Scene Shifting - Packing up "The Queen of Brilliants"

(The Westminster Budget [UK weekly] 14th September, 1894)
"THE QUEEN OF BRILLIANTS" AT THE LYCEUM

The new comic opera is rather like a City banquet - a feast for the gourmand and not for the gourmet. It is long, gorgeous, heavy, and indigestible, and causes one to groan over wasted opportunities. With the money employed and the company at the command of Messrs Abbey and Grau, we ought to have had a charming entertainment, for certainly an extraordinary amount has been spent on the production. Resuming, the kitchen phraseology, one must complain of the cooks. The libretto is of German cuisine - of which few have a favourable opinion - adapted by Mr. Brandon Thomas for the English palate. Mr. Thomas is said to have dealt with it so vigorously that it has been suggested that Herren Theodor Taube and Isidor Fuchs would hardly recognise in "The Queen of Brilliants" their handiwork.

It is not difficult to believe the suggestion, for the tale gives one the idea that the clever author of "Charley's Aunt," having found a simple, sentimental Teutonic tale, has tried to give life to it by tacking on humorous ideas of his own. The result is a surfeit - unfortunately not of humorous ideas. The first act began at eight o'clock, the third did not start till five minutes past eleven; quality has to be high to leaven such a quantity. Unfortunately, there is little in the book, and still less in the music, that reaches higher level than that of mediocrity, and there is no small quantity of both that falls below. Certainly there are some successful numbers, and after a judicious revision the survival of the fittest would perhaps result in the success of the production: it might be a case of cut and the public will come again.

The first thing needful will be to render the story intelligible: with the aid of the lengthy "argument," which is not supplied gratis to any save the critics, one learns that there was an impecunious Count Caprimonte of Borghoveccio who, as lineal descendant of the Emperor Diocletian, has the, right - of which from study of Sandar's "Justinian" we have some faint recollection - of adopting an unlimited number of sons and making them counts, presumably of the Holy Roman Empire. The idea in the hands of Mr. Gilbert might have proved truly comic, but nothing really comes of it. Betta, a fisher girl, is a poor relative of the count's, and is beloved by a young architect named Florian Bauer. She, of course, is the heroine, and ultimately becomes the Queen of Brilliants, or, in other words, a successful circus queen. Betta takes to the circus because the manoeuvres of a marriage broker, named Madame Engelstein, who is anxious to secure Florian as son-in-law, cause her to believe that he is faithless. Her triumphs as circus queen enable her to become the benefactress of Borghoveccio, to test the affection of Florian, which proves to be of twenty-four carat quality, and so "all ends in happiness and prosperity," as the "argument" says.

An idea connected with the wedding brokage office - the humours of such an institution have not by any means been exhausted by dramatists - really is funny. A quarrelsome pair, Lucca Rabiato and Orsola his wife, are engaged by Madame Engelstein as a model couple, their duty being to show what perfect happiness may come of matrimony; their efforts to do their duty and to indulge in conjugal strife, at the same time lead to a duet that earned hearty laughter, and to some extent deserved it. The lyrics show a profound contempt for the poet's art, nor in the dialogue do we find such sense of humour as we should have expected from Mr. Brandon Thomas. From a spectacular point of view the promise of rumour and advance interviews has been fulfilled so far as expenditure of money goes, but hardly in result; for whilst the details in some respects are beautiful, the general effect of the costumes and scenery is not satisfactory. However, there were some tableau vivants that delighted the house.

Miss Lillian Russell as Betta charmed the public; her handsome person, pretty voice, and excellent singing made her at once successful, and the only room for doubt as to her gifts is concerning her capacity as an actress, which she had no opportunity of exhibiting. Of Mr. Edward Jakobowski's music the simplest thing to say is that it is unpretentious without being tuneful. A few numbers were rather pretty, and some were neatly written, but none are likely to Embarrass anyone by clinging to the memory. The part of the hero, Florian, was presented by Mr. Hubert Wilke, who has a rather good baritone voice, but in other respects exaggerated the ordinary vices of a comic opera lover. Praise certainly is due to Messrs. Arthur Williams, W. H. Denny, John Le Hay, and Owen Westford for hearty, honest efforts to be amusing, which at times were successful; to charming Miss Lizzie Ruggles, who acted brightly and danced cleverly; to Madame Amadi and to Miss Annie Myers, who sang excellently, and in acting showed a sense of humour.

(The Westminster Budget [UK weekly] 26th October, 1894)
BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE LYCEUM - SCENE-SHIFTING EXTRAORDINARY - PACKING UP "THE QUEEN OF BRILLIANTS"

"Yes, yes. As soon as the curtain falls to-night we begin our shift," replied Mr. C. J. Abud, as THE WESTMINSTER BUDGET shook his hand in his den at the Lyceum "But sit down. Here, waiter! What is it to be? You won't? Well, if you won't, then take a cigarette. Yes, everything is fixed, and I hope that to-morrow we shall begin our departure in apple-pie order. Our programme is this - but there, you had better come and see it carried through."

"Be at the ---," and the indefatigable Mr. Joseph Hurst, who is always ready to help you, and who had guided us through the labyrinth of passages to Mr. Abud's den, chimed in - "Yes, be at the stage door at 11.10 prompt, and I will put you in the way so that nothing which is to be carried away by those twenty-eight luggage vans of the South-Western Railway before 9 a.m. to-morrow morning shall escape your eye."

In the interval another call claimed the writer's attention. But as the watch marked 11.10 he was back on the spot between the portals of the stage door. Mr. Hurst was there; Mr. Abud was discovered behind the scenes. Both he and Mr. R: H. Burnside, who is to stage-manage the company round the American towns, were up to their eyes in business. "No," said Mr. Abud, "this is not my biggest transport by a few. The most gigantic outing was my matinees' trip to the principal provincial centres with Madame Sarah Bernhardt. In that trip there was constant change; the pile of luggage - for Madame always takes everything with her - was stupendous, but we netted in a week Ł5,000. We numbered an army of 412. To-night is nothing to those busy times, although we have 32 carpenters, 48 fly-men, 34 property-men, 22 gas-men, 24 electricians, 34 female dressers - a total 194 engaged on the packing.

"The New York, the ship we sail by, is built, as I fancy you know, for passengers chiefly, and not for freight; the vessel has bunk hatchway only, hence we have to cut our cloth according to our hatch. The hatch will not take a package longer than 30ft., so we have to divide our paraphernalia up into pieces in this way:- 6 boxes, 30ft.; 8 boxes, 24ft.; 12 boxes, 18ft.; 22 boxes, 12ft.; 72 smaller parcels; 32 baskets of costumes; 11 cases of properties; and these have to be at Waterloo before nine in the morning, and on board the New York at night.

"How many souls do we ship? A hundred and twelve, all told, and two-thirds of the contingent are ladies. Yes, and I am pleased to say that we have made them - the ladies, I mean - owing to the kindness of the American Shipping Company, all first-class passengers.

"Ah, there is somebody wanting me. Good night - I must leave you to the tender mercies of the crowd. But let me first find you a major-domo. Here, boy" - it was that imp, the call boy - "you know the theatre, don't you?"

Did you ever, after the play is over, get a Peep behind, the scenes? If not, take the of a senior, and don't. There is nothing so disillusioning. The glamour is gone - only the tinsel remains. But there was interest in taking a peep after the fall of the curtain on Thursday night. "Now, then, Jane, the wig; do let's complete this costume. Hurry up, or we shan't get done to-night. And the lady of the property-room, in her black dress and white apron continued her business of arranging in front of her and of folding up costume after costume till each set is quite complete. When complete she takes separately each set into her little fat hands, holds it up between herself and the gas, and consults the property list as to the number of articles, runs her fingers over them to see that they coincide, takes a piece of wrappering, places the items in the centre, and folds over the corners, fixing them where they lap over with pins. Then these humpty-dumpty looking parcels are piled one above another in the travelling wardrobe basket that stands under her hands till the basket is full, each group of costumes - citizens, soldiers, engaged couples, clowns, pages, heralds, footmen, and common councillors - being kept as far as practicable to themselves.

"Well Harriet, how are you getting on?" remarks the mistress of the robes in another room - the room where they are packing up the more elegant costumes, those worn by the heroes and heroines of the play and the lovely green dress of Miss Lillian Russell which does service in the third act is at this moment subject to manipulation.

"I don't know; I am sure they 'ave gone and pitched things down a anywhere to-night. I can't get 'em right. Here's a dress. there's a petticoat somewhere else; and the wig is in one of the other other rooms, for they will go a-gadding off to gossip afore they are half undressed, and they never puts things down in the right place - confound it! Where's the other stocking?"

"Well, good night, Harriet. Don't you worry, and it'll all come right, old girl. Shall I send you along a cup of tea? We are getting a brew on down in our place."

Yet other rooms, and here the "property" men are, as they describe it, "on the job." On the stage, meantime, knives and saws are having their sway; and "Pop," a big black cat, sits in the middle of a cobalt-blue sky washing her face with her paw peacefully, not even blinking her bright eyes at the confusion and hurry and scurry which is going on at every point.

Then they begin to roll up from side to side the Bay of Borghovecchio - the back-drop for Act I. Then the back-drop for Act III., the Harbour of Borghovecchio, challenges the packers' discretion. It is determined to hinge the rollers of this canvas. The carpenters set to work.

It is applied; the roller at top and the roller at bottom of the scene are cut through, and where cut a folding hinge is screwed on; the canvas is then folded over from side to side. The a group of young Hercules' seize two ends and two others put their backs under the canvas, and with a "Now, then, lads" the harbour of Borghovecchio is folded up; it is then rolled up from the top to the bottom. And both that back-drop and the one of the bay, already in multum in parvo condition, are slipped into one of the Corinthian pillar-like deal boxes, and so are ready for shipment. The packing up of the Temple of Hymen is the next undertaking. This is a more cumbrous job. The top portion of the scene with its Byzantine saints has to be separated from its lower half, the doorway with marble pillars. But it is soon asunder. Then the little starry scene used in the dream in Act II. is rolled up, and the silver globe which represents the universe is carted on one side, also to be rattled into a deal box. And as Friday morning progresses towards daylight all is ready without a hitch for shipment across the Atlantic - where, under new auspices "The Queen of Brilliants" is to run.

Behind the Scenes 2: Scene Shifting

Packing up "The Queen of Brilliants"