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Show B SUMMER SHOWS H G&4 r S7V12?S COMING WITH BEVANI j When the Bovanl Opera company is heard H here at Wandamere, Salt Lakers will have an op- H: portunity of hearing some of the most famous B' singers now in this country including, among Hj others, Constantino, the world renowned tenor H and Alice Gentle who has been a sensation where Hj ever she has appeared. A critic in Seattle, writ- H' ing of her recently said: H It is like listening to a fairy story to hear H Alice Gentlo tell about her preparation for grand H opera, only the fairy god-mother is kept decently H in the background as her name is tho unpootical H one of Work, and her garb is never beautiful B however useful it may be. In art one may see fl only the result never the method of attaining it. H Alice Gentle will be remembered by Seattle 1 people as Alice True her home having been here B formerly. Then her place knew her no more H she had been drawn to New York and went to H swell the numbers that look to that city as tno H Mecca for training. H It was to Karl B u that she went for H instruction in voice o' Zuro, a Russian who H was one of Hammerstelu's finds, for operatic H coaching. Mrs. Gentle considers herself most H fortunate in both instances. That, incidentally, B is one of the characteristics of Mrs. Gentle her H keen appreciation of her teachers and of her fel- 9 low-workers. It is a delight to hear her speak of H the kindness she has met from artists like Mary H Garden, Teterazinni and others, fl For two years she sang in the chorus at the M Manhattan opera house when Hammerstein was H in his zenith; but she was not only singing in the m chorus but on all occasions possible she was in M the wings watching the great soloists as they B played their parts. She was not overlooking any 1 chances nor does she yet, for she is a constant M attendant at recitals of both known and unknown H singers. "Everyone has something for you if H you can find it," seems to be her policy. It is a H good one and worth cultivating, as results in her H case show. H It was during a post-season of grand opera in H Boston that Mrs. Gentle moved up front unex- H pectedly but not unprepared. At that time among H the Manhattan singers were artists like Dalmores, H Renaud, Mme. Doria, Lina Cavalieri, Trentini and H Charles Gilibert "Tales of Hoffman" was the bill H and Mme. Doria was singing the part of "Nichal- H auso" and fainted. Everything was confusion. Hf Italian and French execrations filled the air and Hji the performance was at a standstill. Zuro, who H; was tho chorus conductor at that time was ap- B pealed to and he said, "There is a girl in the ! chorus who knows that part." "Bring her down" H was the demand; but he said, "No, that would i frighten her. I'll go up and tell her." He did and H in a few minutes she was running hastily through H the score. And it was in Boston and she made " good. The audience received her most kindly, j the principals in the cast carried her off the stage H in triumph after the last curtain and the critics H; next morning warmed up beautifully. So did Mrs. H Gentle when she received, a wire froin 'Hamraer- B stein in New York to consider herself engaged as 1 a soloist for the next season. But the jade of M fortuno played her a shabby trick. That was the H season that Hammerstein sold out to the Merto- H politan opera house. H For the following two years Mrs. Gentle sang Wjj In rr sical comedy and later was with the Bevani Hj Opera company that scored an artistic success in Hjl San Francisco. During the season there, how- H j ever, Mrs. Gentle made a tremendous hit and Hi Walter Anthony's comments on her work as Car- H men are extremely interesting. He wrote, "Last Hi night Carmen lived and sang. She was a visual m mEBl fact and a vocal achievement sung by an American Am-erican girl, Alice Gentlo by name but not by nature. na-ture. The singer's voice was almost as baffling as her role, there was archness in her acting and art in her Blnging; a Carmen, in short, that was superbly sung and enthusiastically acted. The audience would have demanded a speech of Carmen Car-men if they had been certain uiie could speak English." In commenting on her Santuzza another critic said that whether Alice Gentle has "felt tno emotions em-otions of the world" or is merely sensible o them, she certainly sings with profound feeling as well as great artistry and she is also supplied with that three-fold essential a voice. She was in a region where imagination conceives and creates. cre-ates. With her great Duse-like eyes, her midnight mid-night hair, her Latin cast of countenance and her temperament, she is the ideal Santuzza. At another time when she was taking the part of "Azucena" (Trovatore) she had only sung tho opening phrase of "Strida la Vampa" when the audience broke in upon the aria with delighteu applause. One of the best known critics on the coast, Redfern Mason, has said she has the insolent inso-lent beauty which is inseparable from any adequate ade-quate representation of Merimee's heroine. But she has more than that; she has that subtlety, abandon and insiduous sensuousness which have made Carmen one of the best beloved parts in opera. She knows how to put a purple strain into a dramatic passage as well as how to allure and captivate with her "beaute du diable." From passive pas-sive Boston she received enconiums that any artist art-ist would be proud of. Her Carmen they pronounced pro-nounced superb. As a personality she was beautiful beau-tiful and spirited and with Castillo, the conductor, she stood out brilliantly against an artistic background back-ground of chorus and orchestra. |