As you may have guessed, I am an avid fan of the madcap, mellifluous, mettlesome music of Gilbert & Sullivan. The month of March brings us two opportunities to see productions of their works including the New York City Opera's The Pirates of Penzance and Fairfield County's Troopers Light Opera's Princess Ida.
The Pirates of Penzance is probably better known due to Joseph Papp's live 1980 show in New York's Central Park that starred Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt. I wonder if the New York City Opera will be more sedate as it features Tony Award nominees Marc Kudisch as the Pirate King and Mark Jacoby as Major-General Stanley.
Gilbert considered his Princess Ida a "respectful operatic perversion of the poem 'The Princess,'" by Tennyson. Although the operetta satirized the issue of women's rights which was an active political movement during that time period, Sullivan's music made up for Gilbert's Victorian bias on the status of women in society. See if you can identify Cristina Richardson of the Staples High School English Department in this production.
Gilbert & Sullivan are quite renowned for their mockery and ridicule of politicians and society in their work. The Pirate King's song is quite noteworthy for its sarcastic bite as he comments on his life's work:
"When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it's true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do;
But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than ever I do."
For further exploration of this pair, the Library has Isaac Asimov's Asimov's Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan, Jane W. Stedman's W. S. Gilbert: A Classic Victorian & His Theatre, and Gayden Wren's A Most Ingenious Paradox: The Art of Gilbert & Sullivan.
Comments (2)
The Troupers Light Opera production of Princess Ida is in the delightful, intimate St. Luke's School Performing Arts Center in New Canaan, with full orchestra - a visual and sonic treat! Performances are at 8 PM on March 16, 17, 23 & 24 with matinees at 2:30 PM on March 18 & 24. Directions are on Troupers Light Opera website, trouperslightopera.org. Enjoy!
Posted by Carl Serbell | March 14, 2007 3:15 PM
Posted on March 14, 2007 15:15
Princess Ida is unique in the G&S operettas in that it s not really a political satire. While 2 or 3 young characters make fun of the women's college Ida founds, the story is really about two warring kings and their children who have gone their own way, even though they were betrothed in infancy.
The story ends up being about their falling in love even as the Princess threatens the Prince with death for invading her all-female college.
Most important, the music is simply spectacular, with echoes of Handel, Beethoven and Verdi as well as the sprightly tunes in the 2nd act that critics called a "string of pearls."
And despite this serious-sounding subject matter, the story is also very funny indeed.
Posted by Jim Cooper | March 14, 2007 2:56 PM
Posted on March 14, 2007 14:56