The Theatrical 'World' Author:William Archer Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE THEATRICAL "WORLD" 1896. The Pantomimes—"A Woman's Reason"—"the Late Mr. Castello"—"tommy Atkins." ist January. Both Pantomimes are excellent ... more »this year, and one is resplendent beyond parallel. I heartily congratulate Sir Augustus Harris on the prettiest and most refined production of his reign. There is even a certain merit in the book of Cinderella I did not buy one, dreading disillusion; but it seemed to me that several of the songs were quite happily and deftly turned. Whether the poet was Mr. Cecil Raleigh, or Mr. Arthur Sturgess, or Sir Augustus himself, I cannot tell. The playbill makes mention, I see, of "Additional Songs, by Mary Watson," and "Additional Lyrics, by Joseph Watson and Constance Bache." It may have been either the additionalsongs or the additional lyrics that fell gratefully on my ear; the distinction, I grieve to own, escapes me. It was pleasant, in any case, to find that the improved versification of the burlesque stage was beginning to make its way even into Drury Lane pantomime. The music-hall element, again, was much less aggressive than it was wont to be some four or five years ago. It would perhaps be stretching a point to call Mr. Herbert Campbell and Mr. Dan Leno (the Baron and Baroness) positively refined ; but their vulgarity was a great deal less sordid and ugly than it used to be. Miss Ada Blanche made a very pleasant Prince, and Miss Isa Bowman a graceful Cinderella. As for the spectacle, it is not only indescribably gorgeous, but, in two scenes at any rate, exceedingly beautiful. Dazzling rather than beautiful, was the epithet suggested by the tableau of " Fairyland," with its wilderness of electric lamps, its rotating electric wheel in the background, and in the foreground Cinderella's automotor carriage encrusted with incan...« less