'Can Can' On Stage This Week

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31672, 7 May 1968, Page 21

'Can Can ' On Stage This Week

Cole Porter’s “Can Can,” the Christchurch Operatic Society’s first 1968 production, will open on F r i d a y in the Theatre Royal. Members of the Christchurch Civic Orchestra will be associated with the society in the production, which will be conducted by Dobbs Franks. Mr Franks,- who came to New Zealand from the United States in 1965 as musical director and conductor for the New Zealand Opera Company’s production of “Porgy and Bess" in New Zealand

and Australia, conducted an American production of “Can Can” in 1959. Among other musicals he has conducted are “Camelot”, “West Side Story," and “South Pacific.” “Can Can” was first presented in Hastings In September and the Christchurch production is the result of a successful association between the operatic society and the Hastings Musical Comedy Company. The unusually elaborate wardrobe of almost 250 costumes for principals, chorus, and ballet was designed and made in Christchurch by the society’s Wardrobe mistress, Mrs Ethel Smith, and assistants; and the complek set construction and scene painting were done in Hastings. The Christchurch production is under the direction of Laurie Swindell, of Napier, who staged “Can Can” in Hastings. The musical director is Jim Cunningham, and the ballets, which are a notable feature of the show, are arranged by Joy Wild. The carefully-chosen cast of principals is headed by two well-known performers, Shirlye Rushton. as Pistache, the vivaeious Montmartre nightclub owner, and Bevan Holdgate, who was the male lead in “Carousel” and “South Pacific” as Judge Aristide Forestier.

The role of Claudine and | principal dancer will be played by Judy Cater, of Hastings, who scored a success in this role in the Hastings production.

Subsidiary comedy and singing leads will be played by Robert Naysmith, as Hilaire Jussac, the sophisticated art critic and “wolf," and by Gilbert Wiberg, as Boris, a down-and-out Hungarian sculptor. The story is set in Paris in the 1890 s when the notorious new dance, the Can Can, swept the Latin Quarter and

created such a sensation that it was banned. The show abounds with memorable Cole Porter numbers, including ”1 Love Paris," “C* Est Magnifique,” “It’s All Right With Me,” “Live and Let Live." "Come Along With Me,” and a host of others.