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Show Capacity Crowd Hails "The Great Waltz" At U Festival "The Great Waltz" initial event on the gala University of Utah Summer Festival schedule, opened complete with fireworks, in Stadium Stad-ium Bowl Monday night before 9000 enthusiastic patrons. Almost immediately after the footlights went up, familiar three-quarter-time rhythms of Strauss music filled the air, and the stage became alive with graceful ballet dancers. Adding to the spectacle of the music and dance were more than $50,000 worth of multi-colored costumes, in .addition to many more designed and created by Ser-eta Ser-eta Jones, University Theatre cos-turner. cos-turner. "The Great Waltz" tells of the difficulties encountered by a son i who attempts to succeed in the music world of romantic Old Vienna Vien-na without trading on the name of his renowned father. Woven into in-to the story is the music of both Johann Strauss Sr. and his son, Director C. Lowell Lees has integrated in-tegrated the show with his usual brilliance, giving him his third straight Summer Festival success, Heading the cast were Robert Rounseville, whose rich tenor voice and engaging personality gave reality to the role of Johan Strauss Jr., and G'.venn Hawthorne, come-iy come-iy blond soprano who portrayed his sweetheart, Resi. Both stars were impressive in their interpretations which evidenced their thorough training in leading circles of showmanship show-manship and vocal development. I Chester (Chet) Dowse, playing his first straight role in many seasons, demonstrated that he is as much at home in a serious part as in his famous comedy delineations. delineat-ions. Comedy is not neglected in "The Great Waltz", with standout performances being turned in by John Nicolaysen, Stan Russon. David Da-vid N. Morgan and Stan Hamilton. Humor highlights were Mr. Rus-son's Rus-son's descrpition of his fireworks and the comic sequence in which he, Mr. Nicolaysen and Mr. Morgan mixed slapstick and ballet to bring down the house. All in all, this latest and greatest of the Summer Festivals is a must for summertime entertainment. "The Great Waltz" concludes its nightly runs next Monday and will be followed by an English version of "Carmen", starring Mr. Rounseville Rounse-ville and Kitty Carlisle, on July 15, 16, 18 and 19. |