Singing Likeness
HE NZBS made a brave attempt to give a musical portrait of the life of Dame Clara Butt, which was also a portrait of the times, Clara’s great, imperial diapason was a wonderfully ap-
propriate symbol for Empire at its zenith, along with jubilees, Henry Irving, Ellen Terry, and the old, indomitable Queen. Roy Leywood, donning waxed moustaches, was a fruity, roguey-poguey compére to Clara, and to history; all twinkles and "the ladies, God Bless ’Em!" and Beatrice Jones sang many of Clara’s most famous songs. I am hesitant to point out the disadvantage of this, since Beatrice Jones sings very well, but it is no organ voice, and could not help letting the imperial side of the programme down a little. One bad error of taste was having Davina Whitehouse clucking one moment as a society ninny making little woolly toys, and the next, asking us to hear her reading seriously, Wilfred Owen’s great poem, Anthem for Doomed Youth. She read it well, but the juxtaposition was unfortunate. The programme declined towards the.end by an extremely self-conscious account of what Clara meant to them by some Australian admirers. The accent was _ inaccurate, and artificial roughness laid on with a trowel. Yet the programme was excellent in intention, and I hope there
will be more like it.
B.E.G.
M.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 918, 15 March 1957, Page 20
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221Singing Likeness New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 918, 15 March 1957, Page 20
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