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From The Times, Friday, 20 December 1878.

OPERA COMIQUE

A new vaudeville, named After All, has been added as an afterpiece to Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan’s charming H.M.S. Pinafore, which continues to attract crowded audiences to the Opera Comique.

The plot of the new piece is slight, and hinges mainly on the old experiences of the different lights in which a lady’s charms and accomplishments may appear before and after marriage. But Mr. Frank Desprez treats the well-worn theme in an original manner, and the dialogue, although occasionally somewhat tedious, is not without humour. The play is well acted by Miss Jessie Bond, a pert maid-servant, and Messrs. Rutland Barrington and Temple, the former the husband and the latter the disappointed lover of the lady, who never appears on the stage but whose sonorous voice, heard from afar, brings about the dénoument.

The bland humour with which Mr. Barrington describes his matrimonial troubles is especially worthy of praise, and to his acting the success of the play is no doubt mainly due. Mr. Alfred Cellier, the conductor of the Opera Comique, has supplied a lively overture, and miscellaneous songs, respectively assigned to the housemaid, the husband, and the lover. The most attractive piece of music is the duet in which the two friends recall the happy memory of bachelor freedom.

Mr. D’Oyly Carte, the manager, announces that, in accordance with the terms of the lease, the Opera Comique will be closed after the 24th inst. for repairs. It will be re-opened on Saturday, February 1, next year, when the performances of the Pinafore will be resumed.


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