Gilbert and Sullivan

[crabtree]

I'm trying to prove to a doubting friend that Gilbert and Sullivan can still be theatrically valid and exciting and relevant - I've seen some dry and dusty ones of late, theatrically inert ones, pre covid, but the Sasha Regan all male productions have been wildly enjoyable and inventive - Ms Regan, it's time for another one please. I'd love to see what you'd do with Ruddigore. 

[alece10]

G&S was my introduction to theatre when my grandmother took me as a child to the local operatic society annual operetta.
Love Sasha Regan's all male versions. Think I have seen them all now and they are wonderful.

[oxfordsimon]

Is it better to see traditionally cast productions to understand the genre before seeing alternative versions?

The ENO Mikado is rightly a classic. It respects the intentions of the creators but gives them a very entertaining tweak.

I do regret not seeing the recent ENO Iolanthe. The visuals looked stunning. I also regret seeing the infamous ENO Princess Ida... that really did nothing to enhance the original.

I probably shouldn't admit this in public but I do rather enjoy the Australian productions by EssGee productions. They are very high energy and add a panto like enthusiasm that fully engages the audiences.

[alece10]

I also remember seeing Pirates at Drury Lane with Bonnie Langford and Michael Praed. It was great fun.

[crabtree]

It's a dilemma - without the D'Oyly Carte and their dogged persistence I doubt that we would still have the operas - they'd be lurking somewhere waiting to be discovered, but oh the D'Oyly Carte, with their stilted delivery and regimented staging put off as many audiences as they definitely encouraged. Gilbert was such an innovator and I'm sure he would have been horrified to see the pieces preserved in aspic, whilst theatrical innovations overtook them. Love or hate the operas, as some such as the Mikado must be acknowledged as a masterpiece, musical theatre owes a huge, huge debt to them.

[craig]

I can’t help but love G&S. I know nothing about opera but have always found their operettas so accessible as a musical theatre fan.

That said, I didn’t particularly love Mike Leigh’s Pirates at the ENO (fairly) recently. His Topsy Turvy movie is a lot of fun though.

[oxfordsimon]

Without Gilbert there wouldn't have been Sondheim or a Miranda. He made clever lyrics popular.

[sukhavati]

Aug 1, 2021 20:22:37 GMT craig said:

I can’t help but love G&S. I know nothing about opera but have always found their operettas so accessible as a musical theatre fan.

That said, I didn’t particularly love Mike Leigh’s Pirates at the ENO (fairly) recently. His Topsy Turvy movie is a lot of fun though.

I loved Topsy Turvy, but it made me realise that most G&S shows are essentially the same major plot points and character tropes. Having said that I was dance captain for the ensemble in a production of The Mikado, and it was fun. The most recent production I saw was three years ago, Pirates by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, and in truth, it was borderline amateur and very disappointing with low energy levels compared to the Papp company. I don't think anything can top the Joseph Papp version of Pirates in the early 80s - I was taken to see that on my birthday, and I think that production, more than anything I'd seen before, got me well and truly hooked on musical theatre. Anthony Warlow did a version of Pirates for Opera Australia, where he was channeling Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, and I saw a video clip of a different Australian version of Pirates with a number of the Stanley daughters being played in drag looking more like the ensemble of Priscilla. It looked fun - I wish I could have seen the entire production.

[Someone in a tree]

I do have a spot spot for G&S. More so for the music as I find the lyrics too attention drawing.

I can't totally recommend Charles Court Opera. They have very good music and performance standards. And on the subject of Charles, the WNO-Charles Mackerras recordings are really good, my favourites really.

[crabtree]

Just back from the gorgeous Buxton Opera House and the Charles Court Iolanthe. Sometimes the obsessive, and devoted audience can make his an uncomfortable festival, but everyone was delighted with this production. Just a company of nine (some complex and witty rejigging of the parts) with a lavish orchestra, and musically the whole thing was spirited and gorgeous. The production, set in a study in Westminster was inventive with some sensitive, but very funny tweaks. Great joy all in all.

[crabtree]

and good value too.....he festival already got next year sorted out. 

[crabtree]

Does anyyone remember the National Theatre's production of gilbert's Engaged at the Old Vic. i wonder if any of his plays are worth looking at again. and has the National ever done a G&S opera.....several would be perfect for them, Iolanthe, Yeomen, Patience, Pirates?

[oxfordsimon]

Foggerty's Fairy is quite a fun play. He wrote so many, there are bound to be few others that would still work.

Gilbert did a stage adaptation of Great Expectations... and chose not to put Miss Havisham on stage. So he didn't always make good choices!

National has never gone near a G&S as far as I know.

WNO did Yeomen in the 90s and did a couple of performances at Covent Garden. Those were the first performances of any Savoy opera there.

[crabtree]

no miss Haversham......heck, that's bold. She rather drives the plot. that's interesting about G&S at the ROH, when they have done many a foreign operetta, such as die Fledermaus - with hInge and Bracket making a novelty appearance in that one.