Orchids from the Outback

Fourteen years ago Joan Sutherland left Sidney as an unknown typist. Last week she returned home as La Stupenda, heading her own opera company, with 145 members, for a four-week tour of Australia. Melbourne proudly put on its best bib and tucker for the local girl who made good. Bewigged footmen in period costume bowed as they opened the doors of Rolls-Royces, Bentleys, Jaguars and Daimlers for elegant women wearing chinchilla and diamond tiaras, distinguished men in white tie and tails as they passed through the chilly Australian winter night into Her Majesty's Theater. The glittering audience that had paid an Australian record top of $23.50 for a seat were treated to the city's finest opera performance since Nellie Melba returned to her native shores in 1902.

As the mad, forsaken Scots girl in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Sutherland was in superb voice. Authoritative conducting was provided by her husband Richard Bonynge, and there was an authentic touch of the Scottish highlands in the sets and luxurious costumes. Result was 33 curtain calls. As La Stupenda plucked sprays from Cooktown orchids for the supporting cast and kissed her husband, enthusiastic galleryites stamped so loudly that a nervous opera buff sitting below wondered: "How long can the theater stand the strain of a Sutherland tour?"

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