ANIMATED SCENES DURING “ CARMEN ” REHEARSAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26781, 26 May 1948, Page 6

ANIMATED SCENES DURING “ CARMEN ” REHEARSAL

OPERA TAKES SHAPE

Settings and Costumes Used For First Time “On stage everybody! On stage! On stage everybody, please!” The stage director’s voice echoed down the narrow dressing room corridor at His Majesty’s last night above the hubbub of a hundred voices. The entranceway choked for a few moments and then cleared as the cast of “ Carmen ” hurried into their places in the wings. “ On stage everybody!” and the latecomers scurried out, tugging at shako straps, ruffling out gipsy skirts. The opening bars of the overture muffled by the heavy folds of the front curtain, obliterated the noises of backstage preparation. The rehearsal was on. With only one more rehearsal before opening night, the atmosphere at His Majesty’s was already assuming that tense excitement known to everyone who has taken part in a theatrical performance.

All settings and costumes were used last night for the first time, although make-up was dispensed with, and the two leads, Miss Janet Howe and Mr Arthur Servent, stayed in their street clothes, looking strangely incongruous against the temporary reality of stage make-believe. As the first act got under way the producer, Mr Bernard Beeby, set off on the first of the series of the brisk walks which he takes during a rehearsal. In all, Mr Beeby must cover a fair mileage in the course of the evening, for he shifts from one part of the theatre to another, from the front stalls to the back of the house, watching each fragment of action intently, occasionally gesturing for some change of position, but rarely halting the show. That stage of production is ended. After a day’s bout of sickness, Mr Beeby was not feeling in his best form last evening. “I do not even feel like smoking,” he announced plaintively. Broadcast Plans ; A group of broadcasters brooded in one row of the stalls, taking notes and holding whispered conversations. Their task of planning the broadcasts of the opera is no easy one, for the placing of the five microphones on the stage and the two in front of the orchestra involves considerable technical detail, apart from the purely physical difficulty of keping the microphones unobtrusive as far as possible and out of the way of the scene shifters. The progress of the Daily Times photographer was marked by the brief glare of flashlight bulbs from offstage, while Miss Howe found herself looking directly into the lens of the camera as she made her entrance. The action was stopped for a moment as the orchestra conductor, Mr Andersen Tyrer, queried a line. There was some doubt about where the line was to be picked up again and, after two false starts, Mr Tyrer examined the music closely. “Just here,” he said. “ Da-de-de-DAH-da.” Miss' Howe tried again. "That’s it! That’s it!” said Mr Tyrer happily, and Miss Howe laughed and spun round twice. ; Scene Designer * The man responsible for the scenery Mr Will J. Conroy, thoughtfully surveyed the setting from the back of the house. “ It’s been grand designing the show from the ground up,” he said. “Usually it’s a case of making do with bits and pieces that are available.” Mr Conroy learned theatrical designing at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, under Stafford Hall, who is considered to be one of the world’s foremost scenic artists, and his first professidnal engagement was with the Moody-Manners Opera Company. “I’m back to where I started,” he said. Behind the scenes assistants prepared the setting for the next act. Two carpenters were busily engaged in putting the finishing touches to the legs of a table—“making a modern antique.” In a crowded corner the ballet swirled and dipped in a quick rehearsal for the opening scene of the second act. The curtain was lowered on the final exit of the act, the house lights were snapped on, the orchestra members produced cigarettes and chocolate bars, and the brass plavers “dehydrated” their instruments. It seemed strange to spe the act end without the customary swelling roar of applause. But that will come to-morrow night.