The Comedy Company—it would perhaps be more correct to ell it a Variety Company—which Miss Vivianne Daymar has brought out, made its first appearance at the Lyceum Theatre on Wednesday night before a crowded house, giving an entertainment which did not finish until within quarter offal hour of midnight. It cannot be said therefore that the fare was not liberal, indeed the programme, and particularly the first half, would have gained by compression, whilst the encores, however flattering to some performers, were rather too numerous, and the unreasonable demands of a section of the house should not have been so readily conceded. Of the entertainment generally it can be said that few of the audience showed any real enjoyment of the first part, the majority were greatly pleased by some amusing comic songs, an excellent ventriloquial sketch, and some novel forms of the Serpentine Dance in the second half, whilst a few, to be candid, expressed disappointment at the whole progtatame. The principal item in the first part was a play in two scenes, The Elder of the Kirk, which we should think the author, Mr. that he has ad Tittle Fraser, and that Miss Dagmar, gladly let sink into obscurity. It is a poor Miss Bessie Freeman, Mr. W. Bond, and Mr. S. Harding failed to enlist the interest of the audience in the family concerns of the sanctimonious sausage manu facturer is no discredit to their abilities, Following the play came a musical monologue by Mr. Laurence Henry, which was more monologue than music. Me, Henry works hard, but he was too ong, and he wants some fresher and more witty material. Mr. W. Bond, by his singing of a couple of comic songs, Connndrums" and Let em all come, genuine applause; Miss Dagmar sang French chavsonetée, and a song much of the same style in English pleasingly. The tuneful "At Eventide" from Falka, by Miss Bessie Freeman, who was handicapped by acold, and a duet, All the way from Gay Paree" by Mr. Bond and Miss Dagmar fulGlled the first part. Then, as we have indicated, came the more generally appreciated portion of the evening. Mr. Syd.
larding is really a very clever ventriloquist, and in Merry Moments with Mirthful Mannikins," he vayo a capital entertain. ment. His'voico changes, either spo or singing," were unusually good, the jokes were not too venerable.
Bessie Freeman again sang a serly-comic song; Mr. W. Bond enhanced the good opinion the audience ud formed of him by singing two amusing songs; Miss Dagmar cleverly went through a Double Face Speciality Dance," an idea which is not unfamiliar to the Japanese; and Mr. W. Bond and Miss Bessie Freeman sang a medley of popular songs. Miss Dagmar then went through three effective Serpentine—Dreams," "Night," and "Creations." Not only does she dance them with spirit and elegance, but the effective management of the ever-changing lights with which the stage was flooded was additionally pleasing. In the last, as she whirls the gauzy silk with which she is enveloped, portraits of well-known people, Lord Roberts, the Sirdar, Lord and Lady Curzon, the Princess of Wales, and the Queen are projected on her dress by means of a lantern, the effect being certainly novel.
This Company of clever artists have not met with much support in Shanghai, as the third performance at the Lyceum Theatre on Friday night given to a much smaller audience than its decided merits called for. There was an_ almost complete change of programme for the occasion,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.