___________THE MICHIIG AN D-AILY
'The Barrier'
Hits
'Temprest'
To
Op~rin1) °aa ciso
PrejudiceProblem
Muriel Rahn Will Take Singing Lead
In Opera By Hughes, Meyerowitz
By DAVID WEAVER
Intolerance breeds hate in "The Barrier," a new dramatic opera
which puts the problem of race prejudices before the bright light
of the theatrical stage.
"The Barrier," fourth of the Drama Season Series, will enjoy
siX performances, June 5 through June 10 on the stage of the Lydia
Mendelssohn Theatre.
* * * *
POET LANGSTON HUGHES joins talent with German-born com-
poser Jan Meyerowitz for this two-act version of Hughes "Mulatto"
fashioned after an earlier work-a poem known as the "Cross." Hughes
is the author of ten books, the latest being "Simple Speaks His Mind"
published last March. The author has also written the libretto for
"Troubled Island" and the lyrics for "Street Scene," both Broadway
shows.
Jan Meyerowitz has written chanber music, symphonic
works, songs and a ballet, directed his own opera "Herodiade"
In concert version in Paris, in 1946. His one-act "Simoon" was
first presented last summer at the Berkshire Music Center. Meyero-
witz is now working on a new opera "Eastward in Eden."
Leading role of "The Barrier" will be played by Murial Rahn, the
original Carmen in "Carmen Jones." She appeared with the Lunts
in "The Pirate," sang the lead i'n "Aida" and appeared in "The Martyr"
and 'St. Louis Woman." In this production she plays the dynamic role
of the housekeeper.
THE PLOT revolves around Bert, mulatto son of a plantation owner
and his housekeeper, who returns home after a Northern education and
begins to experience the virulent disease of prejudice. He defies his
fatherby entering the Colonel's big house by the front door. When his
outraged father threatens him with a gun; Bert strangles him.
In another pre-Broadway performance at Columbia ,"The
r Barrier" was hailed by the New York Times as "an evening of raw,
compelling theatre (which) proves that opera is on its way in
America" ,
The production is expected to be on Broadway next fall.
MATRIMONIAL MA YHEM:
Hardwieke Opens In Shavian
Play 'Getting Married' June 6
Two Stars
ToPlay NY
Roles Here
By LEAH MARKS
"Born Yesterday," a hit satire
on Washington politics, will playl
in Ann Arbor May 22 through
May 27 as the second presentation
of the drama season.
Joan Morgan and John Alex-
ander who starred in the Broad-
way production will be seen in
the leading parts.
MISS MORGAN will play Billie
Dawn, a voluptuous blond ex-
chorus girltwho is educated by a
cultured staff member from a lib-
eral magazine. She gets her edu-
cation and the cultured journalist
too.
John Alexander will be seen
as Harry Brock, the uncouth
junk yardtycoon. His lawyer
persuades him that it is not
proper tw have a dumb blond
around who is not Brock's wife.
Brock then decides to have Billie
educated so that she can mingle
with Senators' wives and so be-
come an asset to him.
AS BILLIE becomes educated,
Alexander in the role of Brock gets
a chance to act all the stages be-
tween his original hearty self-
confidence to a hazy, resentful ac-
ceptance of a defeat made pos-
sible by the newly-informed Billie.
Joan Morgan acts everything
from a dumb blond with a
strangely sexy walk to an in-
telligent blond with a strangely
sexy walk.
Garson Kanin, the author of
"Born Yesterday," is a distinguish-
ed director of stage and screen
plays. "Born Yesterday," which
has been one of the most success-
ful and highly acclaimed comedies
of modern times, represents his
first fling at playwriting.
Recently Kanin has written
"The Rat Race," and "Good-bye
My Fancy" co-authored with Fay
Kanin.
"Born Yesterday," which was a
hit inNew York, London and Paris
is now being made into a movie.
Tickets
Mail orders for season tick-
ets are now being accepted.
Checks should be made out
to the Ann Arbor DramaSea-
son and sent to the Lydia Men-
delssohn Theatre, James Mur-
nan, Company manager said.
Box office sale of season tick-
ets begins Friday, May 5.
Ticket sales for individual
plays starts May 11 at the Ly-
dia Mendelssohn Theatre box
office.
Rathb one To
Star In The
English Play Based
On Actual Incident
"The Winslow Boy," Terrence
Rattigan's stage translation of a
true story of an English boy un-
justly accused of stealing money
in a naval academy will be on
stage at Lydia Mendelssohn from
May 30 to June 3.
Basil Rathbone, who was seen
in the Drama Season's production,
of "The Heiress" last year, will
return to star in "The Winslow
Boy."
* *' *
THE PLAY, first presented in
London, was an immediate hit.
When the play opened in New
York, Brooks Atkinson described
it as "the best play that has come
out of England this season."
Terrence Rattigan, who uses
an actual incident from before
the first world war in this play,
is also the author of "0 Mis-
tress Mine," and "French With-
out Tears."
The play deals with the Winslow
family's fight to clear their son
of the unjust stealing accusation.
During the struggle, the family
has to battle against the self-as-
suranice of the British Admiralty,
bureaucratic red tape, and the
slow legislative wheels of the
House of Commons.
The case soon becomes an issue
of individual human rights even
against the state, and after se-
vere drains on the health and
purse of the Winslow's, the boy
is cleared.1
Six Day un Set
To Begin May 15
By ROMA LIPSKYy
Shakespeare's "The Tempest" will be the first of five plays in I
month-long Ann Arbor Drama Season opening May 15.
Scheduled to run for eight performances, through May 20, "'1
Tempest" will star Vera Zorina and Arnold Moss, in the same ro
they created during the Broadway Margret Webster production
1945.
* * * 4'
AT THE TIME of the broadway run, the New York Times call
Miss Zorina's interpretation of Ariel "as graceful a one as could
found." * **
The Times described Moss'
playing of the role of Prospero
as "superb. He has the dignity
of the part, the humor, and for
the role he owns the make-up of
a gentle Mephisto."
Moss will make his second Ann
Arbor appearance in "The Temp-
est," having delighted Drama Sea-
son Audiences last year with his
performance in "Twelfth Night."
He also starred in this season's
Broadway presentation of
"Twelfth Night."
"THE TEMPEST," one of
Shakespeare's last plays, is one,
according to "Time" magazine,.in
which "his poetry blazed like a
burning bush."
The story takes place in a
strange and fanciful land, where
Prospero, the banished Duke of
Milan, magically rules over all
the island and the spirit Ariel.
Included in the staging are
storms at sea, air born spirits
and miscellaneous magic.
Music for the play and Miss
Zorina's dances is by David Dia-
mond, and will be played by the
University's Little Symphony un-I
T.=Career
-Daily-Allen Jackson
Take It Easy Mack, It's Only a Play
DRAMA STAR RETURNS:
Basil Rathbone To Open Inar
Tihe Winslow Boy' May 30
Zorina Stars
i 'Tempes'
Combining three careers mt
one, Vera Zorina has achieve
fame as a ballerina, movie sta
and stage actress.
Both her acting and dancing wil
be on display here when she open
in the Drama Season production
of "The Tempest" on May 15.
MISS ZORINA'S first profes"
sional performance was inrMa:
Reinhardt's production of "A Mid
Summer Night's Dream," in whic]
she played the first fairy.
After this, she turned to ballet
and danced with the famed' bal-
let master, Anton Dollin. She
was 16 years old when she made
her first individual success
dancing with Dollin.
The next year; Miss Zorin,
joined the Russian Ballet, an(
came to the United States wit]
the Ballet as a premiere danseuse
WHILE HERE, she was offerec
a stage role, but rejected it t(
continue dancing. Later, in Lon
don she appeared on the stage it
"On Your Toes," after whici
Samuel Goldwyn signed her fo:
the movies.
Alternating her time between
Hollywood and Broadway, she
has appeared on stage in "I
Maried an Angel," "Louisiana
Purchase," "Dream With Mu-
sic," and "The Tempest."
Among the many films in which
she has apeared are "The Goldwyi
Follies" and the screen version o
"Louisiana -Purchase."
Shaw's witty comedy "Getting
Married," which deals with the
sacred institution in the typical
G.B.S. way, will open a six-night
performance on June 12 in Lydia
Mendelssohn.
Starring in this, the final pro-
duction of the Drama Season, will
be Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who
comes to Ann Arbor directly from
a successful Broadway run in
another Shaw play, "Caesar and
Cleopatra."
Hardwicke has been seen pro-
minently in three-score motion
pictures, among the more recent
"A Connecticut Yankee" and the
unreleased "The Winslow Boy."
"And Now Barrabas" and "The
White Tower."
The plot of "Getting Married"
concerns a flustered bride who has
just been reading a pamphlet en-
titled, "Do you know what you are
going to do, by a woman who has
done it," a spinster lady who want-
ed a child, but not the beast of a
papa she thought would come
with it.
All the characters, as always,
reflect Shaw's views and accord-
ing to many critics "Getting Mar-
ried" is another of the G.B.S. in-
tellectual merry-go-rounds which
leave the audience with a pleasant
tingling.
High on the list of stars who will
appear in this year's Drama Sea-
son is Basil Rathbone, veteran ac-
tor who has played a wide var-
iety of roles ranging from Othello
to Sherlock Holmes.
Starting his career in England
with a small group known as the
Benson Players, he made his first
American debut on Broadway
playing opposite Doris Keane in
"The Czarina."
Between Broadway runs Rath-
bone responded to Hollywood's
call, appearing before the cam-
eras for such celluloid best sel-
lers as "Tovarich," "Captain
Blood," "Anna Karenina" and
the Sherlock Holmes Series.
Rathbone's personality has be-
come increasingly familiar in
homes all over America since he
IN A REVIEW of the "Heiress" a teiUecion o01its cuctor,
which Rathbone appears in here Wayne Dunlap.
last year, Brooks Atkinson, New THE DRAMA Season was
York Times critic commented, founded during the 1920's by Ro-
"The part of father is eminently bert Henderson, a New York ac-
actable and Rathbone is just the tor. It was held annually until
actor to put him on the stage per- 1 4 ,. h ttw as udennu dy bt -
fectly. His cutting iron, his cold- 1942, when it was suspended be-
ness of mind, his impeccable man- cause of the war.
ners and his personal force are Last year, the season was re-
fully conveyed in Mr. Rathbone's vived, and presented under the
expert playing." direction of Prof. Valentine
Ann Arbor audiences will be able Windt, who again this'year is
to judge Rathbone's acting ability director for the season.
for themselves in the Drama Ser- The Drama Season has, over the
ies production of "The Winslow years, brought probably the great-
Boy" in which he stars. The play est galaxy of stars and plays seen
opens May 30 and runs through in any town or city outside of'
June 3. New York to Ann Arbor.
has broadcast in
Holmes programs.
the Sherlock
*i
........ . . ................. . . . .. ...
,
I
BASIL RATHBONE
VERA ZORINA
MURIEL RAHN
MEG MUNDY
CEDRIC HARDWICKE
THE ANN ARBOR
Five Weeks . .
i r IY'":
b r
SEASO
. May 15-June 17
THE TEMPEST by William Shakespeare ... May 15-20
BORN YESTERDAY by Garson Kanin ... May 22-27
THE WINSLOW BOY by Terrence Rattigan. . . May 30-June 3
JOAN MORGAN
SCOTT McKAY
THE BARRIER by Langston Hughes and Jan Meyerowitz
0
... June 5-10
. June 12-17
I_
GETTING MARRIED by George Bernard Shaw. .
SEASON TICKETS: Evenings $12.00 - $9.60 - $7.20 - $4.80
Thursday Matinee: $7.20 - $4.80; Saturday Matinee: $9.60 - $7.20 - $4.80
Be Sure To Specify Performance Desired.
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