NYFOS GALA CELEBRATES GILBERT AND SULLIVAN

Chris Reynolds (piano), David Hyde Pierce, Abigail Levis, Hal Cazalet, Lauren Worsham, and Bryce Pinkham

There was, as usual, lots of dry humor in Steven Blier's account of his childhood fascination with Gilbert and Sullivan.  Last night's New York Festival of Song Spring Gala at the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall offered patrons the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear Broadway stars joyfully tackle duets and ensembles from several comic operas composed by that incredibly gifted writing team.

Writing during the Victorian period, Gilbert's librettos satirized the political and social constructs of that epoch. The stories treat the most absurd situations as if they were normal, turning the world upside-down--hence the title of that marvelous film Topsy-Turvy. Sullivan wrote the most singable melodies, tunes that get inside the ear and brain and never let go.

When one thinks of marvelous writing teams in America one thinks immediately of Rogers and Hammerstein.  In England, one thinks of Gilbert and Sullivan. We have written often about how difficult it is to set the English language. Serious works often appear deadly and boring, without much vocal line. Comic or ironic works seem to lend themselves better to musical involvement.  Think Cole Porter and Steven Sondheim.

As Maestro Blier so aptly pointed out, most of G&S' comic operas deal with the strange laws and customs that keep lovers apart and the clever ways the characters get around the law.  With his marvelous sense of humor he pointed out that Nanki-Poo in The Mikado would never wind up with Katisha because "tenors don't marry contraltos". It does seem that each and every one of their operas has some peculiarly absurd--but logically absurd--solution to the problem that results in a happy ending and a happy audience.

Last night's happy audience enjoyed selections from The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, and Princess Ida. There was no printed program so we will rely on our memory to share a few of the very special moments.

Mezzo-soprano Abigail Levis was hilarious as Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, being brought down from her mania by the safe word "Basingstoke". Mr. Blier's hilarious contribution was the joke that "the portraits of the disapproving ancestors could be removed to the Frick--where no one would ever see them".

The three gentlemen of the cast--David Hyde Pierce, Hal Cazalet, and Bryce Pinkham had a great time with the cross-dressing scene in Princess Ida, which they performed solely with acting and without benefit of costume changes.

Soprano Lauren Worsham was delightful in the trio from H.M.S. Pinafore as she turns Sir Joseph Porter's lesson in class distinction around to suit her own romantic ideals. And when Mr. Pierce sang the famous number about his rise to Admiral of the Queen's Navy, the rest of the ensemble indulged in some hilarious hand-jive in unison.

Accompanying the singers were Maestro Blier himself, assisted by Chris Reynolds, whose playing we enjoyed so much at a prior NYFOS event.

It was an altogether charming evening! Our only reservation was the sporadic use of scores.  One might have hoped that the cast would have memorized the material.

(c) meche kroop

NEITHER FISH NOR FOWL

Hunter Parrish and Deborah Voigt (photo by Erin Baiano)

So The Collegiate Chorale, after 74 seasons, is now Master Voices. And Gilbert and Sullivan's masterpiece The Pirates of Penzance has been itself press ganged into the service of cheap entertainment. This does not of course mean that the press has ganged up on them!

Actually, the audience laughed wildly and applauded just as wildly at this peculiar performance, which we found ill-conceived and ill-performed. This makes us feel like a cranky scold but we did not have a good time.  And Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas always promise a good time.

W. S. Gilbert's clever words and Arthur Sullivan's highly tuneful music go together like bangers and mash, like fish and chips. We have often held the pair up as examplars who created the perfect melding of text and melody; they created vocal lines that are highly singable and they knew how to handle the English language. Short punchy lines with clever rhymes bring out the best of our mother tongue.

Although the intricacies of the British political system in the Victorian Age may not be known to us, the basics of political corruption and the British national character are familiar sources of satire and we of the 21st c. can look back at their satire with glee.

But satire is not slapstick and the Borscht belt version we saw at New York City Center Thursday night left us in tears. The flaws were many. Let us enumerate.

Although we prefer fully staged opera, we are no stranger to concert versions (as in Opera Orchestra of New York) during which we can focus on the music and the singing. But the hybrid we saw was just irritating with the performers trying to (over)act with books in hand.

The amplification was irritating and the diction was poor with only Broadway star Phillip Boykin (as the Pirate King) and Douglas Hodge (as Major General Stanley) exhibiting good enough diction to catch most of the words.  Gilbert's text is so clever it is criminal not to enunciate clearly.

As Frederic, TV star Hunter Parrish couldn't sing his way out of a paper bag and his usually fine acting was severely hampered by carrying the libretto.

Deborah Voigt, lured from the opera stage, was wasted as Ruth.

Julia Udine, however, made a fine Mabel and has a lovely warbly soprano just right for the part. We would like to hear her someday without the distortion of amplification. There was one piece of satire that passed by without tampering and we were grateful for it.  G&S loved to satirize opera and Lucia Lammermoor's mad scene, in which she sings a wildly embellished vocal line in duet with a glass harmonica, was here rendered as a duet with the flute in "Poor wandering one". Nicely done! And no insult to Donizetti.

Some of Stanley's daughters sang well but we could not differentiate one from another.

The Orchestra of St. Luke's played rather well from the original scoring of the work. We heard a lovely oboe solo in the overture.

The massive forces of Master Voices were on bleachers onstage behind the actors and seemed to be wasted with all the histrionics distracting from the music. Ted Sperling conducted and directed. Presumably the histrionics and pratfalls were his idea.

Costume Consultant Tracy Christensen was guilty of too much and too little.  Tri-cornered hats on the pirates and the costumes of the Police took us back to Queen Victoria's day but Mabel and the Stanley girls looked like debutants from the mid 20th c. with silly little white caps on their heads. Most egregious was Ms. Voigt's pirate costume which was disastrously unflattering, making her look....FAT!

The alternative title of The Pirates of Penzance is the Slave of Duty. And so we did our duty and sat through the entire evening hoping that the memory will not spoil future performances of the piece by, say, New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players who generally do a fairly reverent job in the spirit of the original intent.

(c) meche kroop