RUTH PACKER - SHOW BILL SIGNED CIRCA 1955 CO-SIGNED BY: CHARLES CRAIG, JOHN HEDDLE NASH, ESTELLE VALERY, STANISLAV PIECZORA - HFSID 100054

RUTH PACKER, CO-SIGNED BY: JOHN HEDDLE NASH, CHARLES CRAIG, STANISLAV PIECZORA and ESTELLE VALERY
Showbill for a 1955 performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Theatre Royal at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, signed by sopranos Ruth Packer and Estelle Valery, tenor Charles Craig, baritone John Heddle Nash and tenor/bass Stanislav Pieczora
Show bill signed "Estelle Valery", "Charles Craig", "Ruth Packer", "Stanislav Pieczora" and "John Heddle Nash" in black and blue ink on cast page. Lead pencil notations at right edge in unknown hand. B/w, 12 pages plus covers, 5½x8½, bound with 1 staple. Sixpenny program for the June 9, 1955 performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Theatre Royal at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England. Nash was Don Giovanni, Packer was Donna Anna, Craig was Duke Octavio, Pieczora was Leporello and Valery was Zerlina. English dramatic soprano PACKER (1910-2005) had the bad luck to have her premiere - Helmwinge in Wagner's Die Walküre at Covent Garden - in 1939, just before World War II. England's six years of involvement in the war hurt her career, but she trouped on during those years with Sadler's Wells Opera (now the English National Opera) and the Carl Rosa Opera Company, often singing four or five roles in a week. She was especially renowned for her interpretations of Verdi's heroines. Packer sang with the Welsh National Opera in the 1950s, then taught singing at the Royal College of Music and London Opera Centre after her retirement in 1958. English baritone NASH (1928-1994) was a gifted comedian and excelled in light opera, with performances as the title role in Don Giovanni, Dr. Falke in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Dr. Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Lescault in Puccini's Manon Lescault. He also excelled in Rossini operas like La Cenerentola and The Barber of Seville, like Silvio in Leoncalvo's Pagliacci. Unfortunately, Nash was the son of famed lyric tenor Heddle Nash and spent much of his career in his famous father's shadow. CRAIG (1919-1997) was a British tenor. He made his operatic debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1959 as a gypsy in Verdi's Il Trovatore. PIECZORA was a versatile singer who could sing tenor and bass roles. VALERY was a soprano. Lightly toned, creased and bowed. Seal remnants on cover. Packer and Nash's siganture's touch. Ink transference from signatures. Rust stains from staple. Folded in half and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.