Act Ii

The central problem in casting Verdi's "La Traviata" is that of the central character herself. In Violetta, the composer created a role that tests a soprano's voice, style and dramatic range. She needs technical brilliance for Act I, lyric beauty in Act II, and the powers of a tragedian in the final scene. One hardly needs to add that she must also be musician and actress enough to find the thread of vocal and dramatic continuity that unites all of these elements.It is, therefore, a shame that Zvetelina Vassileva is not singing every performance in the Baltimore Opera Company's current production of this great and popular opera.

Leos Janacek was a composer who left a lot to the listener's imagination. All he tells us at the end of his "The Cunning Little Vixen," for example, is that the Forester, the main character, "lets his gun slip from his hands."In his lifetime, the composer steadfastly refused to let his interpreters make more of that conclusion than he thought they should, including suggestions that the Forester has joined the Vixen in death. The composer wanted to leave what happens to the imagination. He concluded "The Cunning Little Vixen" with some of the most powerful music ever composed for an opera's close -- music that suggests the inexorability of nature from generation to generation.

Welcome to Week 3 of the William Donald Schaefer campaign for comptroller. Official colors: Navy blue and orange. Official funny cap: "I'm a Wm. Donald Schaefer supporter and damn proud of it." Official disease: amnesia. How else to explain Schaefer's visit Wednesday to the 22nd annual J. Millard Tawes Crab Feast, where he rhapsodized about the Eastern Shore as if no one would remember that he once compared the region to an outdoor plumbing facility."Jurassic Park East" was the not-so-hip quip from former City Council President Walter S. Orlinsky earlier in the week, at Schaefer's first rally.

In opera, as in the laboratory, chemistry is everything.When the leads mesh musically and dramatically, melodies soar, emotions bubble over, and the passion of grand opera leaps off the stage to enfold and dazzle the audience.And when they don't, you get a production like the "Carmen" presented last weekend by the Annapolis Opera.Yes, there was color.Most of the leads could sing.There were snappy interludes such as the marvelous Act II quintet in which Carmen professes her love for Don Jose, the hapless soldier about to be destroyed by his passion for the fickle Gypsy girl.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Christy Jones was an economics major at Stanford University five years ago when she became interested in young computer entrepreneurs, including Michael Dell, the Austin merchant prince who was then 26."I remember thinking he was so old," Jones said.After graduating, Jones joined with some fellow Stanford students to start Trilogy Development Group, a fast-growing Austin business that makes software for automating how companies process their sales orders.Now, the restless Jones is 26, and she's already preparing for Act Two. Trilogy is spinning off a division called pcOrder.

The relationship between the Christmas season and children grew even closer last weekend when the Children's Theatre of Annapolis presented a cute, charming, funny production of "Snow White Goes West" at the Pascal Theater of Anne Arundel Community College.In this version of the Grimm brothers' tale, Snow White leaves Disney behind and heads to California with her Pappy to cash in on the gold strike of the 1840s.When Mr. White marries the dubious Queenie and dies suddenly, his daughter is left in the clutches of that devious saloonkeeper.

Four poets whose work is included in "Fast Talk, Full Volume," a new anthology of poetry by young African-American writers, will participate in a free poetry reading Mar. 1 at Irina's Cafe.Kenneth Carroll, Melvin Lewis, Brian Gilmore and Alan Spears will read selections from the anthology as well as from the body of their own work. The program will begin at 8:30 p.m. and will be followed by an open reading.Irina's Cafe is located at 32nd and Barclay streets in the Charles Village neighborhood; for details, call (410)

After 15 years of selling high fashion clothing, the owners of Act I & II Designer Boutique in historic Ellicott City are calling it quits.Saying they want to pursue other interests and spend more time with their families, owners Pinnie Ross and Lou Bennett will close their dress shop Jan. 31."We've been in business for 15 years," said Ms. Ross of Columbia. "We're not 20 years old anymore."Last week, the women placed red and white "going out of business" signs in the windows of the store at 8113 Main St.Local merchants say the women and their boutique, which specializes in evening wear and long gowns, will be missed.

Bonnie Kreamer is performing double dinner theater duty tomorrow and Saturday.First, she is cooking with the dinner crew. Then she has a meaty part in "The Scheme of the Shiftless Drifter.""This is a play where everything goes wrong," said Ms. Kreamer, who plays a scrubwoman more interested in cleaning the theater than watching "the mixed-up melodrama" unfolding on stage.When she is not emoting, she will stay in character -- or at least in costume -- while supervising in the kitchen.Of course, dinner will be perfect, she said, although she may have a little difficulty scurrying around the stove in her cumbersome construction boots.

Fries in minutesMaybe you could call it "Act III." Golden Valley Microwave Foods Inc. of Minneapolis, the developer of the popular "Act II" microwaveable popcorn, has turned its technological skills to french fries. The fries come in one-serving packages of 24 fries, ,, ready to pop into the microwave and specially formulated to be brown and crispy when they come out.The secret to Act II Microwave French Fries is the package, says Sara J. Risch, a Ph.D food scientist, who is responsible for product development, process engineering, package design and quality assurance for Golden Valley.