Staging Director: Barry Clark
Conductor: Martin Handley
If you put together eight operatic soloists including several veteran Savoyards and an orchestra of 26 under the accomplished baton of Martin Handley and present an evening of Gilbert and Sullivan favourites, you’re going to get a good show. Disappointingly A Gala Celebration of Gilbert and Sullivan is that and no more, possibly because this is the start of a short tour and things aren’t quite bedded in.
The show was introduced by Barry Clark and Matthew Siveter, very amiably, but, unless my ears deceived me, things got a bit confused in the second half. The exchanges between Clark and Siveter featuring Gilbert’s wit (“I believe Bach is decomposing!” to an American lady) came out a touch perfunctory. Those little dances so beloved of the D’Oyly Carte and its successors seemed unrehearsed or partially rehearsed. Despite this there was much to enjoy, notably in the second half when things took flight.
Handley led the orchestra into an opening overture to The Yeomen of the Guard and, then, reflecting the growing mood of relaxation in the second half, a much more animated Patience. There was no attempt at a thematic approach except for a sequence of four numbers from Iolanthe in the second half, admirably not the usual set pieces, except for the Nightmare Song, Clark retaining enough puff for a triumphant finish. It was one of two “patter” songs that he essayed, the other, the wonderful My Name is John Wellington Wells, coming at the start of the evening.
Tarantara Productions (Clark and Handley) clearly realised what a gem they have in Rebecca Bottone, giving her four major soprano arias in the course of the evening, including two of those delightfully self-regarding, looking-in-the-mirror efforts at which Sullivan excelled: Poor Wandering One (with just the right degree of flirtatiousness and a neat bit of business with the conductor) and a deliciously soaring The Moon and I.
Timothy Nelson did a fine job on the Pirate King and Sweet and Low was rescued from the obscurity of Utopia Ltd, but by and large it was the ensembles that registered, Nelson and Yvonne Howard combining nicely for So Go to Him, Howard persuading us that There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast, the inevitable My Eyes are Fully Open, the trio ringing the bells on board ship for Never Mind the Why and Wherefore, a final roistering Regular Royal Queen.
It was never less than musically accomplished, but it would be good to see it again when all the rough edges have been smoothed off.
Reviewed on 8th October 2022.
The Reviews Hub Score
Musically accomplished
