Variety (January 1950)

What they said about “Camien’l “Made televis’m history". ^ “Beautifully cast.. # "A technicai aeceniplishment. v tteps:* “Dramatic impact .. tA beautiful Cstrmeh ".. ^ it was: notcn Singing . > iruiy exciting men".. “Done up to the hilt .. Carmen .-o. Gladys Sivarlhout Escamillo • Robert Merrill Don Jose Robert Rounsevipe Frasquita Curtin Dancaire Robert Gay ; Remendado Vellucci. Zuniga Norman Scott Mercedes .. • ■ •••.•• ■■■Ryalya. Sachs: Narrator arid Artistic pirector^I Tihbeti . Produced hy Henry Souvaine Staged and Pirected by Rpris Goldovsky Television Direction by Byron Paul Associate Producer, i?(irry. Wood Miisicai Supervision, Walter pueloux Setshy Richard Ryebtarik:: A production of CBS and Tbe Souvaine Company . .The Opera Television Theatre . * . made television his- tory. Opera is not ne\v to television,..but Sunday after- noon’s ‘Carnien’ Was many many times superior iti every sense..,. Herej then, was a -Carmen’ that'stepped right into your living room with all its yidlence,;passion and savage beauty. .y.’’ ; . Harriet Van Hornei IS-. Y.; World Telegram & Sun “Here is unquestionably the most successful attempt to date to translate opma into terms of television.... Sou- vaine appears to be a master at opera packaging... . Sel- dom, in fact, has video captured such a broad canyas or achieved such perfect synchronization in camera Wm.k,.,. Rose, Varietyi “...The opera was beautifully cut with an eye to its dra- matic impact...*"’ JSexvMoeeh i .That the telecast should have been such a technical'' accomplishment and, at the same time, that the artistic level of the performance should have been so high, is : something of a feat. The know-how., .and the finest musi- cal artists in the business.. .which had been brought together was tops.. . .” Albert J. Elias, H. Y. Daily Compass ...Under the. musical direction of Boris Goldovsky, who also staged the work, ‘Carmen’ lacked none of the vigor or spirit it possesses innately....The drama no- where lost powm’.... Gladys Swarthout was both a beau- tiful Carmen to look at and a pleasure to listen to. Robert Rounseville^ th^Don Jose, sang eloquently. Robert Mer* jill, the Escamillo, and the others all contributed effec- tiyely to the proceedings... Robert Bagar, N. Y. World Telegram & Sun ...And a success it wari! Considering...the fact that all the significant action had to he concentrated in a space narrow enough to be shown on a small screen, it was really an extremely effective and dramatic show... • There wasn’t a performer that did not look the part he or she was supposed to be portraying and the acting was restrained and convincins....’ JVeuf York Times is hoppy to miM THE OPEM ion 0 nni TRE ‘‘. . .The -trimming of the musical material was intelli- gently done, with little of real consequence .sacrificed to compression. The musical direction of Boris Goldovsky • ..was exceptional.... Irving Kolodin, New York Sun . . .The Gpera Television Theatre’s production of ‘Car- men’... was an outstanding attraction....It was done up to the hilt...Lawrence Tibbett handled the narration ably and unobtrusively....” Ben Gross, New York Daily Newa “A demonstration of how opera should be produced for television piirposes was given when ‘Carmen’ was pre- lented as the first of a series by CBS and The Henry Souvaine- Lawrence Tibbett combine... .Exceptionally good staging... topmolch singing.... , Sain Chase, Billboard “On most counts ‘Canncn’, the initial offering of The Opera Television I’heatre on CBS Sunday was superla- tiye television. Music, productioh, and direction were truly exciting. Radio Daily the basis of ‘Carmen’ alone, the Messrs. Tibbett, Souvaine and llieir CBS colleagues have certainly epn^ Iributed something to television that it didn’t have before. .T hey made opera itself something close and familiaf to the average cusiomcr... .]t may very well be that in this new formvopera,.,will find a new audience that never experienced it before..;.” Leo Mishkin, NiY, Morning Telegraph over the Columbia