We are just beginning to emerge from the dull season, People are beginning to flock back to London from their autumn holidays, and theatres are reopening their doors, if only with stop-gap companies. Mr. Forbes Robertson is to produce his Hamlet at the Lyceum to-morrow with Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Ophelia; on Monday a new farcical comedy at the Strand; and there have been no fewer than four new productions during the past week, two of which are comic operas, which seems to prove that the public have shown. a disposition to tire of the "musical farces" which have of late been the vogue. At Her Majesty's another version of Rip tan Winkle has been reduced, the music by Signor Franco cone. It. is, however, perhaps a little unfair to call it a " comic" opera, for there is a strong clement of serious romance in it. The piece is lightly written, and the music is tuneful; but it is hardly likely to achieve such a success as Fred Leslie's genius occured for Planquette's opera on the same subject. At the Shaftesbury a decided—hit has been made with The Wizard of the Nile the music of which, composed by Mr. Victor Herbert, is of a quality decidedly superior to that of the average light opera, while Mz. H. B. Smith's libretto is not-only amusing but tells story of sustained interest. The opera, too, lends itself to all sorts of gorgeous stage effects, and the opportunities in this respect have been taken full advantage of. An Adelphi melodrama, ringing all the changes in the good old stock melodramatic effects, has been produced by Mr. Hadden Chambers and Mr. Comyns Carr, who call it In the days of the Duke, and another has been added to the numerous off-spring of Charley's-Aunt farces which depend' for their humour on the impersonation of a woman by a man. This one is called Miss Frances of Yule but it falls far behind its parent in humour and interest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.