THE GONDOLIERS, AT WEST ROAD
‘They’re gonna need a smaller boat’. That was my reaction to the first bit of attempted theatricality in this student production of ‘The Gondoliers’. The eponymous crew entered stage left carrying from behind a large piece of wood, painted black, vaguely in the shape of an oversized boat which had little resemblance to any gondola I have ever seen. Lifting the 2-D vessel we could see the crew’s feet (nice pairs of modern trainers). I focus on this bit of stage laziness to emphasise the weakness of a production that also had a lot of satisfying strengths.
The show began with the trad overture. Oh how I wish companies would ditch these lame musical efforts (with the exception of Sullivan’s properly composed curtain raisers for ‘Iolanthe’ and ‘Yeoman of the Guard’). One saving grace was the placing of the strong brass section in the West Road balconies thus providing an exciting soundscape for the fanfare arrival of the Duke of Plaza Toro and his retinue. The large chorus in Victorian dress gave a satisfying rendition of the operetta’s long opening musical sequence; charming faux Italian melodies and some nice skipping with floral tributes. What followed was a very well sung ‘Gondoliers’ with especially strong parts presented by Seb Blount, Owen Elsley, Tiffany Charnley and Louisa Stuart-Smith as the gondoliers plus partners, one of whom is the rightful King of Barataria. But which? The ballads ‘When a Maiden Marries’ and ‘Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes’ were beautifully presented – I had forgotten how many great tunes this silly outing to Venice actually has. The closing sequence to Act One was sung particularly well with strong performances by the leading quartet. That said, without the use of microphones, the voices of the cast were often overwhelmed by the pit orchestra which sadly meant that many of Gilbert’s witticisms were lost.
The whole production by Cambridge University G&S Society, was let down by scant attention paid to theatricality and perhaps was best enjoyed as a concert version. There was one brief but inventive idea – when the real orchestra took up placards to complain about not getting paid (a barbed reference in the script to the pecuniary demands of a band). But that said, if you are going to do a full version of this musical confection, then any production needs to really push the boat out – and it should be a smaller one.
