Latest news with #Iolanthe
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Gilbert & Sullivan Festival Review: Whether it's The Pirates Of Penzance or Iolanthe, Simon Butteriss is the very model of perfection, says Tully Potter
The Pirates Of Penzance & Iolanthe (Gilbert & Sullivan Festival) Verdict: Worthy tributes to two geniuses NOTHING could be more delightful than opening a G&S Festival programme to discover that Simon Butteriss is singing the role of the Major-General — unless you also see that he is portraying the Lord Chancellor. Rooted in tradition, yet fully aware of the developments in musical theatre, Butteriss's characterisations are, above all, side-achingly funny. Whereas his Major-General in The Pirates is a tad doddery and fuddy-duddy, his Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe is liable to break into a dance at any moment. And his singing is in the great G&S line. Buxton Opera House, with its fine acoustic, is an ideal venue for productions founded on a chorus of just 16 and this year's presentations by the main company are very well cast — I was sorry to miss Princess Ida, later in the first week. Mabel in Pirates is Rebecca Bottone, from a well-known singing family: she is a sassy comedienne as well as a splendid exponent of Sullivan's coloratura. Her Frederic is also very strong, as William Morgan has a fine tenor and moves easily on stage. John Savournin directs as well as singing the Pirate King: he might consider importing into his Act 1 air the trill I distinctly heard him execute in an ensemble. Matthew Kellett is a droll Sergeant but Amy J. Payne, as Ruth, could profitably decide which of her two voices to choose — her changes from one to the other are disconcerting. What an enchanting score Sullivan gave us for Iolanthe. The recent death of his mother surely accounts for the tenderness of some of the music, which has magical pastoral interludes as well as uproarious episodes such as the March Of The Peers or the 'Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady' trio. First of the Savoy Operas to be premiered at the Savoy Theatre — and the first show to open in London and New York on the same night — it benefited from the new electric lighting. The fairies sported tiny origin of 'fairy-lights'! Sullivan took great care from the first bars of the Overture, and Gilbert's satirical bent was at its zenith. The Festival cast is without a weakness. Irish soprano Kelli-Ann Masterson is a lovely Phyllis and lyric baritone Felix Kemp as Strephon has added a little more body to his very pleasing tone. Meriel Cunningham is a touching Iolanthe, Gaynor Keeble a really queenly Queen of the Fairies. Earls Mountararat (James Cleverton) and Tolloller (Adam Sullivan) not only sing their respective airs with spirit but have a good knockabout relationship on stage. To have veteran Bruce Graham as the philosophical Private Willis is a rare bonus and Savournin's production is resourceful. The chorus and minor role singers are excellent, as are Harriet Ravdin's fairy costumes, the National Festival Orchestra's playing, and the conducting by John Andrews (Pirates) and James Hendry (Iolanthe). Balance was good except (a tiny quibble) that at both Iolanthe performances I attended, parts of the ensemble 'In Vain To Us You Plead' were inaudible.
Time Out
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Broadway review by Adam Feldman This show is of a kind that I shall dub an operettical: A British-Broadway hybrid that is cleverly synthetical. It starts with operetta of the comical variety That Sullivan and Gilbert wrote to tickle high society. The Pirates of Penzance, a pageant witty and Victorian, Premiered in 1880 on our calendar Gregorian. It still is entertaining but perhaps not in a date-night way; It seems a bit too fusty for revival on the Great White Way. So Rupert Holmes has come along to pump some Broadway jazz in it: To add a little spice and put some Dixieland pizzazz in it. And thanks to these injections, neither rev'rent nor heretical, We now have Holmes's model for a modern operettical. Pirates! The Penzance Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus Best known for Drood (and also for his hit 'Piña Colada Song'), He hasn't wrecked the story or egregiously forgot a song. But to ensure the whole endeavor's jazzier and bluer leans, He takes the show from Cornwall and resets it down in New Orleans. The Crescent City's sass and brass have quite rejuvenated it As Joe Joubert and Daryl Waters have reorchestrated it. (They've also added melodies that never here have been afore, On loan from Iolanthe, The Mikado and from Pinafore.) With silliness and energy the show is chockablock, well-set Amid the brightly colored NOLA streets of David Rockwell's set. And now that we have looked at questions musico-aesthetical, We move on to the plot of this diverting operettical. Pirates! The Penzance Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus The Pirate King swashbuckles on a large if not momentous ship Where Frederic, turning 21, is ending his apprenticeship. And when this duty-driven laddie reaches his majority His conscience will demand that he accept the law's authority. Upon that time, young Frederic knows, though he may feel a loss acute, His former pals, the pirates, he will have to fight and prosecute. (Unless, that is, some hitherto-undreamed-of technicality Should come to light and complicate his noble plan's legality.) But what if Frederic's former nurse, the sorely misbegotten Ruth, Discovers in some document an old and long-forgotten truth? It might, if this scenario's not strictly theoretical, Entail a major conflict in this model operettical. Pirates! The Penzance Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus Scott Ellis's direction is all tongue-in-cheek dramatical And Warren Carlyle's dances are enjoyably emphatical But notwithstanding those behind-the-scenesters' benefactions here, It's fair to say the actors are the principal attractions here. The Pirate King's embodied by a glist'ning Ramin Karimloo (Inspiring more dropped panties than you'd find in any harem loo) And you could comb through New Orleans and all surrounding parishes, And never find a Frederic as pluperfect as Nick Barasch's. The Drag Race legend Jinkx Monsoon, all blowsy eccentricity, Brings Ruth to life with vocal chops and facial elasticity. Performances italicized (and not just parenthetical) Combine to lift the spirits of this lively operettical. Pirates! The Penzance Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus Samantha Williams makes a lusty Mabel; Preston Truman Boyd Delivers his tap-dancing like an ably-programmed humanoid. But David Hyde Pierce steals the show, I say with no cajolery. His Major-Gen'ral is a master class in brilliant drollery: A rapid-patter songster with aplomb matched by no other's style (And daughters pirates yearn for, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers –style). In glorious precision, Pierce elicits every gazer's smiles As lovably and nimbly as he did when he played Frasier 's Niles. Pirates! The Penzance Musical | Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus The modern world is full of stress, so go and have a party, brah, And shake it like a necklace made of gaudy beads at Mardi Gras. Enjoy this Broadway hybrid that is tuneful and poetical: A most delightful model of a modern operettical. Pirates! The Penzance Musical. Todd Haimes Theatre (Broadway). Music by Arthur Sullivan. Libretto by W.S. Gilbert. Adapted by Rupert Holmes. Directed by Scott Ellis. With David Hyde Pierce, Ramin Karimloo, Nicholas Barasch, Jinkx Monsoon, Samantha Williams, Preston Truman Boyd. Running time: 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. Post scriptum: These rhymes of mine, I grant you, may not all be perfect, but they were The best that I could do—and face it, standards are not what they were. I'm just a humble swimmer in this lyrical aquarium; If W.S. Gilbert's what you want, then go unbury him.
