
News Of the Day 1961
Hindemith’s comic work…
…contemporary with Weill’s Threepenny Opera, also combines elements of musical revue, vaudeville, cabaret humor and social satire in a parable about publicity and modern image-makers.
Synopsis
Act I
Laura and Edward, famous socialites, return home from their honeymoon. A violent quarrel breaks out and they decide to get divorced. Miss Pick, a reporter, enters unexpectedly. She quickly grasps the situation and snaps their picture for a possible news story. Laura and Edward then go to a divorce bureau to secure the necessary papers but are refused on the basis of having insufficient grounds.
Two other couples, newly divorced, recommend an agency which helped them – Universal Services, Inc., an international business firm directed by Mr. Dodo. At Pick’s persuasion Dodo agrees to help them in the person of Mister Herman, an extremely handsome young man skilled in furnishing legitimate grounds for divorce.
The Venus Salle in the Museum is chosen as a rendezvous. While Laura and Herman are rehearsing certain amorous preliminaries, Edward discovers them. Believing the “other man” would be old and ugly, he is enraged to find the handsome Herman. In a jealous fury, he smashes the Venus. A public scandal results and he is imprisoned. Laura seeks refuge in a hotel where she is shocked to find Herman in her bathtub eagerly offering further assistance. The ever-ready Pick snaps the scene and the scandal increases.
Artists

Marguerite Willauer
Soprano
Laura

Theodor Uppman
Baritone
Edward

Elaine Bonazzi
Mezzo-soprano
Mrs. Pick

Loren Driscoll
Tenor
The Handsome Mr. Hermann

Elaine Johnson
Soprano
Elli

Marcia Baldwin
Mezzo-soprano
Olli

James Wilson
Tenor
Ali

Don Yule
Bass
Uli

Richard Best
Bass-baritone
Museum Guide

Irving Pearson
Bass
Hotel Manager

Ron Bottcher
Bass
Headwaiter

Catherine Christensen
Soprano
Chambermaid

Paul Hindemith
Conductor

Don Moreland
Director

Henry Heymann
Designer
Scenery and Costumes

Robert L. Benson
Lighting Designer

Thomas Andrew
Director/ Choreographer

John Moriarty
Chorus Master