... 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. ...

... By Horace Horsnell Brighton Rock (Gnrrick) HARDLY for family consumption, I feel, this Brighton Rock, which is ruthlessly adapted from what I am assured is quite a good book. Good, that is, in the read able, rather than the ethical sense. A common trouble with plays that are based on novels is that-- as with the boarding-house hash of comic fiction-- original virtue is apt to esćape in the re ...

... By Horace Horsnell The Merchant of Venice (I\etc) ALTHOUGH The Merchant of Venice is one of the most popular of the comedies, the professional playgoer seldom looks for ward to it with great expectations. He has been disappointed too often. Poor productions litter his memory, in which actors, having no music in their souls, over-rationalized or threw away such lovely verse as the text, in ...

... By Horace Horsnell What Every Woman Knoivs (Lyric) THIS revival of Barrie's long-neglected comedy refreshes controversy as to his merits, status, and chances of immortality. Was he a first-rate dramatist, and will his plays live? Such speculation in futures is a harmless game, and does at least exercise the player's prejudices. But it's a tricky business anticipating the verdict of posterity. ...

... TU By Horace Horsnell Old Chelsea (Prince's) I OLD times, sentimentally approached, are apt to display ye olde veneer; and there are writers whose quality may be judged by their attitude to the past. This may be patronising, which is bad; snobbish, which is worse, or just plumb whimsical, which but it is late in the day to flog that poor lade, the musical-comedy libretto. Good ness knows ...