Coastwise Opera

The A.F. of L. convention stayed away. But Seattle's Civic Auditorium was packed anyway, and for three nights. The San Francisco Opera had come to town, with three productions (Manon, Tannhauser, Rigoletto), a cast of 241, including an orchestra and such big-time singers as Grace Moore, Lauritz Melchior, Lawrence Tibbett, Bidu Sayao.

Like race horses, opera singers now cover the same circuit every year--the San Francisco opera in October, the Chicago opera in November, Manhattan's Metropolitan from then until March. San Francisco pays the most: $1,500 and up an evening to stars like Soprano Lily Pons, Baritone Lawrence Tibbett, Tenor Lauritz Melchior. And San Francisco opera gets its money's worth. Productions, rehearsed aplenty, are well staged, freshly lighted, altogether less dusty than the Met's. The San Francisco Symphony plays with gusto in the pit.

This year San Francisco's opera spread itself for the first time since its founding (1923). It gave three performances in Portland before playing in Seattle. After its opening in its home city this week, Pasadena, Sacramento, Los Angeles are to hear it.

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