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Show â- HHHi iffPlHg|R^:,- • •• r â- â- â- â- i>*»- *- "â- '".-'â- i §8 - iimnn t?l| •d'Jiyn!:-: 1111 Hi 1 <i£#5$i £ JH heeOpera "petite"T/ie "Medium" presented a sharp contrast to the lavish production of "Barber of Seville" last spring.The Kingsbury Hall stage was empty. Dust filtered down upon the seats for which no tickets had been sold. The spring opera, usually a major production, had been moved to the Playbox.This year, "The Medium," a melodrama set to Menotti's own brand of music, was produced as the spring opera. Against the background of unimaginative sets and the music of two pianos was performed the story of Madame Flora, the Medium, who is driven to murder and madness by the trickery she creates for others.Perhaps the production would not have been as disappointing as it was if Paul Hindemith's "Hin Und Zuruck," a satire on the coloratura aria and lean plot of opera, had not been performed before "The Medium." This amusing and witty burlesque only served to emphasize the weak production of Menotti's Macabre melodrama.The Playbox's best seller comedy,"No Time For Sergeants," starredamong others, Michael Ivie,Jon Jory, and Jack Swanson in thepopular Broadway play.A fifteen minute bit of operatic satire, "Hin Und Zuruck," was performed with the Playbox presentation of the "Medium"260 |