“CINDERELLA” AT THE EMPIRE.
The name of Cinderella certainly is just about now one to conjure with. The phenomenally successful “Catch of the Season” is none other than our old friend in modern dress; at Drury Lane the most attractive pantomime is “Cinderella,” and now the management of the Empire have produced a beautiful ballet in five scenes, which present for more than an hour twice a day a series of some of the most beautiful and striking effects that have been seen for many a long day.
The one and only Mademoiselle Adeline Gênée is the most delightful and dainty Cinderella, and of all her artistic triumphs she has enjoyed none greater than the present, and she is well supported by Mademoiselle Zanfretta as the fairy godmother, Mr. W. Vokes as the décavé Baron, and Mr. Fred Farren as the Baroness. “Cinderella,” produced as a matinée on January 6th, speedily found herself in the evening bill as well as in daily matinées.
The revue “Rogues and Vagabonds” has proved a great attraction, thanks to the extremely clever mimicry of Mr. Arthur Playfair and Miss Marie Dainton, and the performance of Miss Sibyl Arundale as Harlequin. Miss Arundale has a genius which seems to be incapable of being misplaced, and whether she play “Lady Molly,” “Nanoya, the Cingalee,” “The Gipsy Girl,” or Harlequin, she is invariably a great artist.
With the revue written up to date, there seems no reason why it should not remain a prominent feature of the Empire programme for a long time to come.
The Barber-Ritchie cycling trio is one of the cleverest turns at the Empire, and certainly it seems unlikely that proficiency in cycling can well reach a much higher development than this. Unless our memory fails us, we were thrilled some months ago by seeing Mr. Barber loop the loop on the Empire stage, and Mr. Ritchie is, we hope, none other than our old friend the Tramp Cyclist, whose grotesque disasters and stock of superfluous collars caused us so much merriment a little time ago. We hope that the Barber-Ritchie combination will be visible in London for some long time to come.
BALLET AT THE ALHAMBRA.
The grand ballet “Parisiana” now holds the stage at the Alhambra, and a very magnificent show it is, with its variety of kaleidoscopic scenes ranging from 1760 down to 1906. The chief scenes are by Menessier, representing “Grand Magasins du Printemps,” with a ballet of peignoirs, parfumerie, corsages, and so on, and the final scene, “La Fête de Neuilly,” which is a fine spectacle.
Mademoiselle Jane May, the pantomimic success of “L’Enfant Prodigue,” is to be found playing a silently voluble Pierrot and gamin, and perhaps there is almost too much of her performance, as the pantomime appears rather to check the action of the ballet. La Sylphe executes some of her characteristic dances, and the entire setting of the production is very beautiful. “My Lady Nicotine” still holds its place in the programme of the Alhambra, in which also La Sylphe and Miss Edith Slacke are to be seen. The other items of the programme are good, but almost too fleeting for us to mention in a monthly notice, although “Urbanora,” or “We put the world before you,” is always with us, and very amusing indeed are the pictures of “Dolly Land” and “Noah’s Ark.”