"Kingsbury Hall and I go way back," Gene Pack said last week during a brief telephone interview from his KUER radio studio. "I saw my first play there when I was about 6 and did my first acting there when I was 12 - a play called `Mr. Dooley Jr.,' directed by Vern Adix."
Pack is known to thousands of theater, concert and radio fans for his work in dozens of stage productions, as host of KUER's morning classical show and as narrator for the Utah Symphony's performances of Vivaldi's "The Seasons," which he's done five or six times."But this is the first time I've done `Peter and the Wolf.' I've wanted to do this for a long time, and when Bob (Robert Debbaut) asked me I was really delighted," Pack said.
Pack will be narrating the Utah Philharmonia Orchestra's performance of Sergei Prokofiev's beloved tale for some 6,000 schoolchildren at three morning matinees this week at Kingsbury Hall, and for four additional public performances - all part of the new Kellogg's/University of Utah Young People's Performing Arts Season. (See box below for ticket information.)
This week's multimedia concert is the third program in the YPPA series. Already this season, busloads of school-age children have enjoyed a stage version of "Bridge to Terabithia" and the classic opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors."
Closing out the season will be the U. Ballet's production of Stravinsky's "Firebird" in March and Xan S. Johnson's Young People's Theatre version of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in April.
- PETER AND THE WOLF was intentionally created by Prokofiev to introduce children to the wonders of the symphony orchestra. Various roles in the Russian fable are assigned the unique sounds of particular instruments in the ensemble, with Peter personified by the violin, his Grandfather by the bassoon, the Bird by a flute, the Duck by an oboe, the Cat by a low clarinet, a band of hunters by kettle and bass drums, and - last but not least - the fearsome Wolf by the french horns.
The musicians' rendition and Pack's narration will be augmented by color slides of the characters projected onto a large screen.
Pack and conductor Robert Debbaut (deh-BOU) will trade off in describing the program's music and narrating the performance.
"Gene will tell them about Mozart and Mendelssohn, and I'll tell them about what's it's like being a conductor and we'll both share some information about the selections," Debbaut said.
In addition to "Peter and the Wolf," the 50-member Utah Philharmonia will also perform the overture to and an aria from Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and the third movement from Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto."
These latter pieces will introduce the youngsters in the audience to a selection from grand opera (Gary Moss singing the aria, "Der Vogelsanger bin Ich, Ja!") and seeing firsthand how a soloist is pitted against a full orchestra. The soloist will be Brian Eliason, a senior from Eugene, Ore., who is majoring in music performance and who is one of Debbaut's two Philharmonia concertmasters.
Debbaut hopes that kids in the audience seeing a soloist barely 10 to 12 years older than they are will give them "the vision and dream that will spark their imagination."
Now in his fourth year at the U., Debbaut told his musicians last week to imagine the impact they might have in presenting 6,000 elementary school students with what might be their first experience with Mozart.
"That's a rare privilege, indeed," he told them.
Debbaut remembered an emotional performance a few years back before a large group of youngsters from the poorer sections of Kansas City. It was a comic opera - but the kids were so mesmerized by the opera, they didn't laugh . . . they didn't even make a sound, except at the conclusion - when they burst into cheers.
This is the kind of positive experience Debbaut - and the rest of the Young People's Performing Arts Series team - are creating this season at Kingsbury Hall.
Debbaut also directs the 85-member University Symphony.
The smaller Utah Philharmonia is a more intense program, geared to those planning professional careers in music. Probably 95 percent of the Philharmonia's members are music majors, whereas the University Symphony is composed of primarily of non-music majors.
Note: In addition to the seven Young People's series concerts, there will be an eighth concert on Sunday evening in David Gardner Hall, just west of Kingsbury Hall, with an expanded program - the complete "Violin Concerto in E Minor" by Mendelssohn, instead of just the third movement, again featuring student violinist Brian Eliason. Tickets for the concert, available at the door, are $3 for adults, $2 for students and $1 for U. students, faculty, staff and senior citizens (all general admission seating. This concert starts at 7:30 p.m.)
- GENE PACK said he performed in at least two dozen plays at Kingsbury Hall, the last of which was "Much Ado About Nothing," directed by C. Lowell Lees, before the theater department moved into the Pioneer Memorial Theatre building.
Pack practically grew up around radio and theater. His father was chief engineer at KSL Radio for years, and Gene earned his degree (a "broadcast emphasis in speech") before the communications and theater departments split up.
He performed in more than 50 shows for Theatre 138 alone.
Pack has been with KUER from the time it signed on in 1960 - in a studio in the basement of Gardner Hall. He is now broadcasting from KUER's state-of-the-art studios in the new Dolores Dore Eccles Broadcast Center elsewhere on campus.
"Things were a little rough in those last days (in Gardner Hall) because of the loud rock concerts in Kingsbury Hall. There were times I thought the walls would fall down from the sheer weight of the sound. You got the impression the walls were trembling," he said, noting that when rock bands would rehearse in Kingsbury during the afternoon, the sound would be picked up by the microphones in the studios across the lawn in Gardner Hall.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Performance times, ticket information
The Kellogg's Froot Loops/University of Utah Young People's Performing Arts Season performances this week by the U.'s Utah Philharmonia in Kingsbury Hall are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 27-29, at 7:30 p.m., plus a matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. All seats are reserved ($5.50), with a $1 discount for those presenting a Kellogg's Froot Loops box top (11-ounce package or larger).
For reservations, call Kingsbury Hall at 581-7100.
Three performances especially for children in local school districts have been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. These performances are not open to the general public.
An expanded concert is scheduled Sunday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in David Gardner Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $3 for adults, $2 for youths and $1 for U. students and senior citizens.