KYRA VAYNE - SHOW BILL SIGNED 11/08/1954 CO-SIGNED BY: GIULIO MASTRANGELO, FERNANDO BANDERA, DENELLA MASTRANGELO - HFSID 100059

OPERA STARS: KYRA VAYNE, GIULIO MASTRANGELO, FERNANDO BANDERA and DENELLA MASTRANGELLO
1958 showbill for La Traviata at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, signed by stars Kyra Vayne, Giulio Mastrangello and Fernando Bandera
Show bill signed "Kyra Vayne", "Giulio Mastrangelo", "Denella Mastrangelo" and "Fernando/Bandera" in blue ink on cast page. B/w, 12 pages including covers, 5½x8½, bound with 1 staple. Sixpence show bill for a two-week run of La Traviata at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, produced by Eugene Iskoldoff Productions for Peter Daubney Presentations for A Season of Italian Opera. Vayne played Violetta Valery, Bandera played Alfredo Germont, and Giulio Mastangelo played Giorgio Germont. Perversely, fame didn't catch up to English soprano VAYNE (1916-2001), born Kyra Knopmuss, until well after her prime. A late bloomer, the Russian-born Vayne didn't discover her singing abilities until she appeared in a Russian Orthodox church choir at 16. She broke into opera after singing with radio comedian Vic Olvier during World War II and performed from the 1940s to the 1970s. The last years of her career were filled with poverty and doors slamming shut in her face, and she eventually retired to become a secretary and then a ceramics restorer. But an Austrian label re-released some of her recordings in the late 1990s, and suddenly she found her audience. Those who worked with her described a difficult singer with limited acitng ability, and even Vayne seemed nonplussed by her reversal of fortune; she was quoted in an article saying, "Suddenly I'm spoken of as one of the great voices. I just scream with laughter when I hear this. It's idiotic." However, her new generation of admirers saw her differently, as a singer with a voice of rare beauty and with a wide and carefully selected repertory. Baritone MASTRANGELO performed from 1950 to 1959 in Italy's most important houses. Lightly toned, soiled and creased. Seal is torn. Light tear at right edge of front cover. Light nicks at top edge. Pages are separating from staple. Staple is rusted. Ink transference. Folded in half and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.