The Omaha guide., 1946-09-21
SHOW FRONTS
ABOUT CARMEN JONES, ANNA
LUCUSTA, CAROL BRIcE
BY JOHN NJ. LEE


LUcUsTA, CAROL BRIcE
NEW YORK-The coming sea-
son on Roadway is going to be a
difficult M for most of the shows
in preparation. The customers have
been alerted by the consistent rise
In prices, and they will be shop
ping for amusement with a most
discerning eye. What will be the
fate OF the shows that are schedu-
led to take to the road in the next
few weeks is hard to determine.
Some of them have been out be-
fore with great success. but thie
season may show less generosity.
Top among the shows taking to
the highways and by-ways, is Bill
ly Roses Carmen Jones', a mas
terpiece of adaptation, based on
Bizet's popular opera, Carmen.
A thirty-six state tour. with con-
~centration on the south is planned
and this will put the opera in a
class by itself, since it will have
been seen by more persons over a
wide area than any recent Broad
way production.
Despite Roses claims that this
company will be greater than ever
there is every reason to believe it
will be travelling on the reputation
built ! nthe past by stars of the
excellence of Inez Matthews. Miss
Matthews is no longer singing the
role of Carmen, and it is not so
likely that she will succumb to the
tempting offers being made to her
by emissaries from the Rose off
ice. Having been over worked and
under publicized, Miss Matthews is
not willing to sacrifice another
year away from the concert stage
even to sing the role she loves so
well, and which she gave SO much
of her talent.
Unless some casting miracle oc-
ours, Carmen Jones" will struggle
through this season with an album
dance Of new talent that cannot do
justice to the standard set for the
past two The music will
be the same, and the scenery will
be bigger and newer, but for all
that, it will be a second rate pro-
duction.
Hardy perennial on the Broadway
scene is anna Lucusta" which is
the American Negro Theatres big
claim to fame. Having been pre-
scented uptown by the Negro
group, Anna" caught on and made
quick tracks to Broadway where
she is really knocking herself out.
Unlike most of the original pro-
auctions of the American Negro
Theatre. anna Lucasta' has
brought out some real talent. The
ANT has struggled hard for about
nine years and it will probably
make is goal, but at the moment
it doesn't have an impressive bat
ting average.
Currently plyaing the role f
Anna" is Yvonne Dolores Mach
en-, who at IL comes out of obscu-
rity to. flirt with the Broadway
fates that r sometimes very kind
to pretty little ladies of IS. Accord
ing to a profile in a recent issue
Of PM Miss Machen is really Mrs
Howard Channon Machen, recent
ly OF Chicago, and Loyola Univer-
slty where she was a journalism
student. She is the mother of a 81
month old boy, and the happy wife
OF an ex-sergeant who is studying
engineering.
From a background of singing
(for her WI amusement) piano
lessons and dance training, WON
ne has been projected into a lead
ing role that puts her at the TOP Of
the acting profession. What hap
pens from here on depends upon
her native ability and determine
ton.
C~ontralto Carol Brice was the
distinguished guest soloist at the
Berkshire Music Center at Tangle
wood on a recent Saturday pro-
gram and lucky radio listeners
heard her as the feature Of an all
Brahms evening. Serge Koussevit-
sky, director of the Center. direc-
ted the Boston symphony, and it
was a most pleasing program.
Miss Brice sang the Brahms AL
70 Rhapsody, made familiar thru
the years by Marion Anderson n
rs a work that take its place bv
the side of Schubert's ave Maria
as being the distinct property Of
Miss Anderson's, at least. for an
other generatio nor two. Miss An
derson needn't worry either, since
she is the p~ossessor of an unusual
c~ontralto voice that 1 am certain,
will lose the suggestion Of harsh
ness that occasionally mars its
otherwise beautiful qualities in the
competition offered her by Miss
Rrice