Gabrielle Ray HASTINGS (Rotary 3318 A)

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Gabrielle Ray Good Wishes (Rapid 2505)

Gabrielle Ray – Mary (Rotary 772 A)

Lily Elsie – The Merry Widow – The Sketch – Wednesday 10th July 1907

Gabrielle Ray – The Little Cherub – The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News – Saturday 10th February 1906

Lily Elsie – Lady Madcap – The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News – Saturday 25th November 1905

Gabrielle Ray (C.W.Faulkner & Co. Series 1574)

Gabrielle Ray – A Girl on the Stage – The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News – Saturday 12th May 1906

Gabrielle Ray – The Dollar Princess – The Gentlewoman – Saturday 2nd October 1909

Plays and Players

“The Dollar Princess” at Daly’s.

We are finding a use once again for the pensive, pining waltz, which clings as fondly to its own main theme as the Daly stage hero clings to the Daly stage heroine in the dancing of it, and whose melody-in-chief, having successfully stood the test of every variation of volume, finally goes off in a thin and languorous whisper to its well-earned rest among the folds of silken purple curtains. There were “Merry Widow” waltzes by the dozen at the Cinderellas of twenty years ago; and now, thanks to the influence of that amazingly popular bit of “tempo di valse,” and to that of its twin sister in the new piece at Daly’s, “The Dollar Princess,” we are going to have them by the score. And it is well that we are, for what is more refreshing to the soul of the young and old and middle-aged alike than “that romantic feeling,” or more calculated to keep the feeling well within call than the languishing strains of what used to be called in early Victorian novels, “the intoxicating waltz”? So good luck to “The Dollar Princess,” if only for its “Dollar Princess” waltz! And, of course, there are heaps and heaps of other attractions, including an original story, which very nearly comes to be told in a coherent fashion, and is only stopped from making the acquaintance of that rare sensation by a desire on the part of Mr. George Edwardes to remain on the very best terms with tradition.  It is unwise, when you make a success with a certain kind of production, to follow it on with features liable at any moment to mark a conspicuous departure, and no doubt Mr. Edwardes has not only satisfied himself but his public also in seeing to it that the Daly story “thins off” in the same fashion as the Daly waltz. Alice, the “dollar princess,” lives in a New York palace of vulgar magnificence, and it is the whim of her brother, Harry Q. Conder, a millionaire (a character which gives ample scope to the subtle drolleries of Mr. Joseph Coyne), that both he and she shall be waited upon by hard-up members of the British aristocracy, tempted to America for the purpose by enormous salaries. (This, no doubt, is the author’s delicate little hint at what our “big families” must expect when the Budget is in full swing.) Much fun is made out of the idea, and much love also, the chief manufacturers of the latter commodity being Alice herself (in the fascinating person of Miss Lily Elsie) and Freddy Fairfax, who becomes her secretary, and subsequently her husband; a delightfully melodious young gentleman, whose impersonator is Mr. Robert Michaelis “with songs,” and, be it said, with a by no means bad style of acting. Mr. Michaelis, indeed, is head and shoulders above the usual singing hero of musical comedy, and represents one of the reasons why the new piece at Daly’s must, and will, be seen and heard by everybody. Haunting waltzes, of a somewhat conventional breed, apart, Mr. Leo Fall’s music abounds in fresh and interesting passages, especially where freshness and interest are particularly wanted i.e., towards the close of the entertainment. In short, Mr. Pall improves as he goes along and this, no doubt, is what the whole piece and all who in it are, will do; for, to tell truth some of the performers on the first night did not seem too happily placed. Mr. H. ‘Berry for instance, as the millionaire’s confidential clerk, had very poor material to deal with; that clever actor, Mr. Evelyn Beerbohm, who appears as Harry Q. Conder’s cousin Dick, brings with him upon the stage but the very smallest reason in the world for his presence there at all at any time. Both he and Mr. Berry seem to be utterly wasted in the show, and it is to be hoped that when all who are in authority at Daly’s have recovered from the confusing delirium of triumph, they will find a calm moment in which to think out some scheme for giving suitable employment to the actors I have named. They are much too good goods to be thrown away. Miss Gabrielle Ray looks very pretty all the evening as Dick’s sister, Daisy; Mr. Willie Warde, as Conder’s footman, Sir James McGregor, is airy and agile, and withal quiet in a certain way; Miss Emmy Wehlen, as Olga, a Lion Queen from the music halls, has a fine presence and a really good voice (her dashing rendering of the song “Alaska,” was one of the greatest features of the evening; and Mr. Basil S. Poster, as John, Earl of Quorn (groom to the millionaire), is a singer of considerable refinement and charm. The mounting of the new piece is always superb, and often artistic, and the dresses are dreams from which the awakening is a shock. I do not think I have ever seen, even at Daly’s, such beautiful costumier’s work.

The Gentlewoman – Saturday 2^nd October 1909

 

Gabrielle Ray – A Girl On Stage – The Referee – Sunday 6th May 1906

PRINCE OF WALES’S.

 “A GIRL ON THE STAGE”

Of all the “Girls” of musical comedy, one of the brightest, prettiest “Girls” ever seen is “A Girl on the Stage.” Upon that point the audience at the first performance last night of the new play by Mr. Owen Hall were unanimously agreed. The new play at the Prince of Wales’s is not exactly a new play, for it is professedly founded by the author upon “The Little Cherub,” which has gone aloft; yet there is a great deal more of the spice of novelty in it than you may find in most new plays of the kind. The idea of turning an old play into a new play is not the only new idea which has struck the author of “A Girl on the Stage.” When all is said and done, one musical play is so much like another that the title sometimes seems to be the only thing that is changed; and “what’s in a name?” “The Girl on the Stage” by any other name would be just as attractive. Mr. Owen Hall knows as well as any man how to mix the salad of musical comedy, and in “A Girl on the Stage” he has given us a merry little play, with a plausible, intelligible story; simple and direct, as the story of a musical play should be, and not devoid of sense or form. The second act does net yet fulfil the promise of the lively, bustling first act; the ladies at the supper-party in the second act, and their host, seem strangely lacking in gaiety, but the piece recovers its spirit in the third act, which is, perhaps, the jolliest of the three.

In writing “A Girl on the Stage,” Mr. Hall has taken what is best from “The Little Cherub,” and he honestly acknowledges the obligations to his own earlier work with a frankness which exceeds that of some authors who borrow, not from themselves but from others. Mr. Hall has not helped himself too freely, and although the characters remain, only to a certain extent, the same, the plot in which they are engaged is different. The story of “A Girl on the Stage” turns upon the courtship of Molly Montrose, the actress, by the son of the Earl of Sanctobury, and the intrigue is complicated in a sufficiently ingenious manner by the old gentleman’s infatuation when he meets an actress for the first time his life. His experiences of the theatre, which involve him in queer adventures as the play proceeds, induce him to abandon his austere principles and to consent in the end to the marriage of his son and heir with the fascinating Molly. The proverbial obstacles in the course of true love are exemplified once more in scenes comic and sentimental, and the marriage of the heir to an earldom with an actress affords Mr. Owen Hall the occasion for the exercise of his gifts of wit and irony in a characteristic vein.

The best of the music of “The Little Cherub” has been carried over to “A Girl on the Stage,” but Mr. Ivan Caryll has contributed so many new numbers that the music comes as fresh as the story, and some of the things he has composed for “A Girl on the Stage” have a quality and a charm which have not been excelled by anything he has ever written.

In the first act Miss Vincent has a song which answers very well to its title, which is “Rather Nice,” and in the second act she sings with telling effect the pretty ballad “Experience,” and takes part in a duet, “Love in a Cottage,” with Mr. Lionel Mackinder. The return to the stage of Miss Ruth Vincent, who has not been seen in Loudon since she played in “Veronique,” was very cordially welcomed by the audience, whose sympathy was not diminished by the untoward accident in the third act, when she fainted on the stage. Happily, she recovered and was able to finish her part. Miss Vincent is a finished artist, whose refinement is strikingly contrasted with the dashing style of Miss Gabrielle Ray, a clever little lady with unmistakable talents. Miss Ray dances prettily and nimbly, and has a very fetching, saucy, assertive way of her own. Dressed as a buy, she cuts the very prettiest figure imaginable, and she enters heartily into the fun of the “Merry-go-round” song, which she sings with a chorus of men. She sings, as she speaks, with a twang, which, we believe, is accounted by some people as an extra charm, but we could wish her well rid of it. Another engaging little lady is Miss Zena Dare, whose “Pierrot” song in the third act is one of the plums of the piece, and Miss Doris Dene, who plays the part of the pert maidservant, is another young lady who can sing and dance and act with spirit. The young ladies, who are as beautiful as a bunch of roses, are more than ordinarily animated, and they make a fine show in the song, with chorus, “The Currants in the Bun” which is one of Mr. F. E. Tours’ most acceptable contributions to the music. “The Currants in the Bun” is very satirical at the expense of other musical plays, and although a first-night audience, always very knowing, may enjoy this sort of sport, we do not think the practice of poking fun in one musical comedy at another musical comedy is a practice to be encouraged.

In the character of the Earl of Sanctobury, Mr. Willie Edouin, who is left a little too much to his own resources, is not quite at his best. What an actor of Mr. Edouin’s comic talent can do, however, is seen in the second act when Lord Sanctobury is distressed by the loss of his collar stud. That man must have lost the faculty of laughter who can resist the drollery of such a scene. As the youthful hero, Mr. Lionel Mackinder spares himself no effort, and he sings his songs with point and flings himself energetically into his work. Mr. Lennox Pawle, as Algernon Southdown, avails himself of the license of a low comedian; Mr. Colin Coop contributes a clever little bit of character as a pompous mayor, with a rousing song, “The Self-made Man,” and the diminutive Mr. George Carroll plays the part of se impudent page-boy with a great deal of quizzical humour and takes part in a most amusing duet with Miss Doris Dene. There is music enough to go round, and the members are not only fairly distributed among the company, but are not so distantly related as usual to the business of the plot; an advantage this, which makes “A Girl on the Stage” seem ever so much more compact than the generality of musical plays.

If the music may be said to impart a piquant flavour to the salad, the “dressing” is certainly not the least important consideration in a musical play, and in this particular Mr. George Edwardes has prepared some agreeable surprises. Mr. Edwardes is, as usual, lavish, and lavish, as usual, without ostentation. The picture at the opening of the third act is one of the most beautiful, most elegant, most tasteful things we have ever seen. A feast of glowing colour, such as we have not had before, is presented in the grouping of the Pierrots and Pierrettes, in whose costumes an exquisite rose pink is the prevailing colour. Such a picture is exhilarating in itself, and the dresses of the ladies all through the piece are a thing of beauty, if not a joy for ever.

 

The Referee – Sunday 6^th May 1906