SHOW PAGE .sx Theatre .sx CREAM OF VOICES PITCH TOO HIGH FOR US .sx By ALAN BENDLE .sx NONE of the singers who has already won through to the rank of international artist will be with the Covent Garden Company when it opens its week's visit to Manchester on Monday .sx As Sir David Webster , the Garden's general administrator , has been pointing out , the reasons are two- the international artists have too many engagements elsewhere and they are too expensive .sx The company cannot afford to hire them for touring .sx I asked Sir David to make the second reason even plainer .sx How much must the company pay for the services of one of the great ones , a Callas , a Gobbi , a Christoff , and nowadays a Joan Sutherland or a Geraint Evans ?sx He shrugged his shoulders .sx " Anything from +300 to +800 , " he said .sx " Oh , yes , for one performance .sx " It is therefore on real hard cash that he bases his argument that if Manchester is ready to pay the top price of , say , 25s .sx a seat , and fill the theatre , Manchester can expect more of the world-famous ones- always provided that her claims do not unhappily conflict with those of La Scala , New York's Metropolitan Opera , Vienna , Venice , Paris , San Francisco , and the rest of the world's leading opera houses .sx The career of an international opera singer is not a particularly long one .sx The harvest of fame must be collected in some 15 years at most , and to-day , with the tax-gatherer in hot pursuit , no-one is likely to rival the fortune of a Caruso or a Melba .sx THERE is a more sensible attitude than that adopted by some of Manchester's opera fans .sx Taking recent years as an example , Joan Sutherland may now be shuttling between the States and Italy ; Canadian Jon Vickers may have been stolen away by New York and Chicago ; and Geraint Evans may be conquering Vienna , but we have heard them all in the near past .sx And there are singers with us next week who are destined for world renown but are still here to be listened to .sx Why should we let nostalgic longings spoil the pleasure of picking out to-morrow's world favourites ?sx Let us , like the gentlemen of the Turf , choose half a dozen to follow .sx My own list is :sx soprano Joan Carlyle " Der Rosenkavalier " and " Boheme" ) ; soprano Marie Collier " Boheme" ) ; bass Michael Langdon " Der " ) ; mezzo-soprano Josephine Veasey " Carmen " and " Peter " ) ; and baritone David Ward " Aida") .sx THAT admirable singer Michael Langdon has one passion that must endear him to a wider public .sx When he is not using his voice as Baron Ochs in " Der " - he sang the role at Covent Garden in November and repeats it in Manchester- he is putting it to what I believe he secretly considers an equally good purpose .sx " I'm Wolverhampton-born , " he said , " and I try to be free as often as possible when the Wolves are playing so that I can go and cheer them on .sx " Well over six feet tall , he has no crowd difficulties in watching soccer with an expert eye .sx But he finds his height a handicap when it comes to his other hobby- gardening .sx " The garden , " says Michael , " is such a long way down !sx " He has been with the company for 13 years , and already in 1950 was singing solo roles .sx The drunken monk Varlaam , in " Boris Gudonov , " gave him a notable start , and the Grand Inquisitor , in " Don " - as one of the cast that included Tito Gobbi and Boris Christoff- was his biggest break .sx He went to Vienna last year to study Baron Ochs under Alfred Jerger , who had sung the part with Richard Strauss conducting .sx He has achieved a ripe humour without clowning , and as a result is to sing the Baron with the Hamburg State Opera .sx IS the Covent Garden tour repertory too familiar ?sx Well , you know what happens when a new work appears- an inevitable and heavy financial loss .sx When " Peter Grimes " made its first appearance in Manchester the house was half-empty .sx On its second visit there was a slight improvement .sx Next week what will the answer be ?sx The same thing happens in London .sx This season is the first in which " Peter Grimes " has sold out for several performances .sx Placed on record .sx By Roderick Random .sx Backing to the front .sx SOMETIMES when you listen to a record , the backing , however unobtrusive it may be , attracts your attention more than the singer .sx I mean no slight on Mr. Gary Miller when I confess that this is what happened when I heard his record " Dream Harbour " ( Pye , ) .sx The accompaniment , a soft , oriental rhythm , came through entrancingly .sx It was , I discovered , the work of one of the busiest back-room boys of the recording world- Bill Shepherd .sx I note that he has credits on two other records this week- " Model Girl , " by Davy Jones ( Pye , 7N .sx 25072 ) and " Kookie Talk , " by Scott Peters ( Pye ) .sx I met Bill for a few minutes just before he began yet another session for a BBC programme .sx Chubby , cheerful , duffle-coated and carrying a bag containing 40 precious band arrangements .sx " I've done all sorts of things , " he said .sx " I was a singer with a group called the Coronets .sx I've played a few instruments , and I was once a journalist .sx But I'm happy just now to be one of the people behind the big vocal stars .sx " Bill spends his spare time with the other sort of stars- his hobby is astronomy .sx She's dead set on singing .sx ONE thing about Billie Laine .sx She has got determination .sx So much of it that you feel that if she set her mind on swimming the Channel or breeding champion poodles , or anything , she'd do it .sx As it is she just wants to sing .sx " When I was a little girl , " said the 24-year-old shapely miss from Trinidad , " my mother said I ought to learn to type or do dressmaking , or something like that .sx But I wanted to sing- so I just sang .sx " She began on the West Indies radio station's equivalent of Children's Hour .sx Then she graduated to her weekly programmes .sx She sang in clubs and in concerts , until she looked around one day and asked herself :sx " Where do I go from here ?sx " The answer was London .sx With her usual determination she arrived last July .sx She didn't know a single soul .sx BUT she started to sing- and that was enough .sx She has just made her first record for Philips , called " Kiss Me " ( 326547 , BF) .sx " It's a pop song , " she admitted .sx " And I want to sing jazz .sx Jazz , jazz , jazz , that's for me .sx " She called herself Billie ( although her real name is Grace ) after her model , her idol , the late Billie Holliday .sx " There will never be another like her , " she said .sx Next month Billie makes her first EP- as a genuine jazz singer- with Bill McGuffie providing the backing .sx THEY keep burying rock 'n roll- but it just won't lie down .sx " Pony Time , " a fast piece of work by Chubby Checker ( Columbia , 45-DB .sx 4591 ) and Ray Garnett ( R.C.A. 1228 ) will probably be as popular here as it is in the States .sx That goes for " Gee Whiz , " by Clara Thomas ( London , HLK .sx 9310 ) , too .sx But my record of the week is the new Bobby Vee one- " More Than I Can Say " ( London , ) .sx CLASSICAL LOOK .sx THOUGH one thinks of Tchaikovsky mainly as a lightly popular orchestral composer , he did write more than 100 songs , many of them very fine indeed .sx But , apart from " None But The Weary Heart , " few of them are generally known .sx Just how rewarding these songs are may be judged from the fourteen selected by Boris Christoff in a new LP recital ( HMV ALP 1793) .sx Christoff , whose gifts are well known at Covent Garden , admirably varies the use of his splendid bass voice to suit the mood of the songs- from , for instance , the vigour of " Don Juan's Serenade " to an enchanting mezza-voce in the gentler moments .sx The value of the disc is enhanced by a phonetic version of the Russian text , with an English translation alongside .sx The " Rose Marie " girl is happy in the swim .sx Neville Wareham's Show Round-up .sx VIRGINIA COURTNEY straightened a strand of coal-black hair , added a touch to her coppery complexion , and said :sx " I think my mother had visions of my swimming the Channel .sx I could swim before I ever learned to dance , and I started that when I was three and a half .sx " Miss Courtney's skin is normally as white as any English city dweller's , and her hair , she told me , " is really like yours- an ordinary , mousy shade .sx " As I straightened a strand of my ordinary , mousy hair , she added :sx " The management pays me to keep it dyed as long as I'm playing Wanda .sx " WE were talking in her dressing-room at Manchester's Palace Theatre , where Miss Courtney is giving an exciting performance as the sultry Indian girl in " Rose Marie , " and sometimes we had to talk pretty loudly .sx From a dressing-room down the corridor came the sounds of David Whitfield limbering up his voice , now almost back to normal volume after an illness which recently kept him out of the show for two weeks .sx And from the pipes in the corner came less musical gurglings as the water from the bathroom upstairs drained away .sx " I count the number of baths people have during the evenings , to be sure there'll be enough hot water left for me , " said Miss Courtney .sx " I need that bath badly .sx " She has to wash off the coppery make-up which covers most of her body , and , particularly on days when there are two performances , that means a good deal of washing .sx BUT Miss Courtney is perfectly happy in any amount of water , provided it's not too cold .sx As a child she lived at Herne Bay , and her mother , a professional swimmer , diver , and dancer , soon had little Virginia following in her wake .sx " I just cannot remember a time when I couldn't swim , " she told me .sx " It's quite possible that I might have swum the Channel , though the longest measured distance I ever covered was only five miles .sx " In open water , distance doesn't bother me as long as I can take my time and just plod on .sx " She is also an expert skin diver , and between dancing and acting engagements has appeared in big aqua shows and modelled swim-suits under water .sx While dancing in a " Five Past Eight " revue in Glasgow she was called on to do some swimming in a Royal Command performance .sx " IT'S funny , " mused Morton Fraser , " to think that last year Don Arroll was working for me .sx And next week he'll be top of the bill at Manchester Hippodrome with the Harmonica Gang in support .sx " Not that I mind at all .sx He's a very nice lad with a lot of talent and we're happy to be working with him on this variety tour .sx " " All the same the rapid rise of the young comic is a prime example of the potency of TV , for without his spell as compere of the Sunday Palladium show , Don Arroll would still be using his undoubted talent in much lowlier spots on the bill .sx Fraser and his gang have spent most of this week in Manchester , although their Hippodrome date does not begin until Monday .sx They have been working on a new BBC TV musical show which makes its debut next Saturday , and on Thursday were in Edinburgh for a TV show with Charlie Chester .sx For the last eight years Fraser has left the stage performances to his gang , and has concentrated behind the scenes on management problems and finding a steady supply of bookings .sx NOT many people know that his decision to stay in the background was made at Oldham , and was initiated by an implacable doctor .sx Fraser told me :sx " We had been playing Cardiff , and I arrived at the Oldham Empire with the gang and a dreadfully sore throat .sx " The theatre manager sent for a doctor , who told me :sx 'There's no show for you this week .sx You're going straight to bed- unless you want to be the central figure in a show you won't know anything about .sx '