Operas and Musicals
“Soon [after returning to Dunedin] I was asked to choreograph for theatre and opera in the city. The first of these were for two operas – Purcell’s Indian Queen and Dido and Aeneas in collaboration with Professor Peter Platt and Patric Carey at the University of Otago. Following these came Gluck’s Orpheus, Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral and the Southern Comedy Player’s frothy musical Salad Days… For some years [Dunedin Dance Theatre] appeared annually with the Dunedin Opera Company [now Opera Otago]. Fledermaus (1963), La Traviata (1964), Amahl and the Night Visitor, Hansel and Gretel, Carmen and – most exciting of all – the Walpurgis night scene in Gounod’s Faust (1969).”
Leap of Faith, pg. 178
La Traviata (1964)
In those days, touring was something the Operatic Society took very seriously as a duty to the provinces. With such large casts, this was managed in the weekends, and when on occasion a dancer couldn’t make it, Shona took her place on stage.
On one occasion, as a toreador in La Traviata, waiting in the wings, Shona was seized passionately from behind by one of the chorus who mistook her for one of her girls!
