A G&S Abomination - HMS Pinafore by the Guthrie Theater

[gaffa]

@Bridget_Burke

Kevin Kline was The Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance; Linda Ronstadt was the female lead. (She does have a very fine voice.) A few liberties were taken but I like that version a lot…

It suffers most from the cheesy synth score, but I figured it was too low budget to hire a real orchestra.

My first G&S was The Mikado–a TV special with Groucho Marx playing The Lord High Executioner. It was cut for time & other liberties were taken but it was a great introduction. In preparation, our music teacher taught us some of the songs.

Oh, that sounds FUN!

It’s sad to lose any of the music but criminal to replace it with something else. Sullivan supplied the lovely tunes & Gilbert the silliness; the combination still works. (Why, yes, I love Topsy Turvy!)

Why, oh why didn’t they film a complete performance of The Mikado? They had an excellent cast, they were in the original theater…

What a loss.

[Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela]

Seconded - it would have made such a good companion piece to Topsy-Turvy!

[robert_columbia]

@Jackmannii

If the standard G&S works are considered old hat in need of modernization, maybe the problem is that hardly anyone seems to perform works other than The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore. How many times must they put on just these two? There are other deserving operas by G&S that I’d like to see, but they are never staged, at least not in my area…

What, NEVER?

[tdn]

@robert_columbia

What, NEVER?

Well, hardly ever.

The groups that I’ve worked with try to do rotations through all of the shows, but the popular ones still get more play. I’m a total Yeoman freak, though.

[The_Lurker_Above]

@Jackmannii

If the standard G&S works are considered old hat in need of modernization, maybe the problem is that hardly anyone seems to perform works other than The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore. How many times must they put on just these two? There are other deserving operas by G&S that I’d like to see, but they are never staged, at least not in my area.

Iolanthe? The Yeoman of the Guard? Totally overlooked.

Are you me?

Don’t get me wrong, I love The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore, but I just can’t work up the enthusiasm to go see them in yet another production.

I did jump at the chance to see my cousin in The Gondoliers a few years ago even though it was a four hour trip. I would definitely go to any non-Mikado/Pinafore G&S production within a few hours drive, if anyone would actually put one on.

As an aside, can anyone recommend a good recording of The Sorcerer? It’s pretty much the only G&S work I don’t have at least one version of.

[gaffa]

It really seems to be an east coast thing in the US. Chicago has two groups that produce one show a year.

[Bridget_Burke]

I have, alas, not availed myself of Houston’s Gilbert & Sullivan society.

Next summer: Iolanthe.

[suranyi]

In the Bay Area we have the Lamplighters who typically do two shows a year, mostly G&S. They have done both the famous ones and the more obscure ones. I’ve seen both Iolanthe and Yeoman. Looks like they’re doing Gondoliers in January.

[Daylate]

Let me chime in here. Anybody trying to “improve” on a G&S opera is an abomination before the Lord.

I saw that Guthrie production, too, and stick it out hoping in vain that it would get better. If anyone saw that who has never before seen G&S, they will come awas with a very poor opinion of their work.

Hughly disappointing.

[araminty]

Yeah, I made MaxTheVool turn it off when I heard the atrocious accents. Why are Americans so bad at sounding English? Aussies can do it!

[Eve]

There was a big stink on Broadway this season about an “improved” version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, too. I don’t recall exactly what the changes were, but I think they involved Porgy joining the Roller Disco.

[jayjay]

@Eve

There was a big stink on Broadway this season about an “improved” version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, too. I don’t recall exactly what the changes were, but I think they involved Porgy joining the Roller Disco.

Porgy Express?

[Bryan_Ekers]

Jammertime, and the Living is Easy ?

[Sampiro]

It’s reset from a black tenement in Depression era Charleston to a middle class retirement community in Palm Beach where instead of a beggar on a cart Milton “Poor Guy” Saperstein has a disability check and a mobility scooter and takes in Bess, a pregnant sorority girl who stays behind on spring break. James Earl Jones and Brenda Song are attached.

Actually, the recent version and several others have changed some of the musical numbers to spoken (more like a musical than an opera) and toned down the dialect (that/this/I’m for dat/dist/I’se). Mixed reviews.

[lawoot]

@Jackmannii

Iolanthe? The Yeoman of the Guard? Totally overlooked.

My college music department has done both The Gondoliers and Iolanthe. As the Scenic Designer for the theater, I designed both shows.

[Roderick_Femm]

@suranyi

In the Bay Area we have the Lamplighters who typically do two shows a year, mostly G&S. They have done both the famous ones and the more obscure ones. I’ve seen both Iolanthe and Yeoman. Looks like they’re doing Gondoliers in January.

Yes, we do, and I’m going to have to start supporting them more than I have. Maybe we could find a couple of others and have a Dopers’ night out?
Roddy

[Jackmannii]

@suranyi

In the Bay Area we have the Lamplighters who typically do two shows a year, mostly G&S. They have done both the famous ones and the more obscure ones. I’ve seen both Iolanthe and Yeoman. Looks like they’re doing Gondoliers in January.

Must be nice.

Our one G&S performance scheduled for 2012 is The Mikado, in conjunction with the N.Y. Gilbert & Sullivan Players. Let’s see, their upcoming performances at various venues are of:

The Mikado
The Pirates of Penzance
H.M.S. Pinafore
The Pirates of Penzance
The Mikado

I sense a rut.

[gaffa]

Both of my nieces are sopranos, and either of them could have done a wonderful job in any of those roles, but for some stupid reason the school’s director insisted on wasting their scarce resources on buying the rights to musicals and plays still in copyright.

[Hershele_Ostropoler]

It was better than any other televised production of G&S on in this market at the time it aired.

[Inner_Stickler]

@Roderick_Femm

The directing was ridiculous

I very quickly grew tired of Joe Dowling’s directorial slant. Maybe he was great back in the day but now he just makes me sad. And the additional materials guy is Jeffrey Hatcher.