Magdalena: a Musical Adventure

Magdalena premiered at the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera on 26 July 1948, pursuant to a commission from Edwin Lester, president of that organization. Arthur Kay conducted Irra Petina, Dorothy Sarnoff, John Raitt, Hugo Haas, Gerhard Pechner, A. Garcia, Melva Niles, Henry Reese, Ferdinand Hilt, J. Arthur, Betty Huff, Christine Matsios, Leonard Morganthaler, John Schickling, Lorraine Miller, Gene Curtsinger, Patrick Kirk, Betty Brusher, and Jack Cole (soloists). Jules Dassin directed, Jack Cole was the choreographer, and the chorus was prepared by Robert Zeller. Broadway veterans Howard Bay (settings and lighting) and Irene Sharaff (costumes) were also part of the creative team. It was also presented in San Francisco at the Curran Theatre (San Francisco Light Opera) for several performances beginning August 16, 1948. The same production opened in New York City at the Ziegfeld Theatre on September 20, 1948, and closed on December 4 after 88 performances. Raitt, Sarnoff, and Haas reprised their roles. No recording was made due to a strike. Magdalena was revived in concert form under conductor Evans Haile on November 24, 1987, at Alice Tully Hall in New York's Lincoln Center; a recording with a slightly different cast was made in RCA's studios in 1988 and issued by CBS (later Sony) in 1989 (ASIN: B0000026QF). The work was performed in Australia in the 1990s as part of the Opera Festival in Ballarat, Victoria, again under Haile. More recently the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris announced a production to open in May 2010, with Kate Whoriskey directing and Warren Adams supplying choreography.