Evening star., 1961-04-14

: 1hs opera society orchestra and
Chorus.
The Opera Society Of WASH
ineton brought its season to a
brilliant conclusion last night
with q first-rate mounting of
Carmen"
The production was as re-
splendent as the audience,
surely one Of the most dis
tinguished ever to attend a
musical event in the Nations
Capital.
Things were a bit late getting
under way. MIR. Galloway began
the overture some IS minutes
after curtain time without wait
ing for the arrival of the First
Lady. Mrs. Kennedy and her
party got to Lisner only after
the first act was well launched.
The production served as
vehicle for the American oper-
attic debut of the German
lnezzo- soprano Hanna Ludwig,
who had scored tremendous
successes in Europe in the title
role.
Miss Ludwig's was primarily
an acting rather than a singing
Carmen, and as such she was
quite convincing.
Her Interpretation of the part
was obviously based on a con-
ception Of the gypsy girl as a
genuine human being, and she
used her voice - which is not
particularly beautiful - to por-
tray character rather than to
sing music. This is q perfectly
respectable way to play Carmen,
but I cannot help feeling that
the really great Carmens are
those who can both sing and
act. Consequently I must con-
fess a mild degree Of disap-
pointment.
Micaela Is Superb
From the vocal standpoint,
Mildred Allen stole the show.
Her Micaela was superbly sung,
and she even managed to make
something of q three dimen-
sional figure out Of what is
usually rather insipid ingenue
part.
Loren Driscoll's Don Jose
was a valiant effort, but he did
not succeed in making a gen.
timely affecting and tragic fig
ure out of the distraught
soldier. Despite the title, the
opera is essentially the tale of
the disintegration Of Don JoSe's
character under the hammer
blows Of the strong, amoral
personality that is Carmen. Un-
fortunately, Mr.. Driscoll re-
mains boyish to the bitter end.
The lesser roles were all
beautifully handled, and as a
consequence the ensembles were
stunning in precision and
grace. Especially noteworthy
were Richard Cross's Escamillo
and Elaine Bonazzi's Mercedes,
although Robert Trehy, Will
liam Murphy, Lee Cass, Nina
Kaleska and Robert Schmorr
contributed heavily to the sue
cess Of the production.
BY and large, the difficult
problems involved in staging
Carmen" on a stage such as
Lisner's were neatly solved.
There were some miscalcula-
tions. I am willing to overlook
purely musical values in favor
Of dramatic ones sometimes,
but it was very difficult to
close ones ears to consistently
flat screaming by the boys in
the opening act.
Mariana Parra's Spanish
dance, rather nicely done, new
ertheless demolished an i'm
portant climactic moment in
the second act because his
deafenii1g shoe-taps drowned
out the orchestra. which was
valiantly attempting to play
softly and build up a big cres-
cendo.
The sudden descent from the
heavens Of something that
looked like a construction
foreman's shack squarely in
front Of the bullfight arena in
Seville-evidently supposed to
represent Escamillo's quarters,
with bed and crucifix-was a
real blunder, which contributed
nightly toward making Car
mems murder somewhat less
tragic than it should have been.
Yet despite the fact that it
was midnight before the final
curtain fell. Bizet's hardy
perennial once again demon
strated its ability to hold peo-
pie, even those somewhat un-
accustomed to the conventions
OF opera, and to stir the imagi-
nation.
The opera will be repeated
tonight at 8 and Sunday after
noon at $3.50. However, unless