ENGLISH OPERA-HOUSE.
A comic piece, written by PEAKE, under the fearful title of The Dead Guest, with MUSIC by ALEXANDER LEE, was produced at this theatre on Monday, with success beyond its merits ; and which was owing partly to the music, which pleased the audience ; partly to the pains and ex- pense with which it has been got up ; but principally to the acting of REEVE and Mrs. KEELEY. It is founded on a legend, that once in a century, on a particular day, a supernatural visiter, called the Dead Guest, makes his appearance in Cologne, in the likeness of a fascinat- ing and formidable personage, dressed all in black, with a sable plume in his hat that an undertaker might .'covet ; and that his visit is marked by the horrible circumstance of three betrothed brides being found dead in their beds with their nightcapped heads fairly twisted round on their
pillows,--a most ghastly way this of " turning the heads" of poor girls, by wringing their necks : but these infernal characters have un. accountable fancies. The females of the family of an old Burge. muster of the town, in whose house a double wedding is about to
take place, have been frightened out of their wits by the pro- phecy. of an old doting Sexton, appropriately named Spectrenothler,
who is learned in omens, that the awful apparition of " the Dead
Guest" will visit them on the morrow. A variety of circumstances of course combine to spread the alarm ; and the old Burgomaster himself,
who was at first incredulous, at last begins to be frightened. A thunder- storm comes on ; the lightning sets fire to the powder-magazine ; and the Burgomaster and his male guests all proceed to render their assistance,
leaving the women in the cure of the Sexton ghost-seer. His inter- pretation of the cause of the storm and their fright at the lightning and the fire have reduced them to an admirable state of preparation for the advent of " the Dead Guest," when the portentous roll of a rumbling old equipage is heard in the street (for the goblin keeps his carriage) ; a coach and four stops at the door of the house ; a loud supernatural sort of a knock, sounding like the marble tread of the statue in .1),m Giovanni, galvanizes the inmates with terror; and, preceded by a hor. rifled servant, the expected stranger clad in black, with the sable plume nodding and waving most awfully over his head, stalks into the room, amid a shrieking chorus of women. By the time they have recovered themselves a little, the mysterious guest has departed ; the brides elect begin to feel strangely about the neck, and the old Sexton is thinking in what corner of the churchyard he shall dig their graves. The mystic number of three brides, too, is made up by the con- fession of the waiting-maid, wrung from her by the horror of the scene, that she, too, is betrothed ; and the identity of the supernatural visiter is satisfactorily proved, and the sanguinary nature of his purposes eona firmed by the testimony of an innkeeper where the mysterious stranger put up, who heard him mention one of the brides by name, and talk of turning her head, actually describing the operation with all the non- chalance of professional dexterity—"a nick in the neck and a twist of the head." However, as the doom of the damsels cannot be evaded by their remaining unmarried, the old Burgomaster shakes off his fears for the time, and the brides go to church and are married. While they are seated in a pavilion enjoying the wedding-feast, the awful visiter again makes his appearance, and plies his fatal arts of fascination ; but, being disturbed, retreats to a tower above, where he is seen amid a blaze of fireworks. The place is surrounded by troops ; and the supernatural personage instead of vanishing in a blue flame, in the approved fashion of spirits, suffers himself to be taken bodily into custody; when he turns out to be no other than one John Worousky, the simple son of a wealthy old Jew, who had come to marry one of the brides, she having been assigned to him by agreement of his and her father. His bride, however, had found a more congenial bride- groom in a long-lost lover. John Worousky's assumption of the pom- pous airs of a great man, coupled with the circumstance of his being in mourning, and the fantastic addition of a black plume, cause the living suitor to be mistaken for "tire Dead Guest." The allusion to "twist- ing the neck" is explained by the fact of his father having formerly pursued the humble avocation of a dealer in rabbit-skins; the son, though now set up as a gentleman with his father's wealth, still retaining reminiscences of the craft, which are apt to escape him in his unguarded moments. JOHN REEVE was the supposed Dead Guest ; and the whole of the joke consisted in the ludicrous contrast between his look and manner, and the supernatural character put upon them. The idea of treating a horrible legend so as to make it a subject of fun and ridicule, is a good one ; but the machinery of character and incidents was too cumbrous for such slight materials. It would have made a capital farce—like the Spectre Bridegroom, which it somewhat resembles ; and as it is now cut down and put hi its proper place as an afterpiece, it will be popular, for the sake of the merriment and the music. The reality with which Mrs. KEELEY simulated fright and horror, greatly contributed to the effect of the performance. There was just sufficient of the ludicrous in her acting to keep up the mirthful idea without de- stroying the illusion of terror in the scene. WILSON sang two pleasing ballads, though not very original or cha- racteristic, in his usual chaste style; and after some struggle between the friends of the composer and the audience, got an encore. The opening chorus of market-people was effective ; but the most success- ful was the chorus of " Hip, hip, hurrah ! " with which the bride's health was toasted.
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