Opening of the Victoria Theatre.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. JAMES MACMAHON.

The new Victoria Theatre is to be opened on Saturday evening, and public interest is being aroused on the event. A representative of this journal yesterday had a chat with Mr. James MacMahon, the senior partner of the enterprising firm of MacMahon Brothers, of the Opera House, Melbourne, who arrived in this city on Sunday, and obtained from him some interesting particulars of the future of the theatre. Over a cosy fire in the Terminus Hotel he said, in answer to questions: "For the first time in its history Newcastle has a theatre which must place it on a level with the capital cities of Australasia, and our firm having acquired a lease of it, we intend to run it on the best metropolitan lines. Having found Newcastle in the past, even with its very old and inferior theatre, to be an excellent town for the support of good theatrical companies, we are convinced that by bringing the very best productions here, and staging them with such care and elaboration as our enterprise will allow, we cannot fail to succeed. To this end we determined that the opening production should be the very finest obtainable in Australia, and as soon as we had secured the theatre for a term we arranged our plans so that the "Evangeline Company" should arrive in this city on the completion of the building. On Saturday evening next, therefore, the whole of our company, numbering 72 people, will appear before the Newcastle public in the production of "Evangeline," the most popular operatic extravaganza of the day. The piece will be produced exactly as it was in the Opera House in Melbourne and the Criterion Theatre in Sydney, where it attained a very high standard in the estimation of the people. We have with us all the original scenery by Messrs. Hennings and Edmunds, and the gorgeous costumes which are such a notable feature in Evangeline. The company will arrive by the steamer Fitzroy, specially chartered for the occasion, from Brisbane, tomorrow, and everything will be in readiness for the opening production on Saturday evening. All the Americans in the company who were specially engaged in New York by me during my recent visit to that country will appear for the first time in this city. The composer, Mr. Edward Rice, who was induced by us to visit Australia, will personally watch the performance and conduct the band, chorus and ballet. Mr. Fortescue, the leading burlesque actor of the company, and indeed of the American stage, will appear in his original and marvellous creation of Catherine, while Mr. Joseph Harris, the world-renowned "Lone Fisherman," who never speaks a word, is of course also in the cast. Four of the ladies-Misses Eileen Karl, Virginia Earl, Agnes Paul, and Edith Cole-were also specially engaged in America, and Miss Fanny Liddiard, your old favourite, will, I am sure, be cordially welcomed in her charming performance of the name part. Mr. George Walton, Mr. Henry Hodson, and Mr. Harry Leston are also with us, so you see it is a very powerful combination. I think that I can safely say that our chorus and ballet of forty people will hold their own for beauty and grace with any similar body in the world. Their costumes will prove a revelation I am certain, for you can form some idea of the piece when I tell you that the first production in this country cost us £3000. I am specially pleased that we have been able to devote such an unquestionably good production to the auspicious occasion as the opening of such an unquestionably fine theatre as you now have in this city. It compares very favourably with the largest houses in Australasia, and I have no doubt that such a temple of the drama must cultivate a taste for the best class of work. We are determined to leave no stone unturned in our endeavour to keep on continually supplying you with the best productions, and I have no fear of the result.

In answer to our representative, Mr. M'Mahon added: "When the run of 'Evangeline,' which must from necessity be limited to six nights, is over, our opera bouffe season will be devoted to the production for the first time in New South Wales of Mr. Rice's original opera bouffe 'The Corsair.' After being produced here, we will take it on to Sydney and Melbourne; and, if I am any judge, it will prove a great success. I shall have more to say about this opera in a few days, but it shall first be produced here, and laid open to the judgment of the Newcastle public. The idea of selling the seats for the first night by public auction has been suggested to, and considered by, us, with the result that the management will not countenance it, being content to give every one of our patrons an equal chance of being present, on equal terms. One innovation, and I am sure that you will think it a most desirable one, that we intend to make, will be the establishment of the box office during the day in the vestibule of the theatre, where it will be presided over by our own box-keeper. Ladies will be enabled without any inconvenience to call at the theatre during the day to book their seats as they do in Europe and America. The box office for the opening and successive nights will be thrown open to the public on Thursday morning next at 10 o'clock. I understand that the Railway Department have promised in view of the completion of the new theatre to lay on a special train for Maitland visitors, leaving Newcastle at an hour suitable to the completion of the performance. The Tramway Department have promptly offered similar concessions, and suburban trams will start after the fall of the curtain. It is a great satisfaction for me to see that all classes of the community are taking a truly and even personal interest in the initiation of the first grand theatre in Newcastle and all it promises, and I hope it will be the success we anticipate."