Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?- Page 2
Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
AuroratheGeek
Chorus Member Joined: 3/16/17
#25Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:11pm
About 10 years ago now the Huntington Theater did a show called Pirates! Plundered which I adored. It was very much in the Pirates of the Caribbean heyday and really reflected that with a barely veiled Jack Sparrow as the pirate king.
It was a marvelous production and I adored the Caribbean feel they gave the score. I would kill for a audio recording!
I gather that the one or two big review venues in Boston didn't love it and so it never made it to New York.
sabrelady
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/16/03
#26Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/9/18 at 10:20pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHlakM55SQA
Th audio is a bit off but it shows the wonderful staging of The Pirate King from the Central Park Production ( far superior to the film version IMO). Kevin Kline is sublime.
#27Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/10/18 at 5:25am
NPH was born to play the Major General with his nimble tongue--when his tongue becomes much older of course, though he seems to be aging rather quickly of late.
Jarethan
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/10/11
#28Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/10/18 at 11:59am
The Distinctive Baritone said: "Yeah, the audience for opera is getting smaller and smaller. I really like opera MUSIC but after having seen fifteen or so operas I can say that opera, for me at least, is usually not very compelling theatrically. It’s for classical music lovers, not theater people.
That said, the G&S shows are operettas - an opera/musical theatre hybrid, and therefore generally more accessible than opera to those who typically attend musical theater."
I have also seen and hated all but one of about 15 opera performances I have seen; yet, when there is an opera excerpt in a movie or when I hear a specific aria, I am often mesmerized. I have concluded that it is a reaction to a 'greatest hits' moment.
I once saw a performance of Madame Butterfly and was bored the entire time; I was in such a stupor that I didn't even enjoy her particularly famous aria, although I really do think it is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. Opera just seems so stilted for me.
I feel the same way about operetta, however. In Penzance, I loved George Rose's Major General and enjoyed one or two other numbers; getting through the rest was a real slog, however.
The one opera performance I enjoyed overall was Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme; the second scene, which has two amazing pieces of music, was also so visually stunning that you couldn't help but be entertained. I still remember, however, that one of the four scenes was almost entirely recitative, and that i was just as bored as with every other opera performance that I attended. I would also point out that La Boheme is short.
#29Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/10/18 at 1:06pm
Interestingly, NPH's voice timbre and tone sounds rather like an American version of John Reed, the "thin man" clown of the D'Oyly Carte complete recordings series. (George Rose, though not a thin man, nonetheless played the "thin man" comic roles more often than the more pompous bass-baritone "fat man" roles in these operettas.)
BRDWYLights123
Swing Joined: 1/10/18
#30Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/10/18 at 1:26pm
Please PLEASE let the Rando Barrington Pirates finally come in! I saw it and it was amazing. There was so much buzz and then nothing. What is taking so long?
#31Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/10/18 at 1:56pm
The production of The Merry Widow that Susan Stroman directed and choreographed at the Met three years ago was enjoyable. It starred Renee Fleming and Kelli O'Hara made her Met debut. It was in English, it was a comedy and the music was accessible. In fact I already was a fan of "The Merry Widow Waltz."
True opera buffs probably thought that it tilted a bit towards Broadway. In fact I'm pretty sure that this number was the highlight of the opera for most Broadway types. A still from the scene is Kelli's Twitter background photo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxEXiUG0_tM
#32Why no Gilbert and Sullivan Revivals?
Posted: 1/11/18 at 12:47am
Sweet Lips, my intense love of G&S began in Junior High School when I played King Gama in Princess Ida. Sullivan's score for Ida's second act used to be known as his "string of pearls."
During the first half of the 20th century, the G&S shows were among the most frequently revived of all Broadway shows.
Updated On: 1/11/18 at 12:47 AM
