OCR Text |
Show I "-;; - - p ." " v '0 r : Mr v 1 I v L' I ' I J I i - j i v ' ) ii -. , Y"""""- ; r 1 T?T 1 ' A I J j , -A J " inliiiinjMQiwMii ,.f fitiiV'Wffinft'iftatifeaiijl Ballerinas Shirley White, Maralyn "Evans, Kaye Stevenson and Carol Price form semi-circle around Marriane Ilatton as they prepare for the opening of 4Nutcracker Ballet" Dec. 26. 4th Annual "Nutcracker Ballet" Opens December 26 Now a holiday-season tradition tra-dition in Salt Lake City, the 4th annual presentation of the complete "Nutcracker Ballet" by the University of Utah1 Theatre Ballet, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Utah Music Department De-partment will be presented at Kingsbury Hall between Christmas Christ-mas and New Year's, Dec. 26, 27, 29, 30 and 31, it was announced by William F. Christ-ensen, Christ-ensen, director and choreographer choreogra-pher of the University Theatre Ballet. The annuoncement was made at a luncheon for the press held by the University of Utah Theatre Ballet Society with Dr. W. Harold Horton, president of the society pre-siding. pre-siding. Evening performances will be at 8:30 p.m. except for New Year's Eve when, the starting time will be moved up to 8:00 p.m. to allow people desiring to attend New Year's parties will be out of Kingsbury Kings-bury Hall by 9:30. Matinee performances at 2:00 p.m. are slated for Saturday, December 27, and Monday, December 29. The matinee performances will be at reduced prices to accomodate ac-comodate the heavy demand for lower-priced tickets for school children. Stars of the San Francisco Ballet, Sally Bailey and Richard Carter, have signed as the guest artists to perform the solo roles of The Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier to the Sugar Plum Fairy. Miss Bailey and Mr. Carter will arrive in Salt Lake City, Christmas night. Both of them have appeared in these same roles at Kingsbury Kings-bury Hall before and have been great favorites of Utah ballet patrons. In addition to the visiting stars, the "Nutcracker Ballet" will be performed by about 70 members of the University of .Utah Theatre Ballet under the direction of William F. Christensen and with Ron Ross as assistant director. The music, written by Tschaikowsky, will be presentted by the complete Utah Symphony Orchestra of over 70 members under the baton of Maestro Maurice . Abravanel, musical director and conductor. A choral group of 16 feminine voices from " the University of Utah choirs will complete the roster of performers. per-formers. "Sereta Jones, University of Utah Theatre costume designer, and her staff are creating new; (Continued1 on page three) (Continued from page one) "Nutcracker Ballet" and very beautiful costumes for almost the entire second act", Mr. Christensen explained. "Also, Vern Adix, our University Univer-sity of Utah Theatre art director, and his crew are pre-stage pre-stage settings for our 'Nutcracker 'Nut-cracker Ballet' this year". Dr. Horton, Ballet Society President, pointed out that the first American presentation of the complete "Nutcracker Ballet" was directed by Mr. Christensen in San Francisco in 1944. .He further explained that Salt Lake City enjoys the unique position of being the only city in America presenting this festive Christmas ballet with full orchestration and in its complete musical form just as Tschaikowsky first conceived it.- A few' other large U. S. cities and the CBS network present excerpts from the"Nut-. cracker.. Ballet" each Christmas Christ-mas time but none of them present it in its entirety, he explained. Over the years, the "Nutcracker "Nut-cracker Suite", a collection of musical excerpts from the complete 4 Nutcracker Ballet" has become a great favorite of concert-goers. The complete score, which will be presented in the Kingsbury production, is one of Tschaikowsky's most interesting works. It . was his third and last ballet. For many years after its first presentation in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1892, the "Nutcracker Ballet" was presented only occasionally. But in 1943 the Vis-Wells Company in London (forerunner of today's famed "Sadlers-Wells "Sadlers-Wells Royal Ballet") revived the complete ballet. It has been gaining in popularity ever since and . all three of the previous performances at Kingsbury Hall on the University Uni-versity of Utah campus have been almost complete sellouts. "The advance -' demand for 'Nutcracker Ballet' tickets began this year earlier than ever", Mr. Geoffrey Circuit, business director of University of Utah Performing Arts, said. The University of Utah Theatre box office, Room 210, - Kingsbury Kings-bury Hall, is now accepting mail orders and tickets are also available from some mem-bbers mem-bbers of the Ballet Society, he explained. Ticket information can be secured by phoning EM3-2033. |