Variety (May 1957)

60 LEGITIMATE WfrdneBtfoy, Mqy 22, 1957 PfifHEfY ' Robert Iglesias Ballet ’ Mario Aguero and Raymond Marques present Spanish Ballet starring Roberto Iglesias, who also choreographed and di¬ rected; Ramon Vives and Marina Alonso at pianos; Rafael Jerea, guitarist; Nino Alegrlas, Flamenco singer. Dancers: Aida Ramiriz, Maria Merida,' Lupe Garcia, Rosario Galan, Esperanza Galan,. Rosalia JLorca, Antonio Espanol, Manuel Galan, Emilio Altos, Carlos Vega. At Carnegie, N.Y., May 18, 1957; $4.60 top. Such terms * as elemental, dy¬ namic, earthy, sexy, apply to the star and some of his choreography. Mixed in with folklore. of sound Iberian flavor, the evening pre¬ sented late season at Carnegie Hall" on Saturday (18) was pretty consistent in its • artistry and mounting . fervor. While Spanish Ballet companies have been nu¬ merous in the past decade and not always readily differentiated quali¬ tatively, this one is marked by very special and ardent showmanship. Speaking of differentiation in Spanish Ballet, why is the printed program always three parts con¬ fused and one part obscure? The Impresario who first borrows frorri the old vaudeville days and num¬ bers the items on, a stage easel corresponding to the printed, pro¬ gram is. certain to be hailed as a genius. No matter the Spanish omelette effect of the credits. What stands forth in this company is a com¬ bination of authentic provincial dances mingled with other ele¬ ments. Iglesias’ versatility' is' re¬ markable. His heel-drop work is in the tradition of Escudero 30 years ago, but he also does what vaude- villians call knee-drops and, not stopping there, in the Bull Fight¬ er’s Death works in modern inter¬ pretive ballet technique. Iglesias is tallj dark and savage- seeming at moments. His whole personality is highly distinctive. Even the almost peasant-like roughness of his affectionate push¬ ing forward of his • colleagues for bows is offbeat. (Curiously enough, dancer is grandson of a former president of Guatemala and a son of a prominent Mexican painter). In a next-to-closing ♦‘courtship," Gypsy style, which the star dances with Rosario Galan to Flamenco song and guitar accompaniment, the crescendo is orgiastic, the girl being artistically brought to a frenzy of desire.. . Iglesias is not new, having worked with the San Francisco Ballet and toured some years in the Rosario and Antonio Troupe and later as partner to Rosario in Europe. It is certain that his Amer¬ ican concert platform following . must increase. He is an inflamma¬ tory talent and has surrounded himself with excellent dancers. Costumes of Trabal Altes drew ap¬ plause several times, notably at the high-style flamenco finale. - Are the piano interludes pur¬ posely lacklustre? Otherwise the evening is pretty fast and socko. « Land. — * - Antonio’s Ballet Madrid, May 10. Antonio and his Spanish Ballet is one of this country’s most at¬ tractive export items. A peer among, peers of flamenco, com¬ pany’s success in. a two-month stay at La Zarzuela (Madrid’s new Car¬ negie Hall) stamped Antonio as a ■ great choreographer and master showman. Always a remarkable dancer, An¬ tonio learned plenty about chore¬ ography and showmanship during the 10 odd years he and Rosario ranged the U.S.A. from the Wal¬ dorf to Hollywood. He formed his own company in 1953, now has a troupe of 32 (including singers and guitarists) which glitters with talent, youth and elan. . There are numerous highspots in the dual programs but Antonio’s own choreography of "El Amor Brujo" merits particular notice. First staged by Antonio in London PROFESSIONAL STOCK RICHTS for RONALD ALEXANDER’S “HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS” Available Through S.A.G.A. STAGE & ARENA GUILD OF AMERICA, INC. 140 W. 55th St., New York 14 Cl 6-0337 in ’55, this is presented as an exit¬ ing dance drama. A striking three- level set, canny illumination, witchcraft props and special ef¬ fects all become part of a. skillful pattern. Ensemble sequences are well-paced and the seduction theme is brilliantly interpreted by Antonio and his leading lady, Rosi- ta Segovia, to effective off-stage vocalizing- originally written into the score by Falla. Carmelo (An¬ tonio) and Candelas’ (Segovia) triumph of love over death (Paco Ruiz as the Spectre) is in a ballet class of its own. In "Paso a .Dos" is a mysterious¬ ly tender tale of a seashore kiss before dying. Seashejls replace castenets and the novel rhythm (soft comb on a washboard effect), together with strange folk music by Half ter, adept lighting and cos¬ tuming, mood, a delicate ballet gem which should vibrate the rafters for Antonio and Rosario the world over. Werb. EQUITY INDIE OBJECTS TO ‘DISSIDENT ELEMENT’ New York. Editor, Variety: I'd like to go on record as taking exception to your article on the "Indie Ticket for Equity Election" on Page 63 of the May 8 issue. I do not consider myself to be a member of any "dissident element" and I am among a large list of Equity members who have an¬ nounced their support of the in¬ dependent slate. I believe that in any democratic organization it is good to have a choice of candidates. It is not necessary in a union for these candidates to belong to any partic¬ ular party. What is important is whether or not they are willing and able to give the time to 'a cause in which we are all united. As a member of the union I want the privilege of voting for the member I feel is best qualified. Now you have arbitrarily taken a stand in your article, and in cast¬ ing aspersions at the independent ticket, you may have influenced voters in an election which is no concern of yours, I don’t think your stand is fair or proper. ^William Lanteau (The Random House "American College Dictionary " defines dissi¬ dent as "differing; disagreeingdis¬ senting ." Ed.) Full Show Biz Schedule For Chi's Ravinia Fest Chicago, May 21. A multi-faceted entertainment program has been set for the 1957 Ravinia Festival here. A nine- week session, running from June 17-Aug. 18, will take in legit, ballet, music, films and other offerings. The festival will get underway with six consecutive performances of "Pictures in the Hallway,” with some of the members of the origi¬ nal New York production. Cornelia Otis Skinner will give •her one-woman show Aug. 11-12 and Burgess Meredith will appear in dramatic readings Aug. 13-14. Concerts featuring the Duke Elling¬ ton and Stan Kenton bands afe-nn the slate, while various classical soloists will also appear in orches¬ tral offerings. The Royal Danish Ballet takes the spotlight Aug. 5-10. Opera Review Banner of Granada (GLI ABENCERAGI) Florence, May 14. Maggio Musicale Fiorentino’s 1957 spring season was opened with “The Banner of Granada" (alias “Gli Abenceragi" by Chrubini). Never, mounted during the 20th Century this antique opera will undoubtedly revert immediately.to its previous state of long neglect. It was staged, costumed and di¬ rected in a mixture of styles, Spanish, Moorish and Turkish. Production was lavish enough to raise doubts as to the reported crisis in the economics of Italian opera and musically was well handled. Carlo Maria Giulini of La Scala. was the conductor and the leading roles were sung by Anita Cer- quetti (known in U.S. through her Chicago debut last/year) and^ the American tenor Louis Roney who makes his Italian debut with this extraordinarily taxing and difficult role and whose success on Euro¬ pean opera stages now r^ms assured, Goth. Marilyn Ross Has Plans Nitery. singer Marilyn Ross, who has been branching out recently with acting assignments, will do the Lilo role in "Can-rCan," opening June 22 at the Cape Cod Music Tent, Hyannis, Mass. Deal was set by Bernie-Thall. • For the month of July, Miss Ross will do an offbeat comedy indus¬ trial show, for VYestinghouse, co- starring ’ with Lew £grker. Com¬ pany rehearsed two weeks in.Man¬ hattan, then plays two weeks in Columbus, Ohio. Bethlehem s 50th Boff Bach Fest By HERMAN LOWE Bethlehem, Pa., May 21. "Bach boff in Bethlehem." This was the 50th Anniversary Festival of the Bach Choir and, over the past two weekends—May 9-10-11 and May 17-18—the boxof- fice went virtually clean for all .performances in the handsome 1,112-seat chapel of Lehigh Uni¬ versity. Take for the nine performances' was estimated at over $30,000, proof that the chorales and masses of Johann Sebastian Bach are still solid boxoffice after more than two centuries. Trouble, of course, is that the finely staged festival is estimated to cost in excess of $40,000. This leaves a Cool $10,000 deficit to be made up by more 400 guarantors from,the 48 states and several for¬ eign countries. . Big drawback'to closing the gap is . that • there is no other place available with fine acoustics and larger seating capacity than the Lehigh U. chapel. Most performances were S.R.O, during the past two weekends, with clamor for seats from the disap- appointed, some of whom came long distances. Remarkable part is that most seats cost $4.50 each for one and one-half hours of choral music. Bach’s massive "Mass in B Minor" was given in two parts— each of one and one-half hours du¬ ration—on both Saturdays. Price was $4.50 per ticket per segment. Since the 185-voice choir is strict¬ ly amateur—made up of the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and their ladies—(though it sings like the angels) question arises why the operation calls for a $40,000 net. Among cost items: annual salary of Dr. Ifor Jones, the conductor and director; a full-time executive secretary and office; four profes¬ sional soloists- (this year concert singers Adele Addison, Eunice Al¬ berts, John McCollum and Donald Gramm); an organist, accompanist for the choir; a 42-piece symphony orchestra; a choir of 25 brass in¬ struments; promotion expenses, etc. Requirement for the Bach Choir of Bethlehem is ability to read mu¬ sic, a good voice and willingness to rehearse. Ifor Jones starts re¬ hearsing them early each Septem¬ ber for the following May’s festi¬ val. Women are required even to purchase their own white dresses and the men, their dark grey suits. However, past weekend, one male member of the aggregation wore the dark blue ^uniform of Uncle Sam’s Navy, PLAN LEGIT MUSICAL OF WANTS’.ON B’WAY Alan Bernheim, American liter¬ ary agent who headquarters in Paris, has acquired the legit rights to "Les Enfants du Paradis" ("Children of Paradise"), a French film classic which was originally released in the TJ.S. in 1947'. ■ Bernheim who represents Alan Jay Lerner and .Frederick Loewe in Paris/plans a musical version of the picture for production on Broadway, He expects to present it in association with a still-unselect- ed Broadway producer. No adaptors have been signed as yet. Bernheim, acting for French author Pierre Boule, recently sold the stage rights to the latter’s book, "Fame of the Hero," to producer Robert L. Joseph. Bernheim is cur¬ rently on the Coast to peddle the the- film rights to Francoise Sai¬ gon’s latest book, "Those Withdut Shadows." Legit Bits ^ Continued from pjure 56 -(Fair and the * Zagreb, Yugoslavia, International Trade Fair. Virginia Mac Watters and Frank Guarrera, ' of the Metropolitan Opera Co., will appear in the 26th annual opera festival at Central City, Col., this summer. Anthony Qiiayle will costar with Laurence Olivier - and Vivien Leigh in the European tour of "Titus Andronicus" this summer. An off-Broadway production of J..B. Pristley’s "Ever Since Para¬ dise" is planned for off-Broadway production by H. Richard Silver and Marilyn Shapiro. Mark Gor¬ don, currently appearing in the off Broadway production of "Ice¬ man Cometh," will direct. Richard Sylhert will design the ■sets and Anna Hill Johnstone the. costumes for. "The Egghead." The off-Broadway American Sav¬ oyards’ Gilbert & Sullivan Festi¬ val. ends June 2. The company will then move to its summer -quarters in Monmouth, Me., for its fifth sea¬ son, beginning July 2.. Jason Wingreen, one of the four founding producers 4>f the' Circle* in the Square, N. Y./returned from Hollywood recently and has joined the legit production firm of Charles Preston and • Felice Or* landi. Larfy" Rosenthal, who composed background music for the Broad¬ way production of "Clearing in the Woods,” has completed a hew mu¬ sical, "The Genius," in collabora¬ tion with writer Jinx Lipton. Willard Swire, executive direc¬ tor of the American National Thea¬ tre & Academy, has left New York for the- Coast to launch an exten¬ sive membership drive in Los An¬ geles, San - Diego, Fresno, , San Francisco, Monterey, Stockton, Sacramento and Portland* A collection of JEugene O’Neill memorabilia, including paintings, etchings and programs, is on dis¬ play at the Bijou Theatre, N. Y., lpunge, in con junction with * the current production at the house of the late playwright’s "A Moon for the Misbegotten." The items were loaned to producers Carmen Ca- palbo & Stanley Chase by the’Mu¬ seum of the City of New York and were selected with the aid of Mae Seymour, who’s with the Museum. The annual meeting of the Ac¬ tors’ Fund of America ^ill be held tomorrow (Thurs.) at the Helen Hayes Theatre, N. Y. The New York Summer Shake-, speare Festival will tour the city’s five boroughs this summer with a mobile stage enclosed in a 35-foot trallpr David Shaber and Philip Wise¬ man have acquired the legit rights to Noel Coward’s "Conversation Piece" for production next season, with Wiseman directing. A new revue, "Nuts to You," by Frank Brents and Will Sales, will be presented June 1 at the YMCA Little Theatre, N. Y. Stanley Greene Sr. and his wife, Javotte Sutton Greene, won’t have to worry about a sitter for their kids while they're appealing in the upcoming off-Broadway production of "Simply Heavenly.” Their two children. Perry and Stanley Jr., are also in the cast. Jean Arnold, featured in the off- Broadway production of "Three¬ penny Opersis doubling as a nitery performer at The Saloon, a new Manhattan club. Joan Croydon, pf "The Potting Shed," and Ellis Rabb, who ap¬ peared in the off-Broadway pro¬ duction of "The Misanthrope," copped ihe 1956-57 Clarence Der¬ went Awards for non-featured per¬ formances. N, Richard Nash’s "Girls of Summer" is emerging as a Jmt property overseas, with 17 foreign productions currently oh tap. It’s following the pattern, of Nash’s previous play," "The Rainmaker," which has thus far had over 100 foreign presentations. The third annual benefit boat ride and party of the Greater New York .Chapter of the American Na¬ tional Theatre & Academy will be held the evening of June 5 aboard the S. S. Liberty "Belle, which will leaVe the Wilson Line pier at 8 p.m. and return around midnight. Ruby Magby’s jiive dance group will perform June 23 at the Car¬ negie Recital Hall, N. Y./ Gerald Rifholz has been signed for his fourth • season as designer and scenic-coordinator of the "Lyric Opera of Chicago. Producer-director^ Guthrie Mc- Clintic has/joined the board of edi¬ tors of the American Playwrights Guild, Inc , ■ / . .. •. ffhe Drama -Desk, the organiza¬ tion of legit reporters, named Sada Thompson, Arthur Malet and Paul Shyre as winners .of the annual Vernon Rice Memorial Awards, for "outstanding achievement in the off-Broadway theatre." The trio are performers, while Shyre also iunq- Shyre, incidentally, withdraws tions as a dramatist, director and producer* In line with. Shyre’s managerial activities, he/s planning a New , York production of Sean O’Casey’s "Cock-a-Doodle Dandy’’ next season, following a contem¬ plated revival at the Playhouse, N. Y., of his adaptation of O’Casey’s "I'Knock at the,Door.” from his current acting assign¬ ment in "Purple Dust" at the Cherry Lane Theatre, -N. Y., to¬ morrow (Thurs.) to visit England to confer with O’Casey regarding "The Night Whispers," a new com¬ edy by the Irish author. Roger Boxill will go into "Dust" as suc¬ cessor to. ShyrC, who’s also accept¬ ed an invitation to speak May 26 at the Dublin Theatre Festival on "Irish Theatre in America." New Drama Desk officers elect¬ ed last week include Douglas Watt (Daily News), president; Frances Herridge (Post), vice president; William Glover (Associated- Press), secretary, -.arid William Pepper* (World-Telegram & Sun), treas¬ urer. Two new songs have been writ¬ ten for "Happy Hunting" by Kay Thompson. ' " " '' An off-Broadway production of "Daisy Miller,"'.by Henry James, is scheduled for .next fall by Neil McKenzie and JV. .Stanley Brown, with the .former directing. Broadway conductor Frederick Dvonch will give a musicomedy training course this summer at the N. Y. College of Music,-beginning July 2. The Tower Singers, a new off- Broadway non - profit . operation sponsored by the Broadway Con¬ gregational Church, will close its 1956-57 season with 10 benefit per¬ formances, June 6-15, of "The Mi¬ kado" at Pilgrim Hall, N. Y. Joshua Shelley has acquired the legit rights to Daniel Stern’s book. "Miss America," which he intends presenting as a musical next fall with an all-Negro cast., Philip Sterling and Ethel Terry have purchased the rights to a new translation of Henrik Ibsen’s "Lit¬ tle Eyolf,” by Una Ellis-Fermor, an English critic. An off-Broadway presentation is planned, with Ster¬ ling doubling as director. "Evvie," adapted by George Bel¬ las from a short story by Frank O’Connor, will be presented in London by Saint Subber, iji con¬ junction with a British manage¬ ment. Mary Morgan is set for the leading role. Herb Hartig, Portia Nelson, Louis Botto, Tom Jones, Harvey Schmidt and Murray Grand are among those who’ll be. represented by songs and sketches in the revue, "Kaleidoscope," which Richard D. Stainbrook and Jeanellen McKee plan for a June 11 opening at the Provincetown Playhouse. N. Y. Ed¬ mund Balln will stage the musical numbers and also do the choreog¬ raphy, /while Paul Mazursky will direct the sketches and mono¬ logues. Sets will be by Xin Emery and costumes by Mariana Elliott. Cast for the revue, formerly tagged "Fourth Dimension," includes Bobo Lewis, Penny Malone, Jenny Lou Law, Erwin Martin, Wisa D’Orso, Mickey Deems, Leonard Drum, Kenneth Nelson, John Smolko and Tom Nixon. Barry Schear, formerly with the William Morris office legit depart¬ ment, has joined Yvette Schumer as production assistant .on "Sal- tair," British actress Ann Todd is scheduled to appear on Broadway next season in Thomas W. Phipps’ "Four Winds," which Worthington Miner and Kenneth Wagg plan opening in mid-October.