Will Waspe
Business has been somewhat less than brisk for the revival of The Waltz of the Toreadors at the Haymarket, and I hear that the stars of the piece — Trevor Howard and Coral Browne have taken a substantial salary cut in the general effort to keep it running. These moves are not especially uncommon, but are rarely successful. I hope they will be in this case, though, for the production — always worth seeing — has greatly improved since the opening night when Howard, returning to the stage after a tenyear absence, was a bundle of nerves and more than a little disconcerting to the rest of the cast. Since he has settled into the part, his performance is conceded to be the finest of his career.
Precaution
An indifferent critical reception for Kenneth MacMillan's new ballet, Manon, will not discourage the Royal Ballet from taking it to New York for their season at the Metropolitan. They will, however, take the commercial precaution of having a spare pair of dancers: Rudolf Nureye.v and Merle Park, who will take over the Dowell and Sibley roles after the opening, this ensuring that, whatever the reviews say, there will be no falling off of business.
Dolphin defector?
An unexpected snag has overtaken the extravaganza, Royalty Follies, which Paul Raymond has set to open next week at the Royalty. A much publicised feature of the show has been the appearance of a troupe of performing dolphins, the leading member of which is supposed to get up to all manner of odd tricks with one of the nudie girl swimmers. At this late hour it has been discovered that the creature in question is a lady dolphin, is furthermore pregnant and may well be in no condition to go through with her performance on the night.
Previous page
