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Show ‘ Tae | sang: ‘Witch’ Coven Discovered in Utah’s Historic Capitol Theatre! WAR ion ees. ee “ADVERTISEMENT | Experts give their opinion on bizarre findings PAU Cia eee eee a Ole eed “They say that lovers and drunkards go to ee least two and a half thousand years old, hell, A controversial dictum not easy to and that I’d heard that: 007 Arabian had been written there. | said we may genies and magic carpets in Merv. | told her it was also rumored that fifth century Alexander the Great had accept: If the lover and the drunkard are for hell, Tomorrow Paradise will be empty.” _ It that has Salt has recently been discovered an active coven of witches been practicing its craft in Lake City’s Capitol Theatre. The 86 year old theatre, with a history of purported ghost experiences and home base of Ballet West, has apparently attracted the Nights find in the mar- ried the Queen of the Amazons in Merv, and | was quite pleased with myself so | sat down. The dinner conversation soon turned from the ruins at Merv to caviar. Turkmenistan borders the Caspian Sea on that it had been a major stop on the Silk Road that connected ancient China to the Mediterranean, every bit as important to the old world as Baghdad. | got excited the west, and the Caspian is where the best when I told her how it had been a magnificent city, filled with libraries and artists, caviar in the world originates. Neither Andrea nor | had ever tasted really good clear up until the 11th century when the caviar so we asked the Omar question, then decided to put off Merv and take a detour. The next day Ernest took us to the airport. He commanded the soldiers there, who's job armies of Gengus Kahn had flattened the place. Every Mongol soldier had been instructed to killed 400 Mervians with a sword, and when the final body count was it is to hassle travelers, to leave us alone. They did. We got on an old Russian cargo in there were 1,300,000 dead. Then | paused for dramatic effect and said, “Now Merv is only mud—mud and broken pottery and bones. | plane headed for Turkmenbashy, a pretty little town on the Caspian Sea. Perhaps the most striking thing about the Caspian is the suspicious lack of seagulls. “That's all very nice,” Andrea said, “But why do you feel so compelled to go there?” | hesitated, then whispered, “It's been my life’s dream. You see, Omar Khayyam is my hero.” She looked puzzled. “You know ... Omar,” Andrea speculated that this may be due to the fact that there weren’t any fish either. In the local market there were plenty of pickles, lots of vodka, and thousands of bundles of scrawny onions ... but no fish. Actually there was one fish. | think it was a fish. Someone said it was a sturgeon. It had a long nose and whiskers. Nobody seemed in a hurry to buy it. Anyway, we ate the best caviar in the worldj until we were sick. Then we caught a bus headed east in the general direction of Merv. | said, “The mad Persian poet? He used to live in Merv.” “| know who Omar Khayyam is,” she said, “and he didn’t live in Merv. He lived in Nishapur, in Iran.” “No, it was Merv,” | said. _ Andrea started to giggle. “Nishapur,” she said. “Everybody knows that.” 7 The fiiagic of Gerv — “Horse s***!” | yelled.“I know all about Omar! We are kindred spirits!” — Andrea erupted in to a full fledged belly It was a long trip so | decided to torment laugh. “You came half way around the world because you thought... ha, ha, ha ... Boy Andrea with stories about my favorite fabled city. | began by stating that Merv was at Continued on page 16 3 Kage: “I’m very concerned...” : attention of a lit- tle known band _ of witches. It is not immediately known what impact, if any, this most recent news will have on attendance at Ballet West's premiere of La Sylphide. “It's true that we are, at least temporarily, stuck with these witches,” says John Roake, director of marketing for Ballet West. “While we will continue to explore all of our options for ridding our- _ selves of the problem, we have to face the fact that we are dealing with an elusive group whose leader is remarkably clever." A mysterious witch, known only as Madge, leads this mischievous coven. Under Madge’s direction the witches have been known to do such things as tell amazingly accurate fortunes, weave magical scarves, and are capable of creating chaos in the lives of their victims. Such was the case with Scotsman James Reuben. More than one-hundred years ago in a small Scottish village, Reuben had the misfortune to run afoul of this coven of witches on the morning of his wedding day. Local lore maintains that Reuben things was capable of flight. Through the years the story has come to be associated with wonderful music, intricate dance, and fairytale-like excitement. ‘While historians discount the reliability of the eyewitnesses of this and many stories involving witchcraft, the story, known to modern day investigators as La Sylphide, has drawn great interest and concern. “I'm very concerned that our Utah audience feel the excite- ment of having a production the stature of La Sylphide make its debut in Salt Lake City,” says Jonas Kage, artistic director of Ballet West, and the man most say is responsible for the witches being in the theatre. “This isa _ terrific ballet full of fine dance, magical sylphes, witches, kilts and tutus. I think people are going to love it.” Wright: Ballet West's, “I’m afraid...” La Sylphide, opens the season on September 10 in the Capitol Theatre. It plays the 10th through the 18th in Salt Lake City and on Sept. 24th in Ogden'’s Browning Center. This marks the American — premiere of Peter Schaufuss’ award-winning production which has played to rave reviews | throughout the world. Tickets may be purchased by calling ArtTix at 355-ARTS. Full season tickets are also still available by calling Ballet West. “I'm afraid people won't be able to get enough of this ballet,” says Maggie Wright, principle dancer with Ballet West who plays the role of the sylph. “It’s an intriguing story full of romance, humor and tragedy. I hope everyone will offended the village sorcerous Madge. (The exact relationship of this Madge to the leader of the come out to join us.” coven currently inhabiting the This sentiment is echoed by Capitol Theatre is unclear.) _ Roake. “We're going to have plenEyewitnesses maintained that ty going on at the Capitol Theatre, the young man was somehow both before and during the ballet. cursed by the witch and was soon We're sure that the enjoyment of proclaiming his love for a sylph— the evening will more than make a dreamlike creature often associup for any mischief Madge and ated with Scottish folk tales. her cronies try to pull!” Others claimed to have seen Reuben in the woods dancing and conversing with an beautiful young woman who, among other Call 355-ARTS - ER a 8 Re RE EEE RE OI ee FT TR TE TS SE aE Eee” RP ae ee : Bi | SEPTEMBER 2, 1999|15 Gurn Stahi BW Science Editor |