Music: Pocket Opera

Up to the dingy College St.Joseph at Poitiers (pop. 52,633) last week rattled a dusty blue Renault bus. Three singers, a dancer, a pianist, an announcer and the driver got out, unloaded a few pieces of battered scenery and a stork's-nest snarl of electronic equipment. Inside the college's assembly hall the announcer (who doubles as electrician) checked the lights while the performers dotted scenery around the bare stage. Within an hour the seven-member pocket opera company was proving again what it had already shown in 148 other stops of its tour through the French provinces: the liveliest lyric drama in France...

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