Will Waspe
It is extraordinary enough that Viscount Eccles should have given public vent to such pettyor bloody-mindedness in vetoing Sadler's Wells Opera's proposed change of name to the National Opera. What is even more extraordinary is that anyone should have taken the slightest notice of him, The name-change for the company has been under public and private discussion ever since the confusing switch of headquarters from the Wells itself to the Coliseum, and the change to National Opera was agreed by the Arts Council months ago — even before the operagoer's ballot so discreetly ' rigged ' by Sadler's Wells to produce the right answer. Now comes this absurd Eccles veto.
There is nothing to stop the Earl of Harewood pulling rank and declaring this very day that the outfit he runs is now to be known as the National Opera. He has the support of his colleagues and his audiences. But the Prime Minister has lately attended a performance by the company in Munich, and perhaps Lord Harewood prefers more diplomatic means.
If all else falls, a shift system of British Wagnerian sopranos screaming through the small hours beneath the noble Viscount's window might bring the issue to a speedy close.
The last to know
The Royal Ballet's Svetlana Beriosova is about to embark on a secondary career as a straight actress. She is making her debut as such in a production by James Roose Evans at Hampstead Theatre Club this autumn.
There has been no great secret about it, and Beriosova — who has already given evidence of her elocutionary abilities, at least, in Covent Garden roles requiring speech — has of course a formal leave of absence from the ballet. Someone should really have made a point of telling the Royal Ballet's programme planners about it, though. Their announcement of ballets and casts for the new season has been followed by a whole string of amendments as everybody was re-shuffled to bridge the gap left by Beribsova's absence.
Blues in the night
Veteran boulevardiers of the West End, regretting the days when all the best cafésociety night clubs and restaurants had twelve-piec,e (or even bigger) bands for dancing, must prepare themselves for a further diminution of live music. The Musicians' Union's latest demands (£36-a-week minimum now, increasing to £40 next year) aren't unreasonable, but resistance to them is stiffening and I foresee the reduction of quilltet:i to trios and even single pianos — in places, that is, which do,-.'t opt petulantly for a switch to taped music,
Previous page
