The Pirates of Penzance

For anyone who was under the impression that there is only one opera house in Australia, this is a production from the Victoria State Opera, based in Melbourne. It is pleasantly entertaining but, I'm afraid, it does have a slightly provincial feel to it. Only Reg Livermore, as a kilted Major-General Stanley, stands out among the cast. Most singers would have trouble with the double-tempo encore of "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" but Livermore manages it while doing a sabre-dance. Elsewhere, Mabel's rendition of Sullivan's pastiche of Rossinian coloratura: "Poor wand'ring one" fails to hit the spot and the Pirates' rousing "With catlike tread" fails to rouse. Particularly disappointing is the chorus of policeman. I know the second act is supposed to take place at night in a ruined castle but it was so poorly lit that the comic business of "When the foeman bares his steel" was completely lost.

I watched a production of the Mikado recently and was struck by how the rhythm and inflection of Gilbert's brilliant lyrics made Sullivan's task comparatively simple. In the Pirates, the reverse seems to me to be the case. Gilbert's lyrics are so clunky and his plot so silly that it must have been an uphill struggle for Sullivan to produce one of his most melodic scores.

Looking at IMDb's database, I see that the director of this 1993 film, Peter Butler, filmed it again with a completely different cast in 1994, so maybe he was not entirely happy either.