Evening star., 1953-06-23

than one remembers.
Sounds better, too. The dra-
matte fact is that for all the
thousand times one may have
heard Villa" Carter Barron
ampitheater is the setting for it.
Lehar's witch of the wood" in
the city's loveliest slice of real
estate and the voice of IRA Pet
tina is by no means the crone
she has seemed to be in an end
less series of rooted productions.
There's authentic witchery
about her and If the operetta
has no other surprises. which it
does not, this is one for the
memory book.
It is a good singing company
Miss Constance Bennett has as
sembled to go with Miss Pettina
and they give Lehar's album Of
familiar music the works. More
over, unlike "Showboat. the
second production in the series
provides Choreographer Fred
Kelly occasion to enliven the
show with dancing.
Kelly is one of the enterprises
assets that was largely hidden in
the opening production. This
should not be allowed to happen
again for it is his inspiration
that puts considerable of the
merriment and grace into the
widows latest appearance.
Nothing. of course, can ever
eliminate the impression that
"The Merry Widow" is the
mother of all the mongoloid
idiot musical comedy plots that
persisted through the first four
decades of this century.
It is a tissue of spectacular
inanities which not even the
dullest and most conscientious
performers really follow. They
have rightly assumed that it is
the Lehar score that explains
the longevity of THE Merry
Widow" plus. of course the SEN
timentality of the human species.
So, they sing the songs and
ad lib an approximation of the
book and the operetta lives
happily ever afterward.
AS a matter of fact, Choreog-
rapher Kelly takes inspired ad-
vantage of this practice in the
current production. He interpo-
lateS a dream waltz into the
opening act that provides the
latest Merry Widow" with one
of its more lively interludes.
Plastic surgery could do no
more, If as much.
+ + y \
Miss Pettina, Robert Shaefer.
Gabrielle, Robert Watts and the |
others of Miss Benefits second
production are polished per-
formers in summer operetta, OF
which THE Merry Widow" is
no worse than Exhibit B. They |
are singers who have worked
in the wide open spaces instead
of wasting their lives smuggling
up TO microphones.
To them. a song is song,
and the next one in the score
is a lot more important than
the trivial, time -shriveled dia-
logue and action that separates
one vocal number from the next.
Sure, they will say the silly lines
that carry the silly plot from one
minute to another, and they will
mince through the movements
the director has laid out for
them, but it is the music that
counts.
That every other bathroom in
America may have echoed I'm
Marsovia," "Maxim's," "A Duti-
full Wife" etc. does not discoour-
age them. In fact, it has the
reverse effect, as if in a nice
way they would like to show
how the number should be done.
The Villa" of the current
production is typical of this
spirit. Once the second act is
launched with a spirited Mar
sovian folk dance, Miss Pettina
embarks on Villa" with an en-
thuSiaSm that hardly can be in
ferior to that of the star who
sang it first back in 1900 1907
in this country.
Then, as a singing company
should, the males get their
chance with Women" a chance
of which they make the most
not only vocally but with the
productions funniest spot of low
comedy dancing. The second act
of "The Merry Widow" is as
banal as second acts ever have
been, but it is given a couple Of
high points in this fashion that |
help 1t lot.
y u \ \
"The Merry Widow" is a more |
modest operetta than Show
boat" for all it's heroine's 20 mil
lion dollars and Slews of suitors. |
It calls for but three sets as
against the others 13. Miss
Bennett has been careful, how
ever, to see that these are ap-
propriate to the widows station |
In Marsovia and that the cos
tunes are attractive enough to |
Tn.L A CT