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HMS Pinafore
or Dauntless Dick Deadeye
By Gilbert & Sullivan, in a new version by Herbert Appleman
Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, London
Review by John Thaxter
(2005)
This is billed as ‘a new version’ of Gilbert & Sullivan’s
greatest hit, plus a subtitle to suggest an enlarged starring role for
musical veteran Gary Wilmot as raconteur seaman Dick Deadeye.
Be assured: Herbert Appleman has tinkered with neither plot, character
nor Sullivan’s score — how could he? Instead he opens up WS
Gilbert’s Victorian satire just a little, so that we all get the
joke — including the revelation that the First Lord of the Admiralty
is based on the bookseller WH Smith.
And I am happy to report that even hardcore Savoyards will find Ian
Talbot’s musically assured Open Air staging, set on the prow and
fore deck of the good ship Pinafore, the most blissful evening of tuneful
and nautical joy to reach London since the National’s lookalike
revival of Anything Goes, both affording a salty sense of life
aboard ship.
Patriotism, even when gently satirised, is another potent force at
work. On the first night, following two weeks of bad news in the capital,
an infectious sense of London kinship was created as Giles Taylor’s
bosun gave a ringing rendition of He Is An Englishman, the joyful
emotion gripping an entire audience of all nationalities.
It was a moment that only Winston Churchill himself could have topped,
with one of his rousing wartime speeches. But it was actually topped
by the stately procession of the small but potent figure of HM Queen
Victoria to the podium, making an unscheduled entrance complete with
Union Jack bunting to delight a cheering crowd, proof that, mock them
as you may, our deep-felt ideas of England, home and beauty remain fresh
and true.
As part of Gilbert’s plot, the crew of Pinafore is undergoing
a politeness regime with Hal Fowler as its considerate captain, commanding
a group of ordinary seamen like a West End chorus line deferring to
each other’s feelings. But this doesn’t save Ralph Rackstraw
(tenor Simon Thomas) from class conscious humiliation when he falls
for the captain’s pretty daughter, Josephine, played as an English
rose by gorgeous soprano Scarlett Strallen.
The plot thickens when the First Lord arrives with his sisters and
his cousins and his aunts, to claim the hand of Josephine for himself,
blissfully unaware that his first cousin, the bespectacled Hebe (mezzo
Sirine Saba) is head over heels in love with him. Desmond Barrit gives
one of his best ever performances in the role of Sir Joseph Porter,
at one point even morphing into a Mikado figure plus an axe-wielding
executioner Ko-Ko to complete the comic effect.
Of course it all ends happily ever after, with a revelation by Lesley
Nicol’s ageless Little Buttercup that the social standing of two
of the principals should be reversed in the interests of fair play and
romance.
The design by Paul Farnsworth, who has a string of Open Air musical
hits to his credit, has created one of Regent’s Park’s most
audacious settings with a steep sky-blue ‘hanamichi’ path
that links the back of the house with the stage, down which most characters
sooner or later make their entrance in highly colourful versions of
Victorian costume, including a sexy catsuit for Josephine, which makes
this not only a comic musical delight, but also a feast for the eyes.
Musical director Catherine Jayes on keyboards leads a talented onstage
musical ensemble to complete an evening’s entertainment of vintage
quality, not to be missed by all G&S aficionados. But be
sure to take something warm to wear after the interval.
This production of "HMS Pinafore" continues
in repertory with "Twelfth Night"
and "Cymbeline" until Saturday,10th
September. Evening performances begin at 8pm.
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