IOLANTHE - CU G&S SOCIETY AT WEST ROAD

I have always thought that G&S (aka Gilbert and Sullivan) should stand for ‘Glitter and Sparkle’ So many productions (especially amateur) of the Savoy canon fall flat weighed down by the sheer challenge of opera and the temptation to go back on tired old ways. So, I am happy to report that the Cambridge Uni troupe put glitter, sparkle and a lot more into their production of ‘Iolanthe’. This fairies-meets-the-House-of-Lords satire was a sheer delight from well-played orchestral overture (one of the few written by Sullivan himself) to the glittering final bows with peers and peeries sprouting gossamer wings.

I enjoyed every moment of this fine production which was superbly directed by Seb Blount and wonderfully choregraphed by Anna Smith. She created a totally satisfying series of stage pictures involving the cast’s melodious band of well-drilled fairies. In suitably attired costumes harking to Pre-Raphaelite taste, the female chorus sang with good-humoured aplomb. Their ever-changing kaleidoscope of ensemble arrangements gave the whole production a real energy and verve which in other productions of this Victorian piece can so often lack.

Though restricted in numbers (five to be exact) the male chorus of lords did a sterling job: great singers with power and projection, but also a hilarious comedy act. The few in number was actually presented as a positive. Here was a comic quintet of aristocratic duffers, the target of Gilbert’s still prescient satire on our unelected chamber.

The principals were also very strong with great stage presence. Luke Muschialli bounded on stage like a balletic puppy in the role of Strephon, the lovelorn Arcadian shepherd who is a fairy but only from the waist up. He has a great booming voice and the physicality of a gymnast. So refreshing. Ina Kruger sang wonderfully as the heroine Phyllis and George Bird was suitably pompous as the Lord Chancellor (though I heartily wished he had been given a smaller wig – his face was often obscured). He sang the famous ‘Nightmare’ patter song with great confidence and there was a very amusing piece of theatre as he was revealed as sleeping in a vertical bed.

This was one of many production touches including some ambitious lighting effects (not always paying off but well worth the try) and the use of a pretty Arcadianish bridge which gave the choruses somewhere high to sing from. Kestrel Zakharov was suitably imperious as the Fairy Queen and Holly Jewitt Maurice was in sweet voice as the eponymous Iolanthe, the fairy once banished to the bottom of a stream. Tom Unwin and Harry Elliot were in perfect pitch as the two leading earls – a very funny double act of blue-bloodied bozos. Peter Coleman, tall, imperious with a great bass voice, was spot on as Private Willis the sentry who ‘exercises of his brains’.

Led by Charlotte Johnston, the orchestra played perfectly without drowning out the singers.

This was one of the most enjoyable student productions of G&S I have seen: tightly directed without losing youthful energy, very well cast with singers who could act and vice versa. The staging was always lovely to look at; fluid and dynamic. There was deep respect for the 1882 original here yet none of it felt dated or trapped in aspic. This was truly G&S – Gorgeous and Scintillating.