“CARMEN”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 224, 10 December 1927, Page 16

“CARMEN”

TO BE STAGED SHORTLY Carmen has been called a wanton. It would be better, perhaps, to describe her as a type of cave woman, untamable, and fearless as a tiger cat. A child of Bohemia, who knows no laws of love or life; of conventions Carmen is as careless as Cleopatra or Catherine. In Bizet’s opera, “Carmen,” the title role is one that has been made famous by the world’s leading operatic artists. The story is one of great possibilities, and in selecting the opera for presentation at His Majesty’s Theatre on December 19 and 20, Madame Irene Ainsley has indeed made a very happy choice. Headed by Madame Ainsley herself, an artist who has won considerable renown in this role in the English operatic world, is a strong cast comprised of leading Auckland artists who should do full justice to this very spectacular and exceedingly tuneful work. Assisting the star are Misses Nancye Hanna, Mary Hamilton, Marjorie Fair, Irene Frost and Messrs. Jean Dellore, J. de Montalk and Hugh Woods. The chorus is a particularly strong one, and particular attention is also being paid to stage groupings and the characteristically Spanish ballets in which the opera abounds. The latter department is under the control of Miss D. Knight. Mr. W. E. Webb has been entrusted with the direction of a strong orchestra drawn from the ranks of Auckland’s leading instrumentalists. Preferential booking is now obtainable at Messrs. Lewis K. Eady and Son, Ltd.