Below, a New York Times review, entitled “Lotte Lehmann Show Bows on West Coast”
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Oct. 11—Lotte Lehmann’s concert- show, “Opera, Song and Life,” had its première tonight before a capacity audience at the Lobero Theatre. The show was a combination of vignettes of grand opera scenes by young opera singers and an informal social evening with Mme. Lehmann. Supporting Mme. Lehmann, who appeared as narrator and coach, but not as a singer, were Rosalind Nadell, mezzo-soprano of the New York City Opera, and five West Coast artists who have studied under Mme. Lehmann at the Music Academy of the West—Marcella Reale and Patricia Beems, sopranos; Conrad Schultz and Raymond Manton, tenors, and Philip Harvey, baritone. A shadow-box frame at one side of the stage was the setting for operatic episodes in Mme. Lehmann’s career. The young singers appeared singly and in pairs, appropriately costumed to render their arias or duets to simulate participating in a full operatic production. During these episodes, Mme. Lehmann and her guests were dimly visible in a living-room area as though listening to a broadcast. For contrast and pace change, there was a rehearsal by four singers of scenes from “La Bohème,” with Mme. Lehmann setting the stage with brief suggestions on character, period and mood. Selections from “Faust,” “Lohengrin” and “Carmen” by the five supporting singers made up Act One. James Whale English, actor-director, came from Hollywood for the dramatic direction. Fritz Zweig, opera conductor of Berlin, Prague, Paris and Hollywood, was musical director and piano accompanist. Mme. Lehmann, as hostess, divided her attention and conversation among her guests onstage and the guests across the foot-lights.