TOYS FOR GROWNUPS

 Matthew Wages,  Alexa Devlin and. Ryan Allais

(photo by meche kroop)

We have no idea who was the intended audience for Victor Herbert's turn-of-the-20th c. hit musical Babes in Toyland nor are we experts in what is suitable for children these days.  All we can say is that we spent a most delightful hour with VHRPLive! which, regular readers will know, stands for Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live. We wish that this magical musical hour  had gone on longer!

Let us mention that there is nothing "naughty" that is unsuitable for children and, if you have any, it might be fun to bring them along. Of course, today's children are accustomed to snark and smarm so we dare not predict the extent of their interest.  But for those of us of the adult persuasion, it is very refreshing to watch a work so charming and innocent, played without a shred of condescension. What fun to awaken the child in oneself!

The main attraction is Mr. Herbert's memorable melodies. Contemporary composers could use a lesson from the prolific Mr. Herbert who penned enough operettas to keep VHRPLive! (celebrating its tenth anniversary) going for at least another decade. When is the last time you left a theater smiling and humming? We want to give credit to the late Dino Anagnost for compiling the score some three decades ago.

What is also quite wonderful is the manner in which Founder and Artistic Director Alyce Mott has revised the libretto to bring the story to its charming peak, as she usually does. Furthermore she has tinkered with Glen MacDonough's lyrics to great advantage, with contributions from Craig Timberlake and Mr. Anagnost.  We take umbrage when an opera director alters the original intent and setting of our beloved classic tragedies such that they make no sense. This is a completely different "story", so to speak. We sincerely believe that if Mr. Herbert had been in the audience he would have shared our delight.

The "book" is nothing like Pixar's film Toy Story. The characters are not toys, they are nursery rhyme characters that most of us recall from childhood. Here they are all assembled in an imaginary place called Toyland, under the supervisory eye of Mother Goose, portrayed by mezzo-soprano Alexa Devlin who was costumed exactly as we might have imagined her (no credit for costuming in the program).  Her warm sound introduced us to "Toyland" which is probably one of Herbert's more familiar songs.

The romantic couple comprised BoPeep andTom, Tom, the Piper's Son. Soprano Joanie Brittingham, a VHRPL regular, was adorable in the role which had her being both tearful and fearful, as she searched for her missing sheep. New to the company is tenor Ryan Allais as Tom, as wonderful a romantic lead as we could have hoped for. His singing and dancing were completely on point and we don't mean on point shoes!

The villain of the piece was an almost unrecognizable Matthew Wages whose mellow baritone was twisted into a nasty snarl as he portrayed Silas Barnaby, waving a foreclosing mortgage that threatens to put an end to Toyland. He was accompanied by two henchmen, the brainy Rodrigo, played by tenor Chaz Peacock and the brawny Gonzorgo, played by tenor Andrew Buck. 

Mr. Barnaby wants to marry BoPeep but...(we are not going to give away the plot but we were thinking of the last act of Falstaff).  Does the villain twirl his mustache?  Does he get his just desserts? You are going to have to find out for yourself. We hope you can snag tickets for the two remaining performances and you can thank us later.

You will enjoy the company of Humpty Dumpty (mezzo-soprano Sarah Bleasdale, Wee Willie (baritone Keith Broughton), Mary Mary Quite Contrary, doubling as a gorgeous butterfly  (soprano Gabriella Giangreco), Little Miss Muffet (Maggie Langhorne), tenor Joe Marx and soprano Kathleen Raab (both making their debuts with the company) as Jack and Jill, soprano Mariah Mueller as Curly Locks, baritone Zachary Wobensmith as Simple Simon, tenor Matthew Youngblood as Little Boy Blue, and the familiar veteran baritone David Seatter as Old King Cole. Mr. Seatter is a founding artist of the company and has never missed a performance. We always await his presence with anticipation.

As far as the music is concerned we delighted in the live orchestra under the baton of Maestro Michael Thomas. We might add that The Theatre at St. Jean's is a rare find, a mid-sized theatre with an orchestra pit and raked seating. Everyone gets an unobstructed view and perfect sound. There is some voluntary audience participation in the finale and if you want to participate, learn the words to "Toyland". In terms of clever lyrics, we were particularly fond of "I Can't Do the Sum".

The choreography by Christine Hall was simple and stylish, adding a great deal of interest, as did the colorful but uncredited costuming. 

© meche kroop

BABES IN TOYLAND

Christopher Fitzgerald and Lauren Worsham (photo by Erin Baiano)

What a coinkydink to have Victor Herbert in our  musical life two nights in a row! I was wondering whether the decision of MasterVoices to tackle this work was in any way affected by the success of Alyce Mott’s three-year-old Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live!  What MasterVoices attempted was very similar to what Ms. Mott does. There was an ambitious rewriting and adapting of the libretto to make sense to a 21st c. audience.

With Ted Sperling as Conductor and Director, last night’s production of Herbert’s unwieldy 1903 Babes in Toyland at Carnegie Hall was a huge buffet of musical and dramatic delicacies. Whether you left elated or disappointed was largely determined by your tastes and appetites. If you came for Herbert’s music, you would have been thrilled by the massive Orchestra of St.Luke’s and the marvelous choristers of MasterVoices, formerly known as The Collegiate Chorale).

If you came for fun, there were plenty of sight gags by the talented cast. Bill Irwin with his rubber body and keen instinct for humor nearly stole the show as The Toymaker who hates children and wants to destroy them with dangerously evil toys. Evil characters are ever so much fun and the lecherous Uncle Barnaby (Jonathan Freeman) tries to get rid of his adorable niece Jane and nephew Alan (the adorable Lauren Worsham and the equally adorable Christopher Fitzgerald) to get their inheritance.

In this he is aided and abetted by two henchmen—Roderigo (Jeffrey Schecter) and Gonzorgo (Chris Sullivan), neither of whom is adorable, but both of whom are very funny.

Jane is beloved by Tom Tom the Piper’s Son (Jay Armstrong Johnson) who dances as well as he sings, and Alan has romantic designs on pert Contrary Mary (the wonderful Kelli O’Hara) who must cleverly outwit Uncle Barnaby.

Tom’s mother The Widow Piper was portrayed by the fine Nina Hennesy.

The bizarre plot of the 1903 production involved a shipwreck and a volcano but we were urged by the narrator to use our imagination. Indeed, Herbert’s superlative orchestral writing evoked a mighty storm in the orchestra. We confess to being entranced by the percussionist who played the kettle drums, usually hidden in the back of the orchestra— but here, right in front for our visual delight. Herbert’s evocation of sunrise rivaled Beethoven’s depiction of moonlight in his appropriately named Moonlight Sonata.

Now here comes the less tasty part of the buffet. Both orchestra and chorus were onstage, not in the pit. For much of the performance, the clever words of the dialogue and lyrics were drowned out. Narrator Blair Brown, who had some apparently clever tongue-in-cheek comments, suffered the most. We cannot deny that there were some folks in the audience who did succeed in understanding the jokes because we heard laughter. We thought we were losing our hearing until we convened with other people in various parts of Carnegie Hall who shared our difficulty.

Glen McDonough’s original book and libretto created a spectacle of visual effects and music hall type numbers, many of which had nothing to do with the inconsequential and convoluted plot. It lasted four hours and audiences loved it! Last night’s production was trimmed to a bit over two hours an was adapted by Joe Keenan and Ted Sperling with script and some additional lyrics by Joe Keenan. There was something about Trump in the number “If I Were a Man Like That” which we could not hear enough to understand. We would have wished to have heard it.

The voices were amplified and the singers were on the book. We sense that part of the incomprehensibility was related to the situation of narrators and singers moving their heads to look down at the score and up at the audience, thereby not always getting consistent amplification.

The problem could have been ameliorated by the use of titles. We desperately wanted to get the jokes and felt alienated when we couldn’t hear them. Still, it was pleasure enough to listen to Herbert’s infectious music. Although the most famous numbers from the show are “Toyland” and “March of the Toys”, we had our own favorites: Tom’s song “Never Mind, Bo-Peep, We Will Find Your Sheep” , Jane’s song “Can’t Do the Sum”, Alan’s song “Song of the Poet” (in which Mr. Fitzgerald succeeded in making the words clear!), and the clever duet about marriage “Before and After”, sung by Ms. O’Hara and Mr. Fitzgerald.

All in all, a worthwhile evening that offered much but could have been better.

(c) meche kroop