18^«.] 



MONTHLY THEATRICAL REVIEW. 



king's theatre. 



The opening of the Opera- House took 

 place last month, but, in the absence of 

 most of the principal subscribers, the sea- 

 son cannot be said to have really com- 

 menced. One opera only has been per- 

 formed hitherto — R Crodato in Egitto, 

 and Velluti, a.s last year, performs the part 

 of Armando. We admire his talentB, his 

 taste, his scientific method — but we are not 

 partial to soprano voices, and his, to our ears, 

 has great imperfections. Curioni has re- 

 sumed his part of Adriano, and we have 

 obsenred a great improvement both in his 

 action and singing. La prima donna is at 

 present a Signora Bonini, whose talent, if 

 not of the first rate, is still valuable. She 

 is a pupil of Velluti, and has acted formerly 

 the part of Palmide with him, and she 

 certainly performs it witli great ease and 

 exactness. Their duet in the second act 

 ]» a beautiful performance, and is always 

 encored. The part of Felicia has devolved 

 on Signora Cornega, whose voice is not 

 powerful enough to be heard with advan- 

 tage in that vast Louse, ami this deficiency 

 does not appear to be corupensated by any 

 great personal qualifications. Sigiior De- 

 cile, wko appeared on this stage two or 

 three years ago, is returned, and he per- 

 forms the part of Octadino ,- he is a good 

 musician, but he wants the spirit and ac- 

 tivity of his predecessor Remorini. 



The new ballet-master, M. D'Eg^'Ule, 

 has not yet produced any grand ballet ; but 

 one is announced, the title of which /'La 

 Naix.inncf: de J'dnusJ promises an Elysiaa 

 felicity io our ainateurs. 



DnUKY LAN'E. 



We are very warm lovers of die " Regu- 

 lar Drama." It is even part ofourhigli 

 Eunctions scrupulously to watch its pro- 

 gress, and to register with uncourtly ex- 

 ictness, and visit with such chastisement as 

 to us may seem meet, every false step or nn- 

 gracefiil movement. But we own — we 

 eare not who knows it— there Is one little 

 interval in the year, during whicli we are 

 disposed to give managers and playars their 

 koUdiiys. Let what will happen, we can- 

 not choose to he much out of humour 

 during the reign of Harlequin and Colum- 

 bine. We remember their lineal and un- 

 broken descent from the earliest gambols* 

 of the gay Roman youth ; we cannot forget 

 our own throbs of expectation, and gazings 

 of wonder, and hearty roarings of delight, 

 which we owed to them in times and in 

 company that we shall never sea again ; 

 and during their short annual visit, we must 

 be permitted to lay aside (at least for the 

 greater p&rt of the time we sit in judgment) 



* The Fabulte AteV.anv. 



JVf-M. New Series.— Yoi.. I. 



No. 



the frozen visage and galled pen of criti- 

 cism. 



We shall not, therefore, attempt a formal 

 analysis of the drolleries for which Dniry- 

 Lane was tiiis season indebted to Mr. Vf. 

 Barrymorc. As to the preliminary plot, 

 we would be sufficiently deterred from 

 revealing all its secrets by a mere dread of 

 the royal giants, who will doubtless continue 

 to exercise their nightly rule long after the 

 betrayal of the intrigues of their court 

 would be published in print to the world. 

 Be it enough to say, that the name of the 

 piece is Harlequin Jack of all Trades ; 

 that a King of Hearts of most appalling 

 stature, and witli a crowned head of di- 

 mensions prodigious even for the gigantic 

 wearer, makes love, after the fashion of kings 

 in pantomime, to an ugly black ogress as- 

 suming to be Queen of Clubs ; that tlie 

 lover, like all other lovers, has his rirals ; 

 and that after a variety of evolutions and 

 revolutions, and ingresses and egresses, 

 strides tliat outdo the performance of the 

 seven-leagued lioots, and sawings of the air 

 with anus that resemble the furled sails of 

 a windmill (on all which mattei-s we beg 

 to be excused beinpt more particular)— 

 presto Jack ! the Genius of Good Luck 

 appears — giants shrink into the size of 

 ordinarj' men, and Harkquih, Columbine, 

 Pantaloon ainJ Clown begin their vagaries. 

 A great deal of what follows partakes of 

 the BrobcKgnag character of the commence- 

 ment, blended, however (and for the most 

 part very successfully), by way of contrast, 

 with some things of Lilliputian iittleness. 

 Thus Pan'nlonn and Clown pursue the'u: 

 fugitives to a house of no uncommon size, 

 which is in an instant changed to an edifice 

 of enormous height, out of which issues, to 

 the hr\rror of the trembling pair, a woman, 

 considerably taller and quite as lusty as 

 Gog and JIagog put together, who tra- 

 verses the stage witii a candle in her hand. 

 At tlie moment of her departure, popi — 

 the huge mansion dwindles into a baby- 

 house, and out limps a little creature no 

 bigger tiiau a baby, who takes her rounds 

 ki like manner, and retires. The same 

 character is maintained by the introduction 

 of a prodigious jar oi Hunt's Blacking, some 

 eight or nine feet high, which Clown un- 

 corks, and from which he draws what 

 seemed to us (but we do not vouch for tlie 

 goodness of our eyes and memories) to be 

 a printer's devil, shrunk to the size of a 

 quart bottle. The chief attraction, how- 

 ever, of the piece, arises from the feats of a 

 gentleman, styled in the bills, appropriately 

 enough, // Diavolo Antonio, a rope vauiter 

 (it should be rope- flyer), from Turin. His 

 powers are extraordinary^ — we had almost 

 »aid terrific — in their way; and he seems -o 

 much at horns in the air that we reajly 



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