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Show 31, 1979 By DEAN STAHLE ; : I ; love opera. I HAVE for some three decades. : That doesnt give me the feeling that I should consider myself an opera critic. (There are some who are who shouldnt be). So Ill just give some feelings about the opera Otello that will begin this week at the Capitol Theatre. ' OTELLO (for the opera, Othello for Shakespeare) has never really entered into my repertory. Oh, we listen often to excerpts from Otello, along with other operas. But never to the complete production. Some of the music is so powerful, it seemed too much for a beginning opera company. . SO MONDAY evening as I went to take pictures during the dress rehearsal I really didnt know what to expect. didnt take long to find out. The music is moving. Costumes very colorful and rich. Singers were well prepared. NOW, TRYING to listen to an opera while carrying a heavy camera and lyng lenses is not the best way by any means. You are concentrating on lighting, facial expres- sions, . anticipating movement. Even with all this (and trying to hold a 250 mm lens still while shooting at 5.6 and 130 or, 115 of a second) the performance was very moving. Iago weaves his magic spell over Otello, so that Otello goes crazy with jealousy. The beautiful Desdemona tries to stop it without success, finally resigning herself to death. THE TERRIBLE waste of life of Desdemona and then Otello by his own hands reminds us of so many futile and wasteful acts of our own in life. But when combined with Verdis music we are touched even more than in our day to day activities. You dont understand Italian, you say. Then youre in luck. For Otello will be presented both in Italian and English. You have your choice. The English version will be presented Feb. 1 and 5, with Italian on Feb. 3 and 8. Starting time is 8 p.m. GLADE PETERSON will sing the title role in both productions. The casts, with those per forming in the English version listed first, include Kathleen Thompson and Donna Dalton as Desdemona, Winthrop Buswell and Gene Larsson as lago, Alan Edwards and David Arnold as Cassio, David Arnold and Alan Edwards as Rodrigo. ALSO, DARLENE Merri-he- w and Laura Garff as Emilia, Terry Summerhays and William Goeglein as Montano, Warren Wood as Lodovico and Guye Memmott as a herald. The chorus comprises 50 voices. MR. MATTEUCCI will conduct the Utah Symphony. The $100,000 production is staged by Fred Adams, producing director of the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Philip A. Day Jr. is chorus-maste- r. SETS WERE designed by Fred Teichert and Leon Hale and built by Oasis Productions. M. Kay Barren is lighting designer, Susan Memmott designed the costumes and Gary Justesen is stage manager. Tickets are available at the Capitol Theatre box office. v.s ''V' ; - ' , , - ' ' , tt ' , '4'' 'Vo; '' "f.'''- I' . - : - ' - ' , .. - , v c )' |