The Bo Girl could hardly be excluded from the repertoire of a young company, especially with a risky new piece, The Three Musketeers, featuring so prominently in the touring programme.
Further dates to be added. Cast as advertised in Aberdeen and reviewed in Dundee. Alec Marsh was not well, and dropped out of the casts for Bohemian Girl and Three Musketeers, keeping his energy for Mephistopheles in Faust. Perhaps the company did not have an understudy for the part, but another factor must be that Marsh's wife was the soprano Alice Esty, cast as Marguerite.
A Dundee Review
Dundee Advertiser: Thursday, April 27 1899 p5
Her Majesty's Theatre - The Bohemian Girl
'She is the oldest girl on the stage. Her second half-century has well begun and still the ancient maiden numbers her adorers by thousands. Punch used to make fun of the talk and the songs the ''poet'' Bunn wrote for her; but Balfe embalmed the songs in deathless melody, and they have still power to charm the ear, and may be hummed or whistled by the Macaulayan New Zealander while he pensively views the ruins of St Paul's.
'If Arline and Thaddeus are personated by artists in whom vocal loveliness and histrionic capacity are happily combined, the unchanging sweetness and unfading beauty of ''When other Lips'' and ''Marble Halls'' work on the mind like a charm. This was eminently the case last night. When Miss Maude Crombie came forth the tent to warble her dream to Thaddeus, the first few phrases she uttered told the audience that a young cantatrice of high promise was before them. Her voice is a soprano of crystalline purity and flexibility, in the use of which she displays natural refinement, cultivation, and musicianship. The sentiment of the familiar ballad was thoroughly felt, and rendered with distinct enunciation and perfect intonation. In the duet that follows the ballad her voice blent deliciously with the tenor. Mr Henry Beaumont was the Thaddeus, and though mastered a little by the mawkish gush of the dialogue gave a sufficiently romantic personation, and sang his music with dramatic force and tunefulness.
'Miss Cecilia Staunton invested the role of the Gipsy Queen with intense significance, and gave a chaste and pleasing rendering of the solo ''Love Smiles but to Deceive''. The Count Arnheim of Mr Laurence Mooney was an admirable performance, marked by a gentle nobility of manner and tenderness of feeling. He sang ''The Heart Bowed Down'' with a touching expression and sincerity that evoked fervent applause. Devilshoof was played by Mr C F Cooke with a riant energy that won hearty laughter, and the fatuous Florestein was effectively played in the usual conventional manner by Mr F Wade. The chorus work was well done, and the orchestra treated the highly-coloured instrumentation admirably.
'To-night The Three Musketeers will be performed for the first time here with a remarkably fine cast.'
Alec Marsh (Apr 22)
Laurence Mooney (Apr 26)
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