Show Devil Popular With Opera Goers By PAUL CRACROFT the University of Utah Summer Festival opera which tell of a philosopher's ultimate condemnation is the best show ever to hit There aren't enough orchids in Zion to pass around to everyone who needs C. Lowell who pulled history-making histrionics from his all-star was never Since an opera is no better than its orchestra and chorus Maestro Maurice Abravanel gets a whole hatful of Third man in the Bill missed his opening night bow only because he walked into a piece of pipe while engaged in some necessary stage Along with our third king-size bouquet to Bill for the finest job of dance direction ever seen in Utah goes our special award of a double-dipped Joan Vickers and the corp of dancers Bill trained are due more than one bow from the waist for their excellent But even the talented trio couldn't pull greatness out of a poor Metropolitan me no Metropolitans when it comes to the top foursome of Gounod's In the title role Jon Crain bounced high C's off the flagpole without even straining his mar celled Some loose talk in the local press indicated that Cain's acting was not Say not on campus we do not believe that pie throwing and gesticulation necessarily mean good for our could stand rooted in one spot for the full three-hour show just as long as he continued to use his fine It'll be a cold day in his kingdom when is done better than he is here by Norman Possessed of a rich basso all set off by his powerful frame made his Satanic majesty more to be envied than Gounod must have been thinking of Scott when he wrote his They say that Dorothy has sung the Marguerite role more than 20 Could because she really knows her way around See 4 Faust from 1 the About her singing all that needs be said is that had not one it would have been impossible to believe that this beautiful singer had missed three nights of final rehearsal because of a serious throat She can come back Of Theodor we'd say unhesitatingly that he's moved up a couple of niches dramatically since last As a his Escamillo in 1949 showed that he was already on top He made a very convincing Valentin and handled both his major roles Ruby did a fine job as the neighborhood while Jewel Johnson and Marvin Soren-sen came from out of nowhere to run in splendid performances as Siebel and Vein Adix's set was so good that it made his many staging problems look too while the lighting and sound seemed better integrated than in any Summer Festival to A few opening night slip-ups were patched up for later If the natives don't think you can put on a good show they should have seen Anybody who didn't like the 1950 opera is welcome to our giveaway program he'll need it to stuff the hole in his |