CHARLES GODFREY as an old Chelsea Pensioner
recounting to several little Peterkins a touching and heart-stirring
tale of the Crimean War, yet for me, the Costermonger Songs of
Mr. ALBERT CHEVALIER are the great attraction. His now well-known
"_Coster's Serenade_," and his "_Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road_,"
are supplemented by a song and dialogue about a Coster's son, a
precocious little chap, about three years old, and "only that 'igh,
you know," in whom his father takes so great a pride that it works
his own temporary reformation. It is so natural as to be just on
the borderland between farce and pathos, and recalls time past, when
ROBSON played _The Porter's Knot_, and such-like pieces. Now what more
do Music Halls want than what Mr. CHEVALIER gives them? This is the
very essence of a dramatic sketch of character, given in just the
time it takes to sing the song,--that is, about ten minutes, if as
much. The compact orchestra, under the directorship of Mr. ASHER,
discourses excellent accompaniments, and the music of the CHEVALIER's
songs--composed, I believe, by himself--is not the least among the
attractions.
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