Variety (March 1956)

CONCERT - OPERA f^SSiEfY Wednesday, March 28, 1956 72 legal Showdown Shapes on Chi Opera; Mitropoulos Pacting Seen 10-Strike •Chicago, March 27. - A legal showdown appears in the making in an effort to end the Chi. Lyric Theatre’s frontoffice stalemate, resulting from the tiff between prexy-general manager Carol Fox and her fellow board members, managing director Law¬ rence V. Kelly, artistic director Nicola Rescigno and Mrs. Betty- McAllister, head of the Lyric Guild. Initial legal maneuver was taken last week" when a group of Lyric angels quietly incorporated the Opera Theatre Assn, to sup¬ plant the present Lyric corporate structure, which has been virtu¬ ally immobilized the past five weeks because of the managerial feud. Ten top Chi figures, led by lawyer Thomas Underwood, are the OTA directors. New non-profit setup has offered to take over the Lyric assets and liabilities (most pressing of the latter is $71,000 due the Government for last sea¬ son’s withholding taxes). Miss Fox accepted OTA’s offer to continue as director; Kelly de¬ clined offer to join in the manage¬ ment, saying he’d continue the old Lyric setup. Meantime, execs of the Civil Opera House are dicker¬ ing with Miss Fox on rentals and dates. Over the weekend, Kelly wired N. Y. managers that if they didn’t honor Lyric contracts (and went with OTA) he’d take legal action as well as complain to AGMA. Claims that he, repping Lyric, will have an opera season this fall, despite OTA and Miss Fox. This leaves N. Y. managers up in the air for the moment on contracts, until the situation clears. Hazel Scott to Keep Jazz After-Bit at Recitals Hazel Scott wound up a longhair trek of 23 concerts in 32 days for Columbia Artists Mgt., finishing March 20 in Virginia, Minn., then hopping to Miami Beach for a two- week nitery date at the Eden Roc, starting last Friday (23). Pianist winds her concert season April 13, as soloist with the Toronto Symph, and Col is now dating for next year. On her recital appearances this winter, wherever Miss Scott could pick up a slap-bass and drummer, she added a rhythm session for an¬ other show, after her formal pro gram was over. Concert audiences have liked the after-bit, so that some managers are now asking for it as regular addition to next sea¬ son’s longhair recital. Malbin Set as ‘Butterfly’ For NBC Opera Co. Tour NBC has set most of its princi¬ pals for the two operas, “Madame Butterfly’’ and “Marriage of Fi¬ garo,’’ with w'hich its NBC Opera Co. will debut as a touring attrac¬ tion next season. Elaine Malbin w'ill be one Butterfly. Others signed are Walter Cassel, Adelaide Bish¬ op, Edith Evans, Frances Bible, Phyllis Curtin, Ralph Herbert and Emile Renan. Miss Malbin will also sing the lead in the NBC-TV Opera The¬ atre’s preem of Norman dello Joio’s The Trial at Rouen,” over Chan¬ nel 4 April 8. Mitrop Feather to Fox Dimitri Mitropoulos, N. Y. Phil¬ harmonic musical director, will make his first appearance with the Chicago Lyric Theatre, to open its third season Oct. 10 with “Girl of the Golden West,” starring Elea¬ nor Steber and Mario del Monaco. Mitropoulos rearranged part of his Vienna season next fall to. do this. He’ll conduct “Girl” for two per¬ formances. Maestro and two leads did “Girl” at the May Festival in Florence two years ago to. great success. Mitrop deal is seen as a 10-strike for the Lyric, offsetting the defec¬ tion of conductor Nicola Rescigno, and a feather in prexy Carol Fox’s cap. Miss Fox came to N. Y. last week, and negotiated - the Mitro¬ poulos pacting herself. Lyric five-week season is now shaping up. Richard Tucker will do his first appearance anywhere as Eleazar in “La Juive,” with Ger¬ trude Ribla as Rachel; the Steber- del Monaco team will do “Andrea Chenier”; Renata Tebaldi and Jus¬ si Bjoerling will repeat “Tosca,” and Tebaldi-'t’ucker do “Forza del Destino.” Ballet Espanol Loses 15G On 2d U.S. Tour After Big Initial Deficit of 125G Ballet Espanol, back in Spain after its second U. S. toui\ is ready¬ ing a European trek that will carry it through the summer. Ire¬ land, England, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland will be visited. In September, the troupe (headed by Luisillo & Teresa) goes to Australia for a 10 to 11-month tour of the Tivoli Circuit. It ex¬ pects to be back in the U. S. again for ’57-’58, under. Michaux Moody's management. Troupe’s first U. S. visit last sea¬ son, despite sock notices, resulted in. a loss from $100,000 to $125,000 on the 20-week trek. Budget was cut down sharply for this season’s second tour (two pianos, for in¬ stance, instead of a 20 to 40-piece orch). Company played 14 weeks this season for Moody, Oct. 18-Feb. 11, in a shortened tour that wound to a modest deficit of about $15,000. Troupe lost one week when Joseph H. Conlin Jr. cancelled out on week’s guarantee of dates. Music Corp. of America was also sup¬ posed to get troupe five to six weeks of bookings, and didn't. French Group’s Fee Tied Up By Canadian Govt.; Income Tax Deal Irks Interesting sidelight to the re¬ cent Variety story on U.S.-foreign reciprocal tax agreements is a sit¬ uation involving the Woodwind Ensemble of Paris, booked in the U.S, an.d Canada this winter for the first time by Rubin Artists’ Mgt., of N.Y. Group played three weeks in Canada recently. France and Canada apparently have no reciprocal pact, and Canada wanted to deduct 15% of the Woodwinds’ fees for tax purposes. Manager David W. Rubin guar¬ anteed the tax coin and is holding the group’s fees in N.Y. pending full list of expenses, which under Canadian law are deductible (when okayed) before tax. When list is ready, it will be submitted to Can¬ ada for the authorities there to make a decision on it. This proce- duce may take several months, or longer, which annoys N.Y. manage¬ ments and snarls up their .books.. Managements usually hold their artists' fees pending settlement, which naturally annoys the artists. Woodwinds played a U.S.-Can- ada tour of 31 dates, Jan. 21-March 11, to a good press and for okay returns. Currently they are in Puerto Rico, and have a two to three-month Central and South American tour set up by Ernesto de Quesada. Rubin is bringing them back to the U.S. for ’57-’58. Inside Staff—Concerts Alan Shulman, cellist and vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Symphony of the Air, has completed a new composition for a cello octet. The “Suite Miniature” will be given its first performance in Los Angeles April 15 by the Fine Arts Cello Ensemble, led by Kurt Reher, formerly solo cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Shulman also just had word from Richard Kay, that he played the premiere of his Suite for solo cello in Coblenz, Germany, March 2 at Amerika Haus, the USIS installation. Kay will give eight other performances, at USIS centers throughout Germany. N. Y. violinist Alexander Schneider, who organized the Prades Fes¬ tival in France in 1950, in honor of cellist Pablo Casals, will set up a Puerto Rico music fest next year, at request of the government, again to honor Casals. Fest, to be held in April, 1957, will honor Casals on his* 80th birthyear. (Casals actually will be 80 on Dec. 29, ’56. He’s at the moment in Puerto Rico, his mother’s birthplace). Fest will in¬ clude artists who appear at Prades, such as Yehudi Menuhin,-Rudolf Serkin and Isaac Stern, and comprise 12 concerts. Casals will conduct an orch at one of them. Fest will be held at the U- of Puerto Rico Theatre, Rio Piedras, under government auspices. Concert Bits N.Y.C. BALLET FINE 47G AS IT ENDS LOCAL RUN The N. Y. City Ballet wound up a four-week season at City Center, N. Y., - Sunday (25),. with a fine . $47,345 (at $3.80 > top) for the final stanza, up $4,000 from the previ- : ous week. (Opening session drew. » $35,525; second week, $42*750; third iweek, $43,200). Troupe probably lost close to $20,000 on the run. Feeling is that if it had stayed on another four weeks, it would have come out in the clear, as b.o. pace was accelerating, and amortization costs would have been absorbed. S. F. Opera to Open Fall Season With ‘Lescaut 1 San Francisco, March 27. San Francisco Opera will open Its season next Sept. 13 with Jussi Bjoerling and Dorothy Kirsten ' “Manon Lescaut,” with Fausto Cleva conducting. A novelty will be “Francesca da Rimini.” “Fly¬ ing Dutchman” will also be re¬ vived. Company had hoped to preem Bernard Hermann’s “Wuthering Heights,” on which it has first rights, but apparently it can’t cast a Heathcliffe, and the debut will probably be deferred. Miss Kir¬ sten is already set for the femme lead. Longhair Disk Reviews Sir Eugene Goossens was found guilty last week in Melbourne of importing indecent pix and books into Australia, and fined the maxi¬ mum penalty of $225. On his arrest when returning to the country recently, the 62-year-old maestro had asked to be relieved temporarily of his posts as conductor of the Sydney Symphony and director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. American Negro soprano Leontyne Price left Sunday (25) for a fly¬ ing trip to India, to concertize in New Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Bombay, for ANTA’s International Exchange Program. David Garvey, pianist, accompanied. Miss Price will give seven concerts, and be back April 15. Symphony of Air Fights Back on Red Charges That Nixed 2d O’Seas Tour Russian Songs (Victor). Boris Christoff, an impressive, resonant Bulgarian basso, sings folksongs quite unfamiliar and quite as fas¬ cinating, with some wonderful ac- comp from the Potorjinski Choir. Sacred songs on reverse side also impress. Wagner: Parsifal (Columbia). Six highlight excerpts, including the Prelude and Good Friday Spell, devoutly, beautifully played by the Philly Orch under Ormandy. Mozart: Quartete No. 22 & 23 (Columbia). Expressive readings of the K.589 and K.590 by the stal¬ wart Budapest Quartet: /• Gliere: Ilya. Mouromctz (Decca). Gliere’s third symph is,a .spacious, sprawling romantic epic, here per¬ formed with color and skill by the RIAS Symph under Fricsay. Strauss: Four Last Songs & Metamorphoses (Vox). Lovely, wist¬ ful yet lush songs tenderly, feel¬ ingly rendered by Christel Goltz. Thoughtful symphonic work on reverse, “Metamorphoses,” is han¬ dled as tenderly by Heinrich Holl- reiser and orch. On Wings of Song (Capitol). So- rano Dorothy Warenskjold shows ter well-school, limpid soprano and her good taste in an appealing, wide variety of familiar pieces. Massenet: Scenes Alsaciennes & Pittoresques (London). Colorful mood pieces played with splash and verve by the Paris Conserva¬ tory Orch under Wolff. Bron. Stratford’* Mozart Fest Stratford. (Conn.) Festival, plan¬ ning to expand from its Shake¬ spearean repertory into ballet and music, has already set the first project of this expansion. This will be a two-day Mozart Fest, of opera and concert, in May. Rex Harrower, onetime N. Y. City Center director, will. stageMhe opera. Arturo Toscanini was 89 Sunday (25). The Met Opera will wind up its season with “Fledermaus.” I Sol Hurok is due back in N. Y. f April 7 from his Moscow-Paris- London quickie. Mrs. L. C. Naff, vet Nashville concert manager who retired last August after 51 years managing events in Rynam Auditorium, has been hospitalized at Mid-State Baptist Hospital, Nashville. Andre Mertens, Columbia Artists Mgt. v.p., leaves April 14 for a six-week European biz jaunt, re¬ turning May 27. Has a big deal cooking in Austria. Paul Robeson to make a coun¬ trywide concert tour of Canada in April and May. Moura Lympany, British pianist, left N. Y. yesterday (Tues.) for a six-week concert tour of Europe. Vienna Opera's Karl Boehm re¬ turning as Chi Symphony guest maestro next season. Gladys Swarthout and husband Frank Chapman sailed Friday (23) on a tanker for Genoa, enroute to their Florence home, where they spend six months annually. Miss Swarthout will be back in October for concertizing. The 39th successive season of Lewisohn Stadium, N.Y., concerts will open Monday, June 18 and continue for six weeks through Saturday, July 28. Thirty concerts in all will be offered. Joseph Rosenstock, retiring this spring as N. Y. City Opera Co. general director, last week re¬ ceived the 1956 cultural award of the Japan Broadcasting Corp., first foreigner to get the honor. He or¬ ganized the radio’s symphony orch some time ago and led it till 1946. “Der Rosenkavalier” is being recorded this week for the Met Op'era-Book of the Month series, with Laurel Hurley and Heidi Krall as leads, and Tibor Kozma conducting. Margaret Hartigan, finished with her Canadian Ballet press chores, is handling the Jersey Paper Mill Playhouse for three weeks, before going onto Empire State Music Festival chores. Ronald Wise, with Mercury Rec¬ ords the past four years and long with Victor before that, has joined Crowell-Collier as consultant on classical disks, in connection with its new monthly record plan. George Simon will advise on jazz. K. C. Philharmonic Winds Opera Run With 31G Take Kansas City, March 27. Philharmonic Orchestra Assn.’s duo of spring operas ended Satur¬ day (24) as a moderately financial success, though artistically fine. “Rigoletto”. Saturday was a sellout in the 2,500-seat Music Hall, and played to 2,200 Thursday. “Mar¬ riage of Figaro,” the previous Thursday and Saturday, played to about 3,700 in two performances. Eestimated gross on the two operas is $31,000. Hans Schwieger conducted. “Ri¬ goletto” included San Peerce, Eva Likova and Leonard Warren. “Fi¬ garo” included Nadine Conner, Licia Albanese and Martial Sing- her. John Newfield of the U. of Kansas, staged. Ballet Russe Winds Up Season on High B.O. Note; 40G for Week’s 6 Shows Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo wound up its second and final sea¬ son for Columbia Artists Mgt. in Atlanta Saturday (24), finishing on high b.o. note. In six perform¬ ances last week in mid-South, troupe garnered an estimated $40,000, with $24,460 as its own share. In eight showings the pre¬ vious week, mainly in Florida, troupe drew around $60,000, with $36,600 for its share. In New Or¬ leans on March 11, for two shows, terpers set a record with a $17,500 take. After a week’s holiday layoff, troupe does two w.eeks in New England, booked by general direc¬ tor Serge Denham himself. An extended layoff follows till sum¬ mer, when troupe is busy al fresco with two weeks in D.C., two weeks at Greek Theatre, L.A., one week at Ravinia Park, Chi, and dates in Milwaukee, Cincy., N.Y.'s Lew¬ isohn Staudium, etc. „ David Libidins resumes an old stint in the fall, booking the troupe again. *Skedded tour of 26 weeks starts Oct. 15. Stein-Thomson ‘Mother’ In Two N.Y. Showings The rarely-performed Gertrude Stein-Virgil Thomson opera, “The Mother of Us All,” will be given two Monday evening only perform¬ ances, April 16 and 23, by the Phoenix Theatre, N. Y., in its “Sideshow” series. Opera has been presented in New York only once previously, at Columbia U. for one week during May, 1947. T. Edward Hambleton and Norris Houghton are presenting^ in asso¬ ciation with Lincoln Kirstein. Thomson will conduct, and Bill Butler direct. + Announcement last Friday (23) that the State Dept, had cancelled second Symphony of the Air overseas tour because of alleged Commy activities among some members, brought immediate, sharp reaction. The N. Y. Post next day ran an editorial, claiming the State Dept, “struck a new low note” in international relations. More pertinent, the N. Y. World- Telegram & Sun's Frederick Wolt- man, noted for his Commy exposes, Page One story that was favorable to the orch, pointed out the general reaction to the orch’s first overseas trip last year—that ‘.‘it did more to combat Commu¬ nism and win goodwill for Amer¬ ica abroad than any similar Gov¬ ernment-sponsored venture in his¬ tory.” Cancellation -ctame after testi¬ mony before a House committee, released last week, with Asst. Sec. of State ' Robinson Mcllvaine claiming about 30 members were suspect, and disclosing that cer¬ tain members had testified against others. Rep. John J. Rooney, of Brooklyn, committee chairman, de¬ nounced the State Dept, for spend¬ ing $267,000 on the first tour. Orch execs, claiming the charges “pure nonsense,” plan to fight the new tour ban, with one meeting set with State Dept, officials in D. C. yesterday Tues.). They're also sore that they got no official word of the cancellation, although State Dept, said it made the de¬ cision some days back. Unfairness of cancelling on the basis of some individual beefs, without giving orch officials a chance to defend, was also cited. One musician had testified that he’d been dropped from the orch because the “leftists” in it didn't like him. Execs say this man, taken on only as an extra for the first tour, misbehaved personally so badly that he had to be let go on the return, and that he then threatened to get even. Fact that the orch hired three Negroes for its Feb. 3 concert in N.Y. (drummer, violist, flutist) also stirred up a ruckus among mem¬ bers. But the orch has been split up in factions for some time. Split- up was highlighted in an exclusive story in Variety last September. ANTA officials and Local 802 execs joined in to defend the orch against the charges. American Civil Liberties Union protested the tour cancellation, calling the charges against the musicians too “loose and general,” Even State Dept, officials admitted the first tour was a great goodwill venture. Badura-Skoda’s Trek Paul Badura-Skoda, Viennese pianist, is leaving after his North American tour tomorrow (Thurs.) for Australia, for 33 concerts. He continues on to New Zealand for nine concerts. He will also appear as conductor and soloist in two of the Anzac'dates. On July 24 he will be back at the Hollywood (Cal.) Bowl.