... By Horace Horsnell Strike a New Note (Prince of Wales) IN this type of popular revue, a new note is certainly to be welcomed; and if Mr. George Black's latest rouser does not con sistently strike it, the players do. They are young, eager, and professional. The programme informs us that they are boys and girls who have been gathered from every part of the country, needing but the opportunity to ...

... By Horace Horsnell The Merry Widow (His Majesty' s) The Merry Widow, Daly's Theatre, Leicester Square in June, 1907: what different days, what brighter nights this revival recalls! Though lively, the pace was somehow less swift thirty-six years ago, when Léhar's melodies first entranced, and Lily Elsie's flower-like charm created, as the stage historian reminds us, a perfect furore. ...

... Murder on the Nile (Ambassadors) CROSSWORD puzzles are rarely notable for a suggestion of warm humanity or for their humorousness. They succeed none the less in corrugating the brows and passing the time of a great public; and the new Agatha Christie play, though the characters are only walking clues changing colour as effortlessly as a chameleon and there is little incidental fun, is ...

... By Horace Horsnell White The Sun Shines (Globe) MR. TERENCE RATTIGAN (author of French Without Tears and Flare Path) is expert at antic haymaking. For him the sun seems always to shine; and his latest crop is a welcome addition to a theatre bill dominated by obstinate successes. It is a wartime frolic; light in substance, topical in key, and agreeably funny. The tale it tells, though a caution ...

... THE CINEMA BY JAMES AGATE A Job for Somebody I HAVE often wondered why the theatres have never employed what I call a produc tion taster. Such an individual would not have to be a dramatic critic whose sole interest is, or ought to be, in the æsthetic qualities of a play. There are, of course, in existence a considerable number of professional production tasters who call themselves libraries. ...

... Better Late (Garrick) MISS BEATRICE LILLIE is, we know, a show in herself, and during the first half of this revue that is just as well for all concerned. But for her presence and the final burlesque the audience might use the interval to melt away murmuring as they went, Better Never! It is really a long time since so much comic talent was used to so little purpose. The author has certainly ...

... THE CINEMA Garbo By JAMES AGATE AND now, on the subject of Sarah, I am sworn to an ago-like silence. From this time forth I never will speak the word! An excellent vow fully meant, when years ago I made it in my first Ego. And I have kept it reasonably well since. But, as all the world who reads me knows, Bernhardt is to me what King Charles's head was to Mr. Dick, and the world is now to ...

... By Horace Horsnell The Russians (Playhouse) A HUNDRED years separate the writing of that lovely play, A Month in the Country, from that of this heroic contemporary melodrama; and though they are both Russian, they have as little in common as peace and war. For whereas Turgenev approaches his theme romantically, and handles it as a poet, Konstantin Simonov, author of The Russians, writes as a ...

... By Herbert Farjeon Forty-eight Hours' Leave (Apollo) THE chief difficulty confronting Mr. James Parish, the author of this comedy, would seem to have been to make the principal character nice enough for a leading lady like Miss Irene Vanbrugh to play; for Miss Vanbrugh is one of those actresses who, like Miss Marie Tempest, consistently demands sympathy. To make out a good case for Lady ...

... Perchance To Dream (London Hippodrome) MR. IVOR NOVELLO has become our No. 1 specialist in stage glamour. Give him a great stage and where is his rival in the gentle art of packing it with glamour and nothing but glamour? Emulators may be imagined losing their nerve when they notice that inspiration is running short of wit. They have not the secret of Mr. Novello's formula. He dispenses ...

... The Rivals (Criterion) THE Criterion Theatre, which served during the war as a B.B.C. studio, has been released, and it is pleasant to enjoy once more the sensation of sitting inside a dainty chocolate box. Much less pleasant to wonder uneasily if the opening production will send many away under the impression (never perhaps to be obliterated) that The Rivals is a poor play. Sheridan's first ...

... Shakespeare in Regents Park PEOPLE who have shared danger together are naturally something of a mutual admiration society, and there was a special note of intimate warmth in the welcome given to Mr. Robert Atkins and his Bankside Players on their return this summer to the greensward stage in Regents Park. It could not be forgotten so soon that while the flying bombs were falling audiences ...