By Harry Forbes
NYGASP has finally gotten around to a fully staged production of the penultimate comic opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, and it proved well worth the wait. Though the work was better received at its 1893 premiere than the duo’s final collaboration, The Grand Duke—with music critic George Bernard Shaw among its admirers—it subsequently disappeared from the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company repertoire. Not until the company’s centenary revival in 1975 was it fully recorded and given renewed attention.
NYGASP itself had offered a one-performance concert staging in 2010, but this new production was more complete, with sets, costumes, and a more fully restored text.
The story unfolds on a South Sea island, where King Paramount awaits the return of his daughter Zara from England, where she and her sisters have been educated in the “superior” English way of life. Zara brings with her a cadre of “Flowers of Progress” to modernize the island along British lines. She is in love with her protector, Captain Fitzbattleaxe of the First Life Guards, but the King’s scheming advisors, Scaphio and Phantis, have designs on her as well. Meanwhile, they are blackmailing the King into publishing scandalous attacks on himself in the press.
Gilbert’s dialogue here can be dense, but director James Mills kept the action moving briskly, never allowing the evening to drag. The same was true of music director Joseph Rubin, whose superb conducting maintained a buoyant energy throughout, drawing on what was said to be a newly restored edition of Sullivan’s original orchestrations.
The cast was uniformly strong. Matthew Wages made an outstanding King Paramount—one of the best I have seen—combining a warm baritone with finely judged comic acting. As his love interest, the English governess Lady Sophy, Hannah Holmes sang with rich tone and incisive clarity. Her opening number, “Bold Face Ranger,” a cautionary tale warning her charges against forward suitors, was a showstopper, delightfully staged by Mills and co-director/choreographer David Auxier.
The conniving advisors Scaphio and Phantis were ideally played by Vince Gover and Lance Olds, respectively, their voices blending beautifully while their comic interplay landed with precision. Gover, in particular, had some riotous moments upon first encountering Zara, barely containing his ardor. Sam Balzac did good work as Tarara, the Public Exploder.
Sophie Thompson’s Zara was both vocally assured and dramatically engaging, while Cameron Smith—who had played Fitzbattleaxe in the 2010 semi-staged concert—returned to the role in fine voice. Laura Sudduth and Alexandra Imbrosci-Viera were charming as the vain but endearing Princesses Nekaya and Kalyba.
Among the imported British “Flowers of Progress,” Logan Pitts (Mr. Goldbury), Jack F. Murphy (Lord Dramaleigh), David Auxier (Captain Sir Edward Corcoran, K.C.B.), James LaRosa (Sir Bailey Barre), and Patrick Lord-Remmert (Mr. Blushington) all acquitted themselves admirably. Their ensemble number led by King Paramount, “Society Has Quite Forsaken,” staged as a music-hall turn rather than the customary minstrel show, earned a rousing response.
Joshua Warner provided a handsome set, and Quinto Ott’s costumes were attractive, if not especially evocative of the South Seas setting.
Though Utopia, Limited has been seldom performed, I have managed to catch several productions over the years—including those by Village Light Opera Group, Light Opera of Manhattan, and Blue Hill Troupe—but this one stood out as especially satisfying.
The three-performance run was reportedly well attended; one hoped that success will encourage NYGASP to keep the work in rotation, and perhaps even tackle The Grand Duke. The following season will see the company return to more familiar territory with The Mikado, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Gondoliers on the roster.
(The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, East 68th Street; nygasp.org; April 18-19 only)
Photos by Danny Bristoli: (top) Company
Below: (l. - r.) Matthew Wages, Vince Gover, Lance Olds
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