Home page PresentReviewers Latest Reviews English National OperaThe Gondoliers
Copyright English National Opera and Tristrom KentonGilbert and SullivanMarch 2 – 31, 2007
Gilbert was adept at poking fun at middle and upper class bourgeois attitudes and in this particular opera his libretto targets royalty, with plenty of jibes along the way at those who have a tendency to think of themselves in regal terms. Having previously enjoyed productions of three of Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular operas: The Mikado , H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance , I was looking forward to seeing their twelfth and last successful collaboration The Gondoliers. The lilting, effervescent overture, conducted by Murray Hipkin, was an unexpected treat.
The opening of the opera is as pleasing to the eye as it is to the ears, with its multi-hued fifties wide-skirted dresses, courtesy of Costume supervisor Elisabeth Farrer, and brightly coloured gondolas drifting along painted, sky blue canals, as designed by Ashley Martin-Davis. Ancient sounding bells, reminiscent of those in St. Mark's Cathedral ring out to alert us that we are now, in the land of the gondoliers. There are twenty- four women and just as many men, but all of the females hanker after Marco and Guiseppe. Excitement reigns amongst the feminine contingent as their two heartthrobs decide, once and for all, that they've been single long enough. David Curry and Toby Strafford-Allen play the ever so lucky in love gondoliers, Marco and Giusseppe with lively twinkles in their eyes and an amiable note in their voices. Stephanie Marshall and Sarah Tynan do the honours as the two, chosen out of many, grateful brides, Tessa and Gianetta.
Sarah Tynan and Stephanie Marshall as Gianetta and TessaCopyright English National Opera and Tristrom Kenton Ann Murray and Jane Reed regally play Duchess of Plaza-Toro and her daughter, Fiametta, and Robert Murray does a fine job with the role of the latter's rags to riches suitor, Luiz. Henry Goodman and Donald Maxwell are both very talented performers, however, their characters, Duke of Plaza-Toro and Don Alhambra were played so broadly in this production, as directed by Martin Duncan, that they were more akin to pantomime than a large scale opera, however comic. If the two characters had been approached as though they were merely real individuals with peculiarly off the wall idiosyncrasies, the overall effect might have been more humorous. This production of The Gondoliers fizzles more often than it sparkles, despite its lilting score, and the buoyant talents of its cast. Perhaps if the dialogue featured some pertinent cultural references relevant to its undeniably fifties Hollywood musical inspired costumes it would help bolster the opera's thinly constructed, predicable plot line. As it is, given the productions rather flat, postcard appeal, it seems as though the boat hasn't been pushed out far enough.
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