and Miss Xorah Howard, as owners or lessees: it is nice to think that anybody in these days can support so many footmen and other menials without having to be a multiple-store owner in order to keep them in buttons and boot polish.
Mr. John Murray Anderson has devised and staged this Coronation Revue for Mr. Cochran, and has done it with great efficiency. It is now the business of the revue not to fade out before the Coronation, which means lasting three-and-a-half months. That does not seem very much to ask of a Cochran-Herbert-Hale-Keys entertainment. But the second half of the show seemed to me to go a bit limp on the first night. Might not the sketch about the modern children go? Though its idea is good it somehow jarred a bit, and the show is amply long enough, anyway. The Coronation is saluted with a royal toast and there are occasional symptoms of Cavalcadish sentiment. But the transition from loyalty to laughter is usually quick and tactful. Mr. Brodzky has given us one tune about love which will be loved by everybody in the land. This 'll make us whistle.
" BKHIN'D YOUR BACK." by Mr diaries I-andstone. now on view at the Strand Theatre, belongs to a class of play which usually interests me—that is to say. the type which Polonius might have called " industnal-comical ” or “ industnal-comical-tragical,” for. prudently, there is pathos as well as satire; it is always wise to lace your laughter with a little grief. The recipe here is to take a form of commerce or industry and. without bothering too much about a plot, to reveal the trade’s daily or even hourly troubles, follies, relaxations, and crises of all kinds. Arnold Bennett used to do this sort of thing in novel form with the utmost fascination : luxury catering was his special industry. Then Mr. and Mrs. Stuart in " Nine Till Six ” made a most popular piece about the dressmaking trade ; while Miss Dodie Smith, in “Service,” took us round a great store. Mr. I .andstone knows the theatre, especially as a " front-of-the-house ” manager, and his play shows us the adventures or tribulations of those who work there in a managerial or humbler capacity.
Of course, in order to get theatrical shape, the dramatist has to condense into a single evening a series of love* affairs and minor calamities which might happen to various people over the course of a year. You may conclude that all this could not possibly occur during a couple of hours in a dress-circle bar. But surely that is not an objection which need worry us to any considerable extent. What matters is that the people concerned should be likely, their affairs plausible, and their dialogue and actions vivid, significant and true to life. Here Mr. I.andstonc has succeeded amply, and Mr Shiner's light and nimble production of his piece successfully wards off any sensation of monotony.
The obvious remark to make is that, if life “ behind one’s back “ is so dramatic, why remain in the dress-circle to watch the actors ? Let us turn backward to the bar and sample real life in the much-vexed company of the manager. Certainly Mr. Landstone has created some excellent types for our entertainment, not least the bar manageress (Miss Kathleen Boutall) and the harassed manager (Mr. Jack Melford). The cream of the jest, however, is the appearance of Mr. Esm4 Percy as a demonstrative actor-manager who comes to everybody's rescue in the hour of failure His performance is a grand piece of mischief, burlesqueing all the flamboyance and the fudge of a second-rate mummer.
To anyone also who knows the theatre from inside, the desperate efforts to keep a failing play on its legs and the menace of unemployment which a failure involves are really moving. It is not only a case of “ Laugh, clown, laugh'". Let us remember that a programme-girl may have visions of to-morrow's hunger as she serves the tea and cake of the final matinee. We think only of broken-hearted author and of actors who have toiled in vain ; but a "flop“ scatters distress far wider afield than that. It is well for playgoers to be reminded." Ivo Brown - The Sketch - 10/2/1937