Dress Rehearsal Due For 'Marco Millions'; Thursday Opening Set

Posturing in a four thousand-pound setting of wood and stretched canvas, the 60-odd members of the Marco Millions cast will go through a final dress rehearsal tonight on the eve of the HDC's spring production opening in Sanders Theatre.

The Eugene O'Neill drama begins its run Thursday night after six weeks of rehearsal. The production is a benefit to raise money for the University theatre fund.

The show, sponsored by the Harvard College Theatre Committee, will also be given at Commencement.

The accent will be on size, color, and spectacle. Director Richard T. Heffron '55 has de-emphasized the air of Babbitry with which O'Neill surrounded the character of Marco Polo and made him into a Bunyanesque hero, and the production will be one of the most elaborate in HDC history.

Robert S. Schwarz '55 will lead the cast in the central role of Marco, with Pippa Scott '56 playing opposite him as the Princess Kukachin. Thomas V. Gaydos '54, who played Thomas Becket in the HDC's winter production of "Murder in the Cathedral," is cast as the Emperor Kubla Kaan. Robert J. Beatey '55 will appear as the sage Chu Yin.

Also among the principals are Colgate Salsbury '57 as Niccolo Polo, Andre Gregory '56 as Mafflo Polo, and Arthur Loeb '54 as Tedaldo, the Pope.

Sets were designed by Webster Lithgow '56, and costumes by Leslie van Zandt.