Hands Across The Sky (1960)
Eric Shilling, Stephen Manten (sic) and Julia Shelley as they appeared in "Hands Across The Sky" [The Stage]
| Production company/ies | Broadcast station(s) | Broadcast date(s) |
|---|---|---|
| BBC | BBC Television Service | February 7, 1960 (10.10pm) |
Production credits
| Producer(s) | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Other notable credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Lefeaux | Unknown | Antony Hopkins | Composer/ensemble conductor: Antony Hopkins Libretto: Gordon Snell Musicians: Intimate Opera Chamber Ensemble Ensemble leader: Robert Masters Designer: Richard Wilmot Special effects: Jack Kine, Bernard Wilkie |
Acting credits
|
Synopsis
| Place: Prof Neutron's Laboratory. Time: The near future. The object of the professor's affections has more time for a green alien. |  |
| It's just one of those "Things"! But not to worry, for it is actor Stephen Manton behind the foam-rubber and plastic make-up. He plays Squeg, a Thing from Outer Space. [Birmingham Weekly Post & Midland Pictorial] |
Place: Prof Neutron's Laboratory. Time: The near future. The object of the professor's affections has more time for a green alien.
Notes
The Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette said that the play was a recording. Antony Hopkins apparently postponed an Easter holiday in Amsterdam to write the score in time for the opera's first presentation at last year's Cheltenham Festival.
"He wrote it in a week, and comments: "It was meant to be amusing, more like revue in fact, than opera. For instance there's a striptease to rock 'n' roll - probably the first in opera since "Salome" - in which Miss Fothergill starts by removing her white lab coat."
Guy Taylor, TV reviewer in The Stage, gave Hands Across The Sky a Taylorating of EXCELLENT. His review was headed "A Delight":
"Anthony Hopkins came up with an enchanting bit of operatic nonsense last Sunday on BBC-tv. Hands Across The Sky must be TV's first space opera. What fun it was!
"Professor Neutron and his assistant Miss Fothergill meet Squeg -one of the Saturn Squegs - and Miss Fothergill falls in love with him.
"There is a problem about this, however, because Neutron loves Miss Fothergill so he plans to poison Squeg while Miss Fothergill plans to take a potion to make herself a monster so Squeg may love her. Naturally, the potions get mixed and Neturon becomes the monster and his love is satisfied.
Hopkins obviously didn't want us to take his work seriously because among the melodic arias there was a little razamataz (sic) called I Love Squeg sung among dustbins bearing the title "Atomic Waste" and "Hydrogen Fall Out".
"The opera was neatly produced by Charles Lefaux while the libretto was wittily written by Gordon Snell. An enchanting divertissement to complete the evening."
