HOW WOULD YOU LIKE OPERA LIKE THIS?

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE OPERA LIKE THIS?

A PERFORMANCE of Gounod's "Faust" in street clothes, without scenery, properties or orchestral accompaniment, has added another remarkable chapter to the history of the opera. The performance was by Opera on Tour, Inc., of Xew York, and the trouble was caused by a- stage-hands' strike, called at the request of musicians who protested against the company's use of "canned music." The company has been using records made by the London Philharmonic Symphony, instead of having an orchestra in the pit, and the singers have synchronised their voices to the "canned music." Performances had been given at Richmond, Virginia, and Xashville, Tenessee, but when the company arrived at Birmingham, Alabama, the secretary of the Musicians' Association complained and the International Stage Employees' Association instructed its members* not

to unload or set up the scenery, handle the costumes or the sound equipment, or run up the curtain. Despite their predicament, the management and the singers agreed that the'show must go on. The only "prop" was a grand piano, which the performers rolled on to the stage of the Municipal Auditorium whilst the audience of 1000 watched. The pjjino provided all accompaniment. Faust was Franco Perulli, who had been 10 years at La Scala, Milan. He wore a business suit. Marguerite was seen in a dinner dress. The role was sung by Josepha Chekova, formerly with the Prague State Opera. Mephistopheles gave his performance in a street suit. He was Deszo Ernster, who had sung Wagnerian roles at Bayreuth under Toscanini. It was feared that the illusion would be lost completely when the curtain could not be lowered at the end of the first act and the audience would be left facing a deserted stage. That crisis was safely met, however. The audience cheered for more, so the performance continued to the end.