Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 23

April 7, 1976 Zt CldtlOn'-LtttStt 7 Barbara Conrad in "Itavon Opera Star Defies Poor Health ated. And I am constantly struck by the vitality and joy in the faces, in the beings of the people around me." Audiences will be able to share in that joy Saturday night when OperaSouth presents "A Bayou Legend" in City Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets are now on sale at the OperaSouth office on the Jackson State University campus, and at the City Auditorium box office. And, as Delores Ardoyno is proud to point out, Jacksonians will not be the only ones who will enjoy this production of "Bayou Legend." After taping the Saturday night performance, the Voice of America will broadcast selections from Still's work throughout Europe. Barbara Conrad will soon be heard in Europe again.

tations of the human spirit that we have. We need that kind of expression. It may sound lofty, but it is very nourishing." One of the reasons Conrad enjoys her work with OperaSouth so much, is that the company offers much-needed opportunities for unknown black singers. "I cannot believe that there are so many beautiful voices around. It's like a well that has not been tapped very much.

There is so much energy, so many possibilities." What are the possibilities that Barbara Conrad looks forward to? She would like to do "Samson et Delilah." She would like to do "Or-phee." But most of all, she would like to live her art to the fullest. "I feel so fortunate to be in my profession'" she says, "because it is a very inspired one, an inspiring one to me. I am constantly rejuven Statf pnoio By Diana Burns Getting Ready for their appearance Saturday morning at Meridian's Arts and Crafts Fair are (left to righf) Mickey Davis, Eddie Burton, Martha Ratiiff and Skeets McWilliams. Seated in the background is June Whitman, chairperson of the festival entertainment committee. The Meridian Arts and Crafts Fair will be held on the Mississippi College campus 'Breakheart' Passes, 'Vigilante' Fails TODAY CHEF SALAD $99 Burritos i By JOE LEYDON Clarion-Ledger Entertainment Editor Delores Ardoyno of OperaSouth first heard Barbara Conrad in Texas, where the mezzo was making her American opera debut in the Houston Spring Opera's 1974 production of "Carmen." "We were very impressed," remembers Ardoyno, "but Barbara said that she had a cold, and that she wasn't singing as well as she could." Ardoyno and her husband, Donald Dorr' were able to hear just how much better Conrad could sing when they auditioned her the following month in New York.

"She was leaving that evening for another commitment," Ardoyno says, "so we had to have the audition in her studio that afternoon. We were even more impressed than we were before. So we signed her for 'A Bayou That was in 1974, when Opera South mounted the world premiere of the William Grant Still opera. Now, in 1976, Conrad has returned to Jackson for the company's revival of "Bayou Legend," once more singing the role of the tempestuous Clothilde. The lovely mezzo laughs when one expresses surprise that she was able to sing in "Carmen" despite her cold.

"As long as your vocal cords are not infected," she says, "you should not do damage to your voice. That is what training is all about. Athletes sometime play with sprained wrists, or sprained ankles. You develop what is known as technique. "In training, you simply develop the possibility of doing these things." Conrad started singing professionally at the age of 22, when she appeared in a production of "Porgy and Bess" at City Center in New York.

But, like so many other American opera stars, she began her reputation in Europe. "They simply don't have what I would call an arts system here," she explains, "like in Russia and Germany. They don't have theatres, they don't have government subsidies. This is an awfully large country, so consequently, the law of averages dictates that we are going to have a lot of talent strewn about. And there is no place for apprentice work." Conrad agrees that, because of the enormous expense involved in mounting operas, "it's a luxury art.

There's no question about it. "But it's the great, great elevation of the human spirit," she quickly adds. "The human voice is one of the most exquisite manifes- $129 REG. Bv JOE LEYDON Clarion-Ledger Entertainment Editor If Agatha Christie and Zane Grey had collaborated on a novel, they might have come up with something like Alistair MacLean's Breakheart Pass. Like MacLean's previous novels "Ice Station Zebra," "Where Eagles Dare" there is the usual quota of red herrings, unexpected twists and switched identities.

The big difference is that "Breakheart" is a Western, written in the delightfully puiple prose of a campy dime novel. was in no mood to wait around. To fight in the darkness a man carrying a knife is a certain! form of While the film version of "Break-heart Pass" may be slightly more seriousVit still manages to be enormously-entertaining. Director Tom Gries serves up every cliche with refreshing exuberance, and his cast is just about perfect. Charles Bronson stars as Deakin, an accused murderer who, thanks to lawman Ben Johnson, is traveling to prison on a military train.

Also aboard are such people as Governor Fairchild (Richard Cren-na), on his way to a disease-stricken cavalry fort; Marcia (Jill Ireland), the fort commander's daughter; railroad representative Frank O'Brien (Charles Duming); and Major Claremont (Ed Lauter), an authoritarian cavalry officer. Some other people on the train start popping up dead. Disaster strikes. Suspicions are raised. Nobody is whom he seems.

And the train keeps moving. "Breakheart Pass" is the end of the line. Bronson is stoic and heroic as the mysterious Deakin, and although Jill Ireland is too wooden in her role, the other supporting characters keep the stereotypes lively. WESTUND PLAZA 3S5-1677 IbankAhericmo CJ Gries stages many exciting scenes, including a fistf ight atop a speeding boxcar that will take your breath away. MacLean's penchant for labyrinthine conspiracies may make the climax somewhat confusing, but "Breakheart Pass" is a splendidly old-fashioned entertainment.

After all, how can one criticize a film which ends with the U.S. Cavalry rescuing the good guys? Vigilante Force sounds like it should be another Western. When the violence and crime becomes intolerable in a booming California town, a young businessman implores his ne'er-do-well brother to return and clean the place up. Along with his buddies, the bad brother imposes an oppressive rule that makes lawlessness look inviting. So the good brother has to finally shoot it out with his sibling.

Unfortunately, "Vigilante Force" is set in the 1970 s. The plot asks us to believe that, after nearby oil reserves are opened, the town of Elk Hills becomes prey for gangsters and other undesirables. Not to mention lousy moviemakers. Director George Armitage strings together scenes of bloody violence and aimless dialogue, without apparent logic or intelligence. The result is a film in which even wanton slaughter comes as a relief from the boredom.

Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent play the battling brothers. Neither will remember "Vigilante Force" as a high point in his career. You won't remember it at all. Phantom Stalks Temple AM RADIO WRKN 970 Full Time Country MuStC WJQS-1400 CBS News on the Hour 4 45 a to 1 a Modern Country Music WJXN-1450 Mutual News MRN News Colons' Country Gospel 4am to 1 a Super Soul Sounds Information News at 55 WSLI-930 Good Musk: 5am to Wight News on The Hour ana naif hour WJDX-6M AttH.ated with NBC Contemporary Mus'C NBC Loca News-Each Hour 24 Hours A Day VWUN 590 Modern Country News every nour on the hour 24 hours a day WRBC-1300 News 24 Hours NBC National News Stock -Sports-Twtce Hourly FM RADIO WLIN 95.5 MHz Beautitui Musc Stereo 24 Hours a Day 24 Hours a Day Soul Stereo Stereo Hoc Music News 15 mm past hour 7 times daJy 24 Hours a Day 24 Hours a Day Progressive Soui'fiock ABC FM News ALL GOSPEL MUSIC MC 6 00 AM to Midniqnt Religious music and news TELEVISION PROGRAMS Furnished by stations and subject to change without notice By A Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Erick, the grotesque madman who haunts the Paris Opera, will leave his familiar catacombs this Sunday for a visit to Meridian, Mississippi. And Dennis James will see to it that his appearance has the right musical accompaniment.

Dennis and Heidi James, the famed theatre organ and piano duo, will be heard in concert at 2 p.m. this Sunday, in Meridian's Hamasa Shrine Temple Theatre. In addition to a regular concert, they will also provide musical accompaniment for the 1925 film classic, "The Phantom of the Opera," starring Lon Chaney. Five years ago, Dennis James began his career of performing silent film scores with a sell-out presentation of "Phantom" at the Indiana University Auditorium. The evening was such an enormous success, James was soon composing silent film scores and performing them at sold-out screenings across the country.

During his bachelor and master's degree studies in classical organ. James made extensive research into the history of silent film scores. He generally views each film and sets to work on its accompaniment months before its first scheduled performance. James hopes to command every bit of sound available from the giant Robert Morton theatre organ in the Temple, the last remaining organ of its type in a Mississippi theatre. The organ was installed in 1926, and was used for movie accompaniment, stage productions and concerts until the "talkies" came in the early thirties.

The Temple organ has been completely rebuilt. It is maintained by members of the Magnolia Chapter of The American Theatre Organ Society. Tickets for the concert and "The Phantom" are available from members of the Magnolia Chapter of A.T.O.S. in Meridian, or may be purchased at the door. Admission is $2.50 for adults and 50f for children under 12.

And if you don't go, Erick may visit you personally. WJTV JACKSON, MISS. CHANNEL 12 ETV WMAA, CH. 29-WMA8, CH. 2-WMAW, CH.

14-WMAU, CH. 17-WMAH, CH. 19 5:30 Sunrise Semester 6:00 News 7-00 Mississippi Morning 7:30 Romper Room WMAO-CH. 23 8 00 Captain Kangaroo 9:00 Price is Right 0:00 Gambit 10:30 Love of Life 7:00 Success 1:00 Young Restless search tor Tom. mm 2:00 Noon Report 17 30 As The World Turns 1:30 Guiding Light 2-W ah in r-amuy 8:05 Art 8:35 Why 1976 9:00 About MtSS.

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Alphabet 4:25 Sunrise Semester 7:00 CBS News 8 00 Faith 9:00 Price Is Right WMCT-TV MEMPHIS, TENN. -CHANNEL 9 10:30 Love Of Life 11:30 Search for Tomorr. 12: 15 News Market Wea. 6 30 Dusty's Tree house 6 75 Chapel 7:35 News, Weather 8.15 Captain Kangaroo 10:00 Gambit 11:00 Young ft Restless 12:00 Farm ft Home 12:30 As the World Turns 2:00 All in Family 3 00 Tattletales 3:35 The Virginian 5 30 CBS News 4:30 Price is Right 8:00 Cannon 10:00 Weather, News 9:00 Dinah 11:00 Marble Machine 11:55 NBC News 12:30 Days of Our Lives 2:00 Another World 3:30 Btg valley 5:00 News 1:30 Gutding Light 2:30 Match Game 3:30 Potpourri 5:00 News 6:00 News 7:00 America 9:00 Blue Kmght 7 00 Today 10:30 Hollywood Squares 11:30 Take My Advice 12 00 News 130 Doctors 3:00 Somerset 4:30 Bewitched 6:00 News 7:00 House On Prairie 9:00 Daughter (0:30 Tonight Show 1:00 News Weather 6:30 Truth-Consequences 10:30 Movie ple that I felt apprehensive about trying to portray him. "A year later the play was suggested to me.

I thought to myself, if this idea comes up a second time, maybe somebody is trying to tell me something. Perhaps there is something in my work, a feeling of humanity that can help bring people together. On that basis I said, 'Okay, I'll do it." Williams immersed himself in the King legend, studying the three-hour film on his life, watching television clips, listening to speeches. "I SAW SOMETHING in his eyes, as though some force was speaking through him," said the actor. "He seemed almost to be a Christ figure, as Hitler had been the perfect portrayal of the anti-Christ" "Finally I stopped looking at the films because I didn't want to be intimidated by them.

I had to reach the characterization in an honest, natural way. I had to fall into my own interpretation of Martin Luther King, not merely an imitation. I am making no concessions to a physical resemblance. "King will be presented as a human being, not a saint. He was not holier-than-thou, but a man who was thrust into a situation in which he got more and more involved until he had to see it through to the end." The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Something strange happened to Billy Dee Williams as be was preparing for his stage role as Martin Luther King.

He describes it: "I wanted to become totally absorbed in the character of King, and as I read his words, I invited him to enter my mind and body so I could understand in the most intimate way how he lived and dreamed. Suddenly I felt the strangest sensation, as though some outside force were taking charge of-me. It was frightening, and I quickly shook it off." If Billy Dee Williams speaks mystically about Dr. King, that's understandable. He has taken on the role as a kind of dedication, planning to tour with the play for at least 10 weeks when he could be earning big money as a hot movie name.

"I HAVE A DREAM," which will premiere at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C., April 25, was conceived by Robert Greenwal, who created the stage portrait of Bessie Smith, "Me and Bessie." Greenwald is directing the adaptation by Josh Greenfield and and the project has the participation of Coretta King. "A year and a half ago, I was approached by Abby Mann, who was writing a screen version of Dr. King's life," Williams recalled. "King was so close to so many peo- I 8:00 Perry Como 10:00 News 12:00 Tomorrow Shew 1:05 TV Chapel WR EC-TV MEMPHIS. TENN.

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