Lowell Musical Club Opens Rehearsals for Comic Opera

The Lowell House Musical Society began rehearsals this week for the first New England production of "The Two Misers," and 18th century comic opera by A. E. M. Gretry. The opera will be given on April 11 and 12 in the Lowell House Dining Room.

The local premiere will feature a new translation from the original French by Irving Yoskowitz '53 and John Bowman '53.

Leade Named

The cast includes Harvard and Radcliffe students and two students at the New England Conservatory of Music. The female leads are Mildred Allen, New England Conservatory, and Elizabeth Kalkhurst '56.

Male roles will sung by Peter Eivins '55, Bernard Barbean, New England Conservatory, Anthony Giarraputo '59, and Edward Stearns '54. The undergraduates live in Lowell House.

Yoskowitz is stage director, and Bowman, producer for the Lowell group. Edward Troupin '46, former president of the Pierian Sodality, will conduct the orchestra, and Edward Allison, Assistant Director of the Harvard Glee Club, is training the chorus.

Sets for this production were designed by Yorick Blumenfeld '54, and Virginia Gray '53 is in charge of the costuming. The opera will be presented in the 18th century style, with as few modern innovations as necessary.

This year's production is the first opera buffs to be given by the 22-year-old musical organization. The Musical Society was founded in 1931 to sponsor small concerts by House members. The first opera performed by the group was Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" in 1938.

"The Two Misers" was originally produced at Fontainebleau in 1770. Its plot involves the standard operatic characters, young lovers, harsh uncles, with the eventual triumph of the lovers and reform of the miserly uncles.