Access all arias! G&S are raising the rafters
AN EVENING of unending hilarity has an undertow of sadness, as Paul Brown, responsible for the superb designs, died in November. He went out on a high note, as this new production is the pinnacle of the ENO’s long association with Gilbert and Sullivan.
Straight away, as Timothy Henty begins the Overture, you know you are in for something special: he has gone back to Sullivan’s original score, the best the composer achieved, and has enabled it to shine with a special clarity.
Clive Mantle, magnificently bearded, introduces both halves of the opera as a droll Captain Shaw, head of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade. (The real Shaw was present at the premiere, in 1882.) Sheep, birds, a cow, a horse, a flamingo and even a unicorn enhance the comedy of Cal McCrystal’s production as the sight gags come thick and fast. Watch out for the Bojo lookalike.
Ellie Laugharne’s Phyllis and Marcus Farnsworth’s tap-dancing Strephon are costumed like Dresden figurines and the Fairies could have stepped out of a Victorian picture book. Holding the action together is Andrew Shore’s nimble Lord Chancellor, well backed up by Ben Johnson’s mellifluous Earl Tolloller.
Yvonne Howard as the Fairy Queen is not the booming contralto envisaged by Sullivan, but still dominates the stage; Samantha Price is a touching Iolanthe; and Barnaby Rea revels in Private Willis’s aria.
A word of caution: McCrystal could reduce the gags by a tenth without damaging the comedy. Some go on too long and take our attention away from the music, and a few of the new wisecracks coarsen Gilbert’s script.
The choral singing is first rate, though — especially in the Lords’ entrance march; and the orchestra does Sullivan proud.