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Show GRAND SUCCESS OF "IOLANTHE." Delightful Presentation of .the Opera hy Salt Lake Amateurs . Last Evening. The topie overshadowing all others in Salt Lake musical circles during the past week has been the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's charming work of "Iolanthe" by the Salt Lake Opera Company, Com-pany, under the direction of Prof. II. S." Krouse ; and, naturally, the interest which our amateurs create among their friends, combined with the assurance that a really creditable performance of the piece would be given, was sufficient to crowd the Theatre to its fullest seating capacity with a . fashionable and enthusiastic en-thusiastic audience. "Iolanthe" is a neat satirical burlesque upon the English House of Peers, in which "regular peers, you know," and beautiful peris come" in contact and in termingle in charming and delightful confusion. It is a heavy work for amateurs, so that its popularity and success can never be measured with other and lighter operas by the same j composers.. It has been presented here before, by professionals, but in no respect did the amateurs' presentation suffer by comparison; indeed the stage setting, costuming, and orchestra, outrivaled anything any-thing in the line of light opera yet given in Salt Lake. The title role was assumed by Miss Jennie Hawley and was carried through in such a spirit and style as to win the admiration and plaudits of all. Iolanthe's ballad, "He Loves !" excited the audience to intense enthusiasm.' Numerous recalls re-calls were answered by the fau young singer, and a profusion of beautiful bouquets bou-quets testified the appreciation of her admirers. ad-mirers. The solo was an exquisite gem, showing Miss Hawley's rich voice to the best possible advantage and placing her in an enviable position among our amateur ama-teur singers. Much , was expected of Mrs. J. Leviberg from what had been seen in "Patience," and her rendering of the Queen certainly fulfilled expectation. "Oh, Foolish Fay" : was sung with a delicacy and feeling showing the finish of a true artist, and scored one of the most decided triumphs of the piece. The severe hoarseness of Strephon (Mr. J. T. Dunbar) marred much of the best work of Mrs. Jos. Siegel, which, although regretted, was entirely unavoidable. In many of the florid passages her light soprano did beautiful execution, and her acting was decidedly clever. . It was a graceful tribute, and an act entirely apropos, when, from a bouquet presented her, Mrs. f leg 4 handed to Prof. Krouse abeautif-,1 callalily. ; Miss Fannie Savage. Miss Edna Rus sell and Miss Katie Young acted and sang their parts with vim and style, and in appearance ap-pearance might have passed for the beautiful beau-tiful fairies they impersonated. The choruses were generally strong and effective, effec-tive, "Into Parliament He Shall Go" and the finale of the first act being especially noticeable. Mr. James McCurdy.'s Lord Chancellor met with general admiration, his singing, acting and dancing being far above ordinary ordi-nary amateur excellence. "Says I' to Myself Says I" won the first encore of the evening, and was sung in true comedy style. Lord Tolloller gave Mr. Jennings' tenor voice admirable scope, and while it is a little from the head, it left a most pleasant impression. In his passages with L.ora mount Ararat (Mr. T. Crawford), the dialogue and action of both gentlemen gentle-men should be accelerated. - Mr. Crawford's Craw-ford's bass voice was in good form and delighted the audience, while a little more action in t he gentleman would place him v.i still higher favor and interpret the author in . a stronger light. Willard Squires sang the sentry's song in good taste. His make-up, however, is not sufficiently suf-ficiently in contradistinction to that of the Queen, who falls in love with him. The Queen is lovely, but the sentry well, he shouldn't be half as handsome as Squires was last night. The orchestra was under the baton of Leader Krause, and there was a color and an effect to it truly appreciable, accompaniments accom-paniments to some of the numbers being distinctive and charming features. The brass band introduced tripped the singers in good shape in their introductory engagement, en-gagement, but did much better the second time, for Krause had his eye on them. . The transformation scene which con-1 eludes the opera is a view of Fairyland, gorgeous in the extreme, and on a" scale of magnificence seldom attempted in provincial cities the size of Salt Lake. It brought the curtain down upon the delightful performance of an opera that few amateur companies could compete with, still fewer equal, and that none could excel and this is saying nothing but what is due to the credit of the Salt Lake Opera Company. ' |