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DOENOTES, Vol.3

February 5, 2006
HAPPY NEW YEAR! 
 
The DoeHEAD website has seen
more than 15,000 home page visits
since our Doenotes, Vol. 2
    in September of 2004.
Thanks!  
THE BIG STORY!!!
 
 
SAVE THE DATE THIS SUMMER
(-Central City) The highlight of what promises to be a big Baby Doe year comes in late June, when the Central City Opera celebrates the 50th anniversary of the premiere of The Ballad of Baby Doe. And you're invited to…  
 
 
JOIN THE FUN
in Central City, Colorado
as Central City Opera honors 50 years of The Ballad of Baby Doe.
 
Central City Opera is preparing a special welcome for all DoeHEADS and their friends at a Baby Doe birthday celebration to be held on the weekend of June 30th and July 1st.  In the place that made it all happen, almost 50 years-to-the-day after that star-filled night! Put Central City on your travel calendar at the end of June for a chance to visit with performers, writers, scholars, old friends and to be a witness to the colorful history of one of America's most beloved stories. 
 
DoeHEADS are invited to participate in any or all of the festivities, on either day, as their time allows. The events on June 30th will focus on Central City, and include a matinee performance of Baby Doe. The following day, July 1st, features a motor coach visit to Baby Doe-related sites in Leadville (http://www.babydoe.org/leadville.htm), returning to Central City for an evening performance of Don Giovanni.
 
Here's the full schedule, as of today: 
 
Friday, June 30
----Noon - 2 p.m. Light Lunch with videographer to record memories of cast members,
      attendees of original production, etc. - $15
----2:30 p.m. - Baby Doe Matinee - $76.50 (includes a 15 % group discount)
----5:30 p.m. - Cocktails, dinner at the Teller House - $50 (possibly including Baby Doe
      panel discussion)
 
Saturday, July 1
----8 a.m. - Tour to Leadville - $90 
      Includes bus transportation, entrance fees to Matchless Mine, Tabor House, Opera
      House, Mining Museum and Lunch  
----6 p.m. Return to Central City
----8 p.m. - Don Giovanni Opening Night - $76.50 (includes a 15 % group discount)
You can take advantage of the special DoeHEAD discounts by calling Heather at the Central City Box Office to let her know which portions of the weekend you'd like to attend. The number is 303-292-6700. 
 
We'll send you more details as they become available.  Remember also that overnight accommodations in the Central City area are somewhat limited, so you may wish to visit the "Your Opera Experience" section of the Central City Opera website to help in making your plans. 
 
It should be great fun!

 

In other DOEnews!!!

 
A Student Performance That's Worth a Trip to See
(-Norfolk) Another Baby Doe anniversary-year set of performances will take place in Norfolk in April (April 21& 22 at 7:30 p.m. and April 23 at 3:00 p.m.).The students of the Governor's School of the Arts will once again apply their considerable creative skills to The Ballad of Baby Doe in three performances to take place in the historic Crispus Attucks Theater, the beautifully restored building that has served as the center of African-American theater activity in southeast Virginia since its opening in 1919. Once again, the exceptionally talented Governor's School students will be prepared by Vocal Music Department Chair Alan Fischer, who directed the school's beautiful and sensitive production of the work in the spring of 2001. Watch the Babydoe.org homepage for information about how to get tickets.         
 
Put Long Island On Your Summer Calendar
(-Cutchogue) The Douglas Moore Memorial Concert Committee is anticipating another enjoyable high-summer event on the town green in Douglas Moore's hometown. To take place on the Saturday of the weekend closest to Douglas Moore's birthday (August 10th), the concert typically features a festive picnic atmosphere, silent auction, visits to the historic buildings surrounding the town green and an outdoor concert by the Long Island Sound Symphony. If you're unfamiliar with the North Fork of Long Island, its fruit farms and quiet towns are a welcome contrast the toney frenzy of the South Fork. This link shows some of the highlights of the 2002 Memorial Concert.  The babydoe.org home page will have full details when the become available.  
 
Help Restore the Tabor Opera House
(-Leadville) A reminder that the campaign to restore the Tabor Opera House continues. Every $5 contribution you make goes to help maintain this unique and personal remnant of Horace Tabor's own legacy in the town that he helped put on the map. (And vice versa.)   
 
Speaking of Opera Houses
It should perhaps come as no surprise that Baby Doe and opera houses seem to cross paths here and there throughout history. To prove the point, we invite you to check out this new babydoe.org page featuring four that come to mind.
 
 
NEW Website Video
Our newest video selection offers a rare view of the late Walter Cassel as Sergeant Shane Rollins, a Canadian Mountie in the 1938 film Romance Road. The entire film revolves around demonstrating Sergeant Rollins' singular ability to stop nefarious crooks from dynamiting a mine merely by invoking the name of the King. In this section, in which Rollins/Cassel sings to actress Anne Nagel, Cassel's full-throated "Horace Tabor" voice is easily recognizable to anyone who's at all familiar with his definitive work on the 1958 MGM/Heliodor/DG Baby Doe recording with Beverly Sills and Francis Bible. You can see the clip by scrolling to the bottom of our Walter Cassel page.
 
INTRODUCING: Horace Tabor's Most Recent Descendant
Horace and August Tabor's son Maxcy married Luella Babcock, of a prominent Denver merchant family. Their daughter, Persis (named for an Aunt, Persis Babcock Gray), married a French military officer, Paul Alain Laforgue. They resided on the Avenue Mozart in Paris and had four children. Early in 2002, one of their descendants, Nathanaël Bagland of Paris, discovered the www.babydoe.org website, and wrote to us with an interest in his American ancestors. When Nathanaël and his wife Karen had a son on December 16th, 2004 (Beethoven's birthday), they honored their family's American roots by naming him Maxcy. Then, in September 2005, they made their own westward trek (if somewhat more comfortably than Horace and Augusta's) by moving to Montreal. The picture they took on the plane of young Maxcy is priceless, and would no doubt make Horace and Augusta very proud. Enjoy!
 
That's it for now. It's cold and snowy in Cleveland right now.
Best regards, and hope to see you sometime this year when it's warmer!
 
Dave Kanzeg
Cleveland
 
P.S. ONE MORE THING
Watch for some special news about a Baby Doe event in Washington D.C. coming this November.