European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Downing Street pinches pennies As musicals play on by John Rockwell the new York times musical life in London has been dominated by two. Very Lively personalities and the anticipation of the tercentenary in 1995 of the death of Henry Purcell. At the Royal opera covent Carden there was a new production by director John Cox and Painter David Hockney of Richard Strauss grandiose Neo wagnerian die Frau Ohne Schatten. A Ken Russell the Veteran film director and music Lover contributed two events a production of Gilbert a fid a Sullivan s Princess Ida at the English National opera through Jan. 21 and a television film about the later years of the English composer Arnold Bax with Russell playing Bax and Glenda Jackson As his Long suffering mistress. And at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the South Bank Center offered the first of three annual St. Cecilia s Bay weekends of music by Purcell leading up to a full week of Purcell concerts in 1995. Underlying All this Glamour or in the Case of Princess Ida All this campy Kitsch is the increasingly gloomy condition of British arts support. A projected Rise in government financing for the heritage department which includes the arts was reduced to 1.8 percent from 3.5 percent below the i nation rate. Government projections Call for an Overall 10 percent Cut Over the next two seasons. Covent Garden which houses both the Royal opera and the Royal Ballet has run up a deficit of some $5 million since Jeremy Isaacs became general director in 1987. And it faces huge additional expenditures a some $150 million a in a Long needed renovation of the theater. Isaacs postponed that project when he took Over but the theater is now scheduled to be closed for 2yi years starting in 1997. It is to reopen in time for the. Celebration of the millennium. Isaacs clashed with David Mellor who recently resigned As National heritage Secretary but even if he enjoys better relations with Mellor s successor Peter Brooke Isaacs still faces a daunting task. And he faces that task at a time when covent Garden has come under attack for what some critics see As an unfocused artistic policy and High ticket prices the Best seats can Cost from $155 to $375, compared with a top of $135 at the metropolitan opera in new York. In addition the recent death of Kenneth Macmillan has deprived the Royal Ballet of its principal choreographer and with the need to save Money and fill the theater has forced both the opera and the Ballet join the wings theater Germany the Frankfurt playhouse at 152 Hansa Allee presents Brig Doonan Jan. 7-9 and 14-16 at 7 30 . The playhouse presents a Little night music an Jan. 11 and 12 at 7 . For More information Call Dan 320-5835 or civilian 069-1515835. Stuttgart entertainment Branch presents i like a Gershwin Tun it. How about you a one woman musical revue celebrating the music of George Gershwin. Dinner theater performances Are Jan. 8 and 9. A cabaret theater show is Jan. 10, performances Are at the Kelley Annex on Kelley Barracks in Mohringer. For More information Call Dan 4212-693 or civilian 0711-7292-693. Nurnberg s stage 13 on William o. Darby Cavern in Furth presents Noel Coward s comedy Blithe spirit on Jan. 28-30 and feb. 4-6 and 11 -13 at 8 . And feb. 7 at 4 . Tickets Are $7 for adults and $5 for students and children. For More information Call Dan 460-6609 or civilian 0911-700-6609. Giessen s Keller theatre presents the hound of the Baskerville a Sherlock Holmes mystery based on the Story by sir Arthur Conan Doyle on Jan 29-30 and feb. 4-6 and 11-13 at 7 30 . The theater is in Miller Hall Volk Shalley Grunberger Strasse 143. Tickets Are $8 for adults $7 for students and $6 for children Ages 6-12. Children under 6 Are not admitted. For More information Call Dan 343-6515 or civilian 0641-402-6515. Stuttgart entertainment Branch presents the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical the sound of music on Jan. 29-30 and feb. 5-6 at 8 . And Jan. 30-31 and feb. 6-7 at 3 . Performances Are in the Stuttgart theatre Center building 3321, on Kelley Barracks in Mohringer for More information Call Dan 4212-693 or civilian 0711-7292-693. David Hockney Ken Russell Jettison productions. A new staging of Jacques a Levy s Taju Ive at the opera this Spring has been replaced by yet another revival of Giacomo Puccini amp la Boh amp me and Tchaikovsky s the sleeping Beauty will be seen at the Ballet instead of Macmillan s Prince of the pagodas. Isaacs in a recent interview said he hoped to win government support and to raise private and foundation Money to sustain the Quality of his operations eliminate the deficit and pay for the renovation. He places some Hope in a new National lottery that is to devote some of its profits to the arts. And he remains regretful but unapologetic about the Cost of tickets which has risen in direct proportion to the reductions in Public support during the Margaret Thatcher John major years. Isaacs said of the High ticket prices Quot the strategy was to try to do wonderful work and to earn the income to pay for it Quot whether the new Frau Ohne Schatten counts As wonderful work is a matter of debate. The London press was respectful but guarded reserving most of its enthusiasm for Bernard Huitink s conducting which in its lyricism and attention to sensuous detail recalls such master Strauss ans As Clemens Krauss and Rudolf Kempe. No one seemed to mind too much that the singing succumbed to the German bellowing All too common in a a this score though Anna Omowa Sintow s Empress and the american Mezzo Jane Henschel s nurse were rightly singled out for Praise. Cox s stage direction in its conscientious attention to character motivation at least avoided the mechanical stiffness of some recent Hockney productions which were worked out with stick figures in studio models and Frankfurt s candlelight dinner theater in the Terrace club on Abrams Complex presents the musical / love my wife on Jan. 29-30 and feb. 5-6, 12-14 and 19-20. The bar opens at 6 30 ., dinner is at 7 ., and Showtime is 8 . For More information Call Dan 320-5835 or civilian 069-1515835. Hanau s five pfennig playhouse on old Argonne Cavern presents the adult comedy same time next year feb. 12,19 and 26 at 7 30 . Tickets Are $6. For More information Call Dan 322-8864 or civilian 06181-14025. A Frankfurt s English theater at Kaise Strasse 52 present Sandy Wilson s musical the Boyfriend daily except mondays. Through Jan. 31. Tickets Are 35 and 40 Marks for adults and 15 Marks for students. For More information Call civilian 06924231620. Theater  Dee smart and Bruce Roberts stars of the popular australian to soap opera Home and away make their British pantomime debut in a production of show White and the seven dwarfs. The pantomime will be staged at the Corn Exchange in Cambridge through Jan. 16 the cast also includes shot Putter and strongman Geoff capes tickets Are 9, 10 and 11 pounds about $14, 15.50 and $17. For More information Call 0223463204. Auditions Germany Giessen s Keller theatre has auditions for the musical baby Jan. 7 at 7 . The theater is in Miller Hall Volks Hals Grunberger Strasse 143. Parts Are available for three men and three women musicians and technical help also Are needed. For More information Call Dan 343-6515 or civilian 0641 -402-6515. Bad Kreuz Nach s Bridge House players has auditions for then realized in a Way that placed greater emphasis on Scenic Beauty than human Dramha. Hockney s sets aimed for a toy theater magic which offered Beautiful moments but seemed undercut by 1 parsimony in their construction. Worse they were so dimly lighted that their vivid colors Sank into blandness. Perhaps this was to avoid the Empress casting her Shadow. Before she was supposed to. But it May also have been intended to mask Slipshod technical work the final scene brightly lighted was full of wrinkles., /. A the English National opera has sought to help meet its. Own financial crisis by stressing popular operas and operettas of which Princess Ida is clearly meant to be one. Russell has his gifts but subtlety is not among them. Savoyards were appalled by his treatment of the piece which earned the most caustic reviews of any London operatic production this season. Princess Ida is a satire on 19th-Century feminism taking As its text a Gilbert parody of a Tennyson epic called the Princess. Gilbert s text is funny even Broad but softened by Sullivan s affectionate Muse. Russell transforms Quot Broad Quot into pure farce wildly lampooning anything and everything with manic updating. In a big theater with opera singers doing the acting most of the comic performances Are not very trenchant. Still for those who do not hold Cilbert and Sullivan As sacred the evening has its Low charms and musically it is pretty solid the conductor appropriately is a woman Jane Clover. Russell was on surer footing with his Arnold Bax film. The director is a longtime admirer of Bax s understated romanticism he even underwrote recording of two Bax symphonies in the 1970s. But characteristically Here even with a warm Bath of Bax music in the background the subject is the aging composer s sex life. The South Bank s Purcell tercentenary Warmup subtitled the English Genius is concentrating on / Purcell s Quot Semi operas Quot extensive incidental music and masques that approach opera but Don t quite reach it. The idea is that Purcell s music to which fervent in service in continually paid in Britain is actually largely unknown beyond a few chestnuts. One intensive weekend a year with attendant bbl radio 3 broadcasts is meant to familiarize the British Public and to get it in the mood to celebrate the actual tercentenary with a proper  year s concerts were overseen by the dutch conductor and keyboard player Gustav Leonhardt. The Centrepiece of the 1993 Celebration is to be Roger Norrington leading the fairy Queen and in 1994 John Eliot Gardiner is to address King Arthur. Compiled by Anita Gosch. Rick Abbott s play on of Jan. 7 at 7  the Ruhberg theater Center 1 Hospital Cavern. Performances Are in March. For More information Call Dan 490-6481 or civilian 0671792739. ,. Bamberg s stable theater has auditions for the comedy women in Congress a hilarious version of aristophanes Creek  ecclesia usae Jan. 26 and 27 at 6 . Pails Art. Available for six women and two men. Backstage help also is needed. For More information Call Dan 469-8647 or civilian 0951-300-8647, a dramatic training Germany the English theater school of dramatic arts in Frankfurt is offering English language acting and speech training with examination and accreditation by the Guildhall school of music and drama London the program includes lectures from internationally recognised actors directors teachers and film camera Crews. Courses Are open to professionals and amateurs. Day and evening classes meet once a week for 10-week sessions. A Young people s theater workshop is also available for those 15 or older and a children s workshop is planned. The fee for a workshop session is 320 Marks about $205 and 280 Marks for students. The fee for the Young people s workshop is 220 Marks exam courses in acting diction and Public speaking Cost about 415 Marks. For More information Call director Jill Arndt on tuesdays thursdays and fridays from 10 . To noon at 0611 -562193. Military communities and English language Heaters in Europe May submit information on their theater and musical activities Tor publication in this column the first thursday of each month Tatofi nation Tor the february column must be received by Jan. 28. Items must include performance dates times and locations Cost of tickets and phone numbers to can Tor Moie information please Send the information to. The stars and so ipes  unit 29480, Apo a 09211, or the stars and stnpe3, entertainment Postrach 11 1437, j51q0. Darmstadt f i Germany. A january 7, 1993 stripes Magazine 11