La Traviata is an all-Italian affair in scurvied Eastman colour. The dubbing of Verdi's immortal music (till now) reminds one of hippo's catching peanuts. Anna Moffo (Violetta) hardly batters, moves or pouts her lips during her sub-Scriabanal shrieking, and a tabernacle choir emerging from a band of the fey aristocracy, makes this the most laughable version of opera-noir since the brilliant finale of the Marx Bros' Night at the Opera.

Ray Henwood (left) and Ken Blackburn (right) in a scene from Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "A Delicate Balance". Albee, well-known for his sensational "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", is one of Americas leading dramatists. George Webby's production for Downstage begins a season tonight.

—Warwick Teague photo.