Word: offenbacher
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...Royal Philharmonic, and a charming first act in which Moira (The Red Shoes] Shearer dances as Olympia, the lifelike doll, the bulk of the picture is slow, obscure and pretentious. The script and direction, which borrow from Dali, Cocteau and Cecil B. DeMille, compound the vague symbolism of the Offenbach opera, leave the story line frayed and dangling. Whenever they are audible in the upper operatic range, the English lyrics sound banal. And the much-touted spectacle of Tales of Hoffmann's settings and costumes seems overripe and ostentatious enough to pass for a Hollywood producer's dream...
...Jacques Offenbach himself labeled his "Tales of Hoffmann" a "fantastic opera," and the London Films adaptation is just that. The Technicolor screenplay displays all of the lavishness and sensuality that the libretto and score imply. The result may surprise the unwary moviegoer, and it may even irritate him a little. For that reason it is important to remember that the movie, like the opera, is intended to be "fantastic...
...elements of music and dance are very important in "Tales of Hoffmann." Sir Thomas Beecham conducts the Royal Philharmonic in Offenbach's familiar score. Robert Rounseville, as Hoffman, has a strong, clear voice that is excellent for the role. Most of the other voices are dubbed in, however, with generally good results. The dancing in "Tales of Hoffmann" is all good, but it suffers by being fragmented; Frederick Ashton's choreography consists chiefly of short interludes, beautifully danced by Moira Shearer, Leonide Massine, Ludmilla Tcherina, Robert Helpmann, and the Sadler's Wells Chorus. Miss Shearer's best work is shown...
...first. It was originally a French play called Le Réveillon (The Awakening), written by sometime Offenbach librettists Henry Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy in 1872, and based on a Berlin comedy of 1851. Strauss set a German adaptation to music two years later. Since then, it has been called, in various productions, A Wonderful Night, Fly-by-Night, The Merry Countess, Champagne Sec, etc., and, in the latest Broadway version (TIME, Nov. 9, 1942), Rosalinda...
...Club's reportoire, vary its style, and to concentrate basically on further exploration of classical choral work. Simultaneously, and on the light side, the programs of the Club drew on the vast literature of folk songs, the glees and catches of the eighteenth century, and the gay operettas of Offenbach, Johann Strauss, and Gilbert and Sillivan...