(…)
THE Sardou-Offenbachian féerie, Le Roi Carotte, which was announced for performance at the Gaieté in. Paris in 1870, but
did not appear till early in the present year, bas been brought
out at the Alhambra Palace Theatre. The music is in the stereotyped Offenbachian style, and, musically speaking, the piece can hardily be termed up to the standard of his former compositions. The words also, which have been “adapted” from the French, lose much of their point in translation, and the force of the political allusions, with which the French version abounds, are naturally wholly lost. The piece, however, is splendidly put upon the stage, and the general mise en scène is excellent. The ballet, litre all Alhambra ballets, is particularly well drilled
but the same can hardly be said of the chorus, winch is somewhat
feeble, and far from unanimous. As for the principal performers, Mr. H. Paulton makes a capital Roi Carotte, and Mdlle. Annetta Scasi an energetic Robin Wildfire, Mr. F. Celli is a little too wooden as the rightful monarch Fridolin, and Mdlle. Elisa Savella is decidedly too stiff as Rosée du Soir, though she makes amends for this by careful singing ; Mdlle. d’Anka, however, puts great verve and spirit into the part of the Princess Cunégonde, an example which should be followed by her colleagues.
