Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-06-09
THE PASSING SHOW
That Dollars
Lure Is Great

ton is concerned, they have
fairly well achieved 1t with
their programs for the sum-
mer season.
Generically. they deal in
music but with a shade Of
difference.
National in Race
The National, one Of the
first major legitimate thea
tiers to be air conditioned,
win be in the act of reaching
for the entertainment dollar
with q current Broadway
musical. This will be the last
joint effort Of Richard Rodg-
ers and the late Oscar Ham
merstein II, THE Sound of
Music 1t arrives with an
open-end booking. which Is
to say for an interval to be
fixed by the audience. II pa
tronage justifies, 1t could run
as long as 10 weeks.
The National will be the
last Of the big four to get
into the act, so to speak, its
opening set for June II.
Carter Barron Amphithea-
ter, presenting by far the
most varied musical program,
opens tomorrow night with
Roger Williams, Mr.. Piano"
and his variety performer
company. From this 1t ranges
upward in size of production
to q week of New York grand
opera and the blue-ribbon =
booking Of the Field brothers
10 years In the Rock Greek
Park bowl-this one the New =.
York City Ballet.
IL Shows, IL Weeks
Come rain or starshine. the. !
amphitheater will present IL .
shows in as many weeks. two .
Of them quality revivals Of /.
Broadway musical hits, this .
years pair "Brigadoon" and
Flower Drum Song" Testi- =
flying to the FIELDS faith in
the musical as q business !,
stimulator, these will not be :
deferred this season until :
the last weeks.
Shady Grove which opened
Friday night with Kelly
Smith and Andy Devine in {
"Show Boat" justifies its
Music Fair label by sticking
almost exclusively to musi-
Gals. The distinguishing mark -.
of these is that they are pre-
sented in-the-round, or arena
style. and built around a star
name, not unlike the prac-
tice back in the days of
"stunt-casting' in summer
theater..
They are not, however, pro-
auctions merely flung togeth-
er. Shady Grove Is one tent
in a chain Of eight, a circuit
Travelled by each Of the pro-
auctions for a long enough
period to justify careful prep
aration, and sufficient sub
Sequent performance time to
assure polishing.
1t is the dream form Of
usical tent operation
brought to actually with the
steady extension of the COR
poration's circuit of which,
incidentally. Shady Grove in
its second season is the lat
est addition.
But No Musical
Not entirely voluntarily,
Olney. one Of the Nations
first aforementioned country
theaters. is competing for the
entertainment dollar this
year with a program of quail
ity plays. In musicals, 1t goes
for the hit miniature. q Lit
tie Mary Sunshine" or THE
Fantasticks." two of its great
all-time hits. ;
This year. quite expectedly
to Olney's tasteful manage
ment. it turned out that the
number of these Is painfully
limited.
Accordingly, Olney has re-
verted to the staple Of its
steady success as one Of the
country's best summer drama
houses, the straight play by
only the most major Of con-
temporary playwrights. It's :
current offering, Thornton
Wilder's plays from Blocker
Street." win be followed by
Gore Vidal's adaptation Of
Friedrich Durren m a It's
"Romulus" on June Is.
Others in the five-produc-
ton series include Durren-
mats THE visit" Jean
Anouilh's Time Remem-
bered." and Harold Pinter's
THE Caretaker."
Between the lot Of them,
the owner Of that entertain
ment dollar may find the
choice Of how and where TO
spend 1t a vexing one.
But rewarding.