The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1925-02-09
AUDITORIUM IS
FACTOR HERE
ALREADY
Chicago Operas Season"
to. Round Out Varied
Program
BY JEAN ELIOT.


forum, which opened so ai-
sspiciously with our own Wash
ington Opera Company's splendid
production OF Faust, seems al
ready to. be playing an Important
and varied-role in the life OF
the Capital.
There came the missionary con-
ference. bringing together delegates
from all over the world, Immediately
after. the formal opening. Then
last week the nah jong fete for the
Relleau Wood Memorial and the
very successful radio revue, ana
fhiss=week the Chicago Opera Com
pany's brilliant season. the usual
erist of springtime conventions mas
been considerably augmented IN
view of the fact that washington
now boasts a hall big enough TOT
large bodies to meet in with com
fort. And the newest and most
interesting announcement comes
from the Daughters of the Ameri-
can Revolution. who propose 10 nolu
fbei,. annual Continental Congress
a., the auditorium this year instead
~ i'm Memorial Continental Han.
which the organization has already
According to the Information
which Mrs. Anthony Wayne COOK,
president general of the ID. A. H.
is sending out to the state fegeh.s'
ARRANGEMENTS have been mace 70
hold the Continental Congress o,
the Auditorium next year as Ven
80 fhis-if the congress so desires
.rd aa that is election year the
building NAV find itself blazoneo
m the front pages of the papers
ss Memorial Continental Hall has
haen anon occasion-with good
row as the medium Of publicity.
Howeyer. the Daughters donf go
An for rows as numerOusly these
flavs as they used to at one time.
The Auditorium will figure ex-
fensiveIv in the news at inaugural
ton time, moreover. for the WASH
ington Opera Company will put on
there its gala production of Aida,
with q. splendid a1l-American cast.
The date chosen is March 5. The
opera. of course, is a happy selec.
ton. for not only is it an old
familiar frfend-and there's no
doubt about the fact that the Wash
ington public prefers the familiar
operas-but, having been written to
celebrate the coronation OF a
Khediye of Egypt, it is gorgeous
spectacle especially designed for
ceremonial occasions.
Flat Floor Surface Mars y
Productions at Auditorium.
Tt does seem crying shame that
with an auditorium so large, so
handsome and in many ways so
satisfactory, performances partak-
ing of the theater should be so
married by inadequate back stage
arrangements and by the fact that
there is no slope to the floor OF
the auditorium. True, the stage Is
set so high that it isn't quite so
hard to see as it might be. But ts
hard enough in all conscience. Aid
ii seems to me such. an unintelli-
gent arrangement.
The reason given for making the
floor surface flat is that the chairs
can be removed and the hall used
for dancing. But where the Audi
forum is used for one ball 1t will
probably be the scene OF hundred
spectacles of one sort or another.
And why couldn't arrangements
have been made to floor over the
orchestra chairs when this hun
dredth occasion arose, as they do
in New Orleans when the Mardi
Gras balls are held or at the Lyric
in Baltimore, which is always the
scene of the Monday Germans?
Presumably economy was the OBJ
ject, but I venture to prophesy
that it will be expensive economy
in the long run, for If the auditor
Ium is to be made to pay some
thing will have to be done about
the half of the house from which
It is almost impossible to see the
stage.
Auditorium to Be Social
'Center of Population" This Week.
This week. while the Chicago
Civic Opera Company is its tenant,
the Auditorium will certainly be
Washington's social center of popu-
lation. Most of the box holders
have taken season tickets and many
are arranging small and early
dinner parties to precede the per-
formances
Mr.. and Mrs. Harry Norment, who
will give small dinner tonight,
viii have as guests the Minister OF
Panama and Nine. Alfaro and the
Charge d'Affaires of Austria and
Nine. Prochnik. The party will
occupy the Moments box for
Ena0HlduSeF, WHICH lS " Oc Tic
first offering OF the Chicago Opera.
Tomorrow evening when Boris
Godunoff will be given with Chal'
iapin in perhaps his greatest role
Mr.. and Mrs Norment will enter
tain at dinner and the opera for
the Minister of Switzerland and
Nine. Peter and Count and Countess
Sommati di Mombello.
Among the boxholders for the Sc
ries of operas are the Secretary of
Commerce and Mrs. Hoover, Prin-
cess Boncompagni, Mrs. Marshall
Field, Mrs. Charles Boughton Wood.
Mr.. and Mrs. Walter Wilcox, Mr..
and Mrs. Frank Brett Moves, Mr..
and Mrs. Willard Salisbury and
Mrs. Bessie Parker Brueggeman.
who has arranged series of pre-
opera parties.
HOWARD GUESTS or
LADY HENRY TODAY.
The British Ambassador and Lady
Isabella Howard were the guests