COMIC OPERA SEASON

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22513, 22 September 1938, Page 8

COMIC OPERA SEASON

“BALALAIKA” TO BEGIN ON SATURDAY

Saturday afternoon’s and Saturday night’s gala opening performances of J. C. Williamson’s great musical play “Balalaika” promise to attract large audiences to the Theatre Royal. The heavy booking at the D.I.C. indicatesthat the season of the Royal Comic Opera Company, which is limited to eight nights, during which “The Desert .Song” will also be staged, will prove highly successful. “Balalaika” is undoubtedly one ol the best of the spectacular musical shows the stage has created during the last 10 years, and it has proved even more popular than "The White .Horse Inn,” “Rose Marie,” and oftier operas of that type. Its popularity is mainly the result of the beauty of its music, its intensely interesting love romance, its refreshing and original comedy, its magnificent setting and lighting effects, and its gorgeous dresses and picturesque Russian uniforms. The Russian ballets are another • feature of “Balalaika,” the dances having been arranged by Thaddee Slavinsky, who was a prominent member of Colonel de Basil’s famous Monte Carlo Russian ballet. There are more people concerned in the production of “Balalaika” than have been employed in any other spectacular ■ play ever staged in New Zealand.

There is an exceptionally large cast of principals in the production, and they capably interpret the roles in which they appear. Miss Violet Carlson, Mr George Hancock, Miss Diana Ducane, and Mr Don Nicol are chief among the talented artists. The ballet soloists are Miss Gwen Brown and Mr H. Taylor. .Only six evening performances of “Balalaika” can be staged, and a final matinee will’be presented on Wednesday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon and evening, October 1, and the three following nights, the company will appear in ah elaborate revival of the exquisite comic opera, "The Desert Song,” in which it scored a great success in Wellington.