Utopia, Limited (New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players)

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

Ohio LIght Opera 2025

By Harry Forbes

Where else but at the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster could you find such a wonderfully varied season of musicals and operetta, mixing popular classics with seldom-seen gems?

This year, the former category featured two of Broadway’s all-time greats — Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon — alongside Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience. In the latter, audiences were treated to Noël Coward’s 1929 operetta Bitter Sweet (arguably his finest work for the musical stage), George and Ira Gershwin’s 1925 Tip-Toes, and German composer Eduard Künneke’s 1921 The Cousin from Batavia (Der Vetter aus Dingsda).

For me, those last three titles were the true treasures of the season. Still, Carousel and Brigadoon, familiar though they may be, were performed with such freshness and polish that they proved just as rewarding. In fact, I found Carousel more satisfying than its last Broadway revival. OLO’s productions are notable not only for their fine casts and tasteful production values, but also for their fidelity to the originals, nearly note-complete, and free of extraneous “updates.” The result is deeply satisfying theater.

As for the company, many new faces appeared this season, yet they blended seamlessly with returning veterans, adapting remarkably from one production to the next.

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Bitter Sweet

Seldom performed in America today — though I do recall a misjudged Bard College staging in 2011 — Coward’s hit-filled score was a genuine treat, particularly with such strong leads. Jenna Justice was perfection as well-born Sarah, who elopes with her Austrian music teacher Carl (pure-voiced Adam Griffiths) on the eve of her arranged wedding.

Justice and Griffiths gave radiant renditions of Coward’s once-famous songs, including “I’ll See You Again,” “Dear Little Café,” and “Zigeuner.” In the Vienna scenes, Caroline Hawthorne was splendid as Carl’s former mistress Manon, earning bravas for her superb “If Love Were All.”

Lovingly conducted by OLO Music Director Michael Borowitz and elegantly staged by Artistic Director Steven Daigle, the production was choreographed — like all this season’s shows — by Spencer Reese, whose period-perfect steps never disappoint.

Justice’s transformation from elderly Lady Shayne in the prologue to impetuous young lover, then seasoned performer, was beautifully charted. I only wished Griffiths had attempted a Viennese accent, though consistency across the cast might then have been required.

Though a few trims were evident in the substantial score — perhaps reflecting the licensed edition — the performance was nearly complete, allowing rarer numbers to shine.

Jenna Grissom Amia Korman, Rachel Weinfeld, and Kate Bilenko had fun as the exuberant “Ladies of the Town” in the Café scene. And Coward’s sly paean to the aesthetes of the 1890s, “Green Carnations,” was wittily delivered by Noah Sickman, Asher Ramaly, Niko Theriault, and Spencer Wilde.

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Patience

In Gilbert and Sullivan’s very funny sendup of the aesthetic movement, Spencer Reese (with flowing locks) and the deft Thomas Valenti made a wonderfully contrasted Grosvenor and Bunthorne. Their Act II duet, “When I Go Out of Door,” was so dazzling it was deservedly encored. Both men wrung every drop of humor from Gilbert’s witty text.

The ever-versatile Maggie Langhorne, a standout in all her roles this season, was a superb Lady Jane, blending comic pathos and musicality in “Silvered Is the Raven Hair” and marvelous in her duet with Bunthorne, “So Go to Him.”

Julia Wright Costa’s direction brought sparkle, with strong-voiced Jordan Knapick piquant in the title role. Niko Theriault (Colonel Calverley), Jacob Allen (Major Murgatroyd), and Adam Griffiths (Duke of Dunstable) nailed their jolly ensemble numbers, including “If Saphir I Choose to Marry,” joined delightfully by Camryn Finn (Saphir) and Amia Korman (Angela).

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The Cousin from Batavia (Der Vetter aus Dingsda)

Edward Künneke’s “Der Vetter aus Dingsda” (“The Cousin from Nowhere”), was a hit when it premiered in 1921 and has maintained its popularity in Europe. OLO mounted the show in 2000, it was such a hit, OLO brought it back two years later. Here it was again in the same fine translation by the late Richard Traubner. 

Jenna Justice and Adam Griffiths, in roles far removed from Bitter Sweet, impressed again as, respectively, Julia — hopelessly devoted to a remembered childhood sweetheart she hasn’t seen in years — and the “stranger” who mischievously impersonates him. Maggie Langhorne again charmed as Julia’s friend Hanna. Jack Murphy got laughs as Julia’s ever-persistent suitor.

Justice captivated with her first-act moon song, and Griffiths dazzled in the stranger’s “I’m Only a Wandering Minstrel,” topped with thrilling high notes.

Directed by Spencer Reese — with just a touch too much slapstick, including an extraneous food fight for Julia’s uncle and aunt (Niko Thereiault and Caroline Hawthorne)— the show was idiomatic and stylish. OLO Associate Music Director Wilson Southerland conducted with verve.

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Tip-Toes

The Gershwins’ 1925 confection sparkled, filled with delights such as “Looking for a Boy,” “These Charming People,” “That Certain Feeling,” “It’s a Great Little World,” and “Sweet and Low-Down.”

The unique staging featured pianos on either side of the stage, evoking the original Victor Arden–Phil Ohman duo, with Michael Borowitz leading a sprightly performance. Jacob Allen, OLO’s Associate Artistic Director, directed with flair.

The plot follows three vaudevillians — the titular Tip-Toes (Kate Bilenko), her brother Al (Noah Sickman), and uncle Hen (Jack Murphy) — hired for a Palm Beach party. When their gig is canceled, they hatch a scheme to pass Tip-Toes off as an upper-crust lady in hopes of securing her a wealthy husband.

The songs were winning throughout, though the relentless shtick between Al and Hen, with their corny vaudeville gags, wore thin after a while despite Sickman and Murphy’s best efforts.

Bilenko created an adorable heroine and she was, as ever, a delightful triple threat, and a fabulous dancer in particular. Maggie Langhorne played Florida matron Sylvia (a role originated by Jeanette MacDonald), Timothy McGowan was her philandering husband Rollo, and Spencer Reese played Sylvia’s brother Steve who falls for Tip-Toes, allowing Reese and Bilenko another chance to dance together — as in last year’s Me and My Girl — and once again, magic happened.

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Brigadoon

OLO’s Brigadoon (its first since 2015) was another triumph, especially with all the restored dance sequences, superbly choreographed by Reese.

Rachel Wresh was a tender Fiona opposite Jack Murphy’s Tommy (both sang beautifully), with Reese this time as Jeff, the cynical buddy. Wilson Southerland drew rich sound from the orchestra.

Timothy McGowan was Charlie, singing “I’ll Go Home with Bonnie Jean” and “Come to Me, Bend to Me” with requisite sweetness. Maggie Langhorne was the lusty Meg, socking out her bawdy comic numbers “My Mother’s Wedding Day” and “The Love of My Life” with highland aplomb. Thomas Valenti, so comically incisive in “Patience” transformed into the wise schoolmaster Mr. Lundie. Supporting roles were ably taken by Niko Theriault (Archie Beaton), Spencer Wilde (Harry Beaton), Safin Karim (Sandy Dean), and Camryn Finn (Jean MacLaren). Kate Bilenko's dancing during the solemn events of the second act was again first-rate. 

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Carousel

Hearing the full score — including the copious dance music — was sheer pleasure. Spencer Reese contributed fresh choreography, highlighted by the superb Kate Bilenko’s moving Act II ballet as the troubled  daughter Louise.

Nathaniel Richard, who played Sarah’s stuffy fiancé in Bitter Sweet, made a compelling Billy Bigelow, delivering a powerful “Soliloquy” and "The Highest Judge of All." Amia Korman’s Julie Jordan was beautifully sung and thoughtfully acted, portraying her as a young woman shaped by an unhappy childhood.

Yumeko Stern was a standout as Carrie Pipperidge, her comic sparkle recalling Audra McDonald’s star-making turn in the 1994 Broadway revival.

Director Steven Daigle staged the whole with great sensitivity and a keen sense of drama. Traditional in all respects, his stagng included a unique addition: Billy’s heavenly overseer, traditionally a solitary Starkeeper, was here augmented by two “heavenly friends” (Jack Murphy and Spencer Reese) who shadowed the action throughout. Some found the device puzzling, but I thought it sensibly underscored the connection between the characters' early actions and the celestial events to come.

Jenna Grissom delivered a stirring “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Strong contributions also came from Jeron Robinson (Jigger), Timothy McGowan (Enoch Snow), and Meggie Vincent (Mrs. Mullin). In a change of gender, Stella Vodilko played the Starkeeper.

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103 and Still Kicking

To complement the many 1920s works this season, OLO presented a delightful morning concert of songs from that decade, performed by company members with Wilson Southerland at the piano.

Narrated with wit and erudition by OLO Board Chairman Michael Miller (who conceived the program with Steven Daigle), the concert showcased the era’s extraordinary richness, from Victor Herbert and Jerome Kern to Irving Berlin and Emmerich Kálmán.

The 14 numbers culminated in Harry Tierney’s “Journey’s End” from Up She Goes, sung in glorious unison by the entire cast. Performers included Camryn Finn, Leah Finn, Safin Karim, Helen Knudsen, Owen Malone, Timothy McGowan, James Moorehead, Arianna Paz, Asher Ramaly, Nathaniel Richard, Yumeko Stern, and Rachel Weinfeld, each shining in their respective solos and duets.

Selections also included rarities from Louis Hirsch’s The O’Brien Girl, Jean Gilbert’s The Lady in Ermine, Armand Vecsey’s The Hotel Mouse, and James Hanley’s Spice of 1922.

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Operetta Mania

Another special treat was Michael Miller’s wide-ranging operetta and musical theater clip compilation, which sampled everything from Allegro, Jubilee, Fifty Million Frenchmen, and Lola Montez to operettas such as Là-Haut, Chilpéric, Boccaccio, and Gigantes y Cabezudos — a veritable international tour.

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Under Executive Director Laura Neill and Artistic Director Steven Daigle, Ohio Light Opera remains an incomparable destination for lovers of musical theater and operetta.

(The Ohio Light Opera, The College of Wooster, 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH; 330-263-2345 or ohiolightopera.org; through August 3)

Photos: Matt Dilyard

Top: “Tip-Toes” company

Below: Jenna Justice, Adam Griffiths, “Bitter Sweet”

Thomas Valenti & company, “Patience”

Maggie Langhorne, Wesley Diener, “The Cousin from Batavia”

Spencer Reese, Kate Bilenko, Connor Burns, “Tip-Toes”

Rachel Wresh, Jack Murphy, “Brigadoon”

Amia Korman, Nathaniel Richard, “Carousel”

Ohio Light Opera 2024

By Harry Forbes

In the decade or so that I’ve been attending Ohio Light Opera’s summer season of operettas and musicals, I continue to be awed by the consistency of quality the company maintains, under the leadership of its Executive Director Laura Neill and Artistic Director Steven Daigle. Even with inevitable changes in the company’s performing roster and orchestra -- and certainly the pandemic brought about its fair share of those -- OLO somehow manages to come up with hugely talented triple threat performers who can be as versatile as a repertory season of six shows demands. 

Part of the fun, in fact, is seeing company members take on widely disparate roles, or alternate effortlessly between ensemble and leading roles as the case may be.

This season was no exception. With its usual lineup of high profile classic musicals -- “Guys and Dolls,” “Me and My Girl,” and “The Sound of Music”; Gilbert and Sullivan (“The Gondoliers”); and operetta (Lehár’s “The Count of Luxembourg”) -- the catnip for buffs was Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot’s 1909 “The Arcadians,” a massive hit in its day, and one which straddled the genres of the English operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and the burgeoning modern musical. It was considered one of the very best of the Edwardian era musicals as its original 809 performance run attests.

The Arcadians

When London caterer Jim Smith’s plane crash-lands in the fabled Arcadia (located somewhere near the North Pole), the innocent residents are fascinated to encounter a specimen of the wickedness they had recently learned is prevalent in that distant city, a land populated by “monsters” who live in cages, and tell lies. So when Jim is caught in a major fib, they dunk him in the Well of Truth which youthens and (they think) reforms him. Sombra and her sister Chrysaea (Holly Thomas) decide Jim (now renamed Simplicitas) will take them back to London and they will convert everyone to a truthful simple life. The second act scene-change from pastoral Arcadia to a London racetrack, a delightful contrast.

Vince Gover, one of OLO’s brightest lights, was a superb Jim/Simplicitas, sharp and funny in the dialogue and outstanding in all his music hall type numbers including the show’s big hit “All Down Piccadilly,” an earworm if there ever was one. And the cast was uniformly excellent.

Laura McKenna was ideally cast as Sombra with just the right innocence and sweetness, and she sang with beautiful tone. Madison Barrett was charming as fetching Irish lass Eileen and her “The Girl with the Brogue” number was another highlight. That number, and indeed the dancing for all the shows, was the superior work of OLO choreographer Spencer Reese who, here, also played Jack, the racehorse owner pursuing Eileen. Their duets -- the popular “Charming Weather” and “Half Past Two” -- were as delightfully done as one could wish. Connor Burns as jockey Peter Doody earned a rousing hand for his third act number “My Motter” (as in motto), an enormous hit in 1909 for doleful originator Alfred Lester.

Steven Daigle's direction and Wilson Southerland's conducting perfectly captured the authentic Edwardian spirit.

OLO revived the piece in 1998, but the resulting two-CD recording on Albany records was unfortunately trimmed. In any case, here’s a promotional video sampler for the recent production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdIW9y-GqU

The Count of Luxembourg

Though Franz Lehár’s “Count of Luxembourg” recordings (mostly German) are plentiful and there are at least a couple of videos, this was only the second time I had encountered the show performed in person. And I was struck again by how well it played. Often cited as the most tuneful of Lehár’s early period after “The Merry Widow,” and the closest in overall tone to that megahit, the plot is surprisingly engaging and even suspenseful under Daigle's directorial helm. Impoverished Count René agrees to a brief marriage of convenience with opera anger Angèle without each actually seeing the other. She’ll thus gain a Countess title and be able to marry the elderly Prince Basil Basilovitch who’s wooing her, and René, in turn, will receive a generous payout. Daigle again directed a well-paced production. The tunes -- under the vital baton of Wilson Southerland - were glorious, including the duet for secondary pair -- painter Brissard (William Volmar) and his girlfriend Juliette (Jordan Knapick) -- shamelessly “borrowed,” by the way, by Sigmund Romberg for “Just We Two” in “The Student Prince.” 

Versatile OLO regular Jack Murphy played René appealingly. His light tenor is miles removed from the Rudolf Schock/Nicolai Gedda mold, but he carried the part off with distinction. Christine Price’s Angèle was quite gorgeously sung in the traditional manner, and it was interesting to see the two together again after their excellent but vastly different pairing in last season’s “Orpheus in the Underworld.” Volmar and Knapick made a strong secondary couple. Company Associate Artistic Director Jacob Allen gave us an incisively sung, lively and amusing Basil. And Maggie Langhorne had an impressive third act turn as an elderly Russian countess, though the Nigel Douglas performing edition deprived her of the aria Lehár added in 1937. 

The Gondoliers

There were pleasures to be had in director Spencer Reese’s sometimes overly busy mounting of Gilbert and Sullivan’s final success. Once again, Gover was outstanding, this time as the Duke of Plaza-Toro singing his numbers with crisp diction and steady tone. Zachary Elmassian made a fine and sonorous Don Alhambra, dramatically and vocally. Some of Reese’s gags were a big heavy handed for my taste including some running business involving objects tossed offstage making crashing sounds. 

I also felt the staging for the gondoliers Marco (Davian Raggio) and Giuseppe (Connor Burns) was, at times, wrong headed. There was too much blindfolding beyond the dictates of the opening scene, and their big second act solos -- “Rising Early in the Morning” and “Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” (both well sung, incidentally) -- lost some focus as those numbers each were staged with the two standing side by side. 

As the Duchess, Andrea McGaugh was particularly good in “On the Day When I Was Wedded” with some silly but funny business involving puppets under her voluminous gown. Laura McKenna, Julia Fedor, and Holly Thomas sang well as Gianetta, Tessa and Casilda respectively. And there was good work from Michael Koutelos as Antonio and Nicholas Orth as Luiz. 

Reese’s choreography including the “Cachucha” scene and elsewhere, and Michael Borowitz's conducting, were consistently sterling. 

Guys and Dolls

With Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” a big hit in London currently in a revamped immersive staging -- and no doubt slated for Broadway -- it was good to see the show in its pure, original form with all the nowadays cut scene changing music and such intact. The cast was a good one. At my performance, Madeline Coffey played Salvation Army lass Sarah Brown, and she was ideal, singing superbly. “If I Were a Bell” in the Havana sequence was a particular standout, and she teamed with Ori Marcu’s Miss Adelaide for an especially satisfying rendition of “Marry the Man Today” near the end. Elsewhere, Marcu nailed “Adelaide’s Lament” and her two club songs in the part’s time-honored style. Versatile James Mitchell (last season’s King Arthur in “Camelot”) slipped easily into the Nathan Detroit role. And Jack Murphy as Sky Masterson handled his first act ballads and second act “Luck Be a Lady” with aplomb, pairing well with Coffey in the dramatic scenes. Filling out the large cast were Spencer Reese in Stubby Kaye’s Nicely-Nicely role, and Yvonne Trobe as the starchy but soft-hearted Salvation Army General.

Jacob Allen directed with his customary Broadway know-how, with Michael Borowitz at the podium, and Reese again doing a fine job with the dancing. The Crapshooter Dance was remarkably well staged, and the ensemble hoofing impressive. William Volmar, vocally strong in “Luxembourg,” showed real terpsichorean talent. 

After his terrific comic turns in “The Arcadians” and “The Gondoliers,” here was Vince Gover in an affecting and understated performance as Sarah’s Irish grandfather (for a young man, Gover has a remarkable ability to play convincingly older). His unadorned rendition of “More I Cannot Wish You” was even, in the view of one visiting Broadway professional,  the best single moment in the show. 

Me and My Girl

Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent’s 1984 revamp of the enormous 1937 London musical hit may not -- despite its multiple awards and impressively long runs in the West End and Broadway -- have the title recognition of a “Guys and Dolls,” but the OLO audience received it with wild enthusiasm. Spencer Reese was a natural for the lead role, cockney Bill Snibson who inherits a title and a fortune but must prove his worth to the other swells in the family to keep the title and fortune that goes with it. 

Sally Smith is the true-blue girl he loves, despite the disapproval of Bill’s new-found aunt, the Duchess of Dene. Reese danced up a proverbial storm. And, in his empathetic Sally, Kate Bilenko, Reese had found a partner who could give him a run for his money. There were moments when it felt as though Fred Astaire had at last found his ideal Ginger Rogers. The two danced superbly, like thoroughbreds. Bilenko acted the part with honest sincerity and touching conviction, bearing favorable comparison with the part’s originator Emma Thompson and Broadway’s Maryann Plunkett. Her ballad “Once You Lose Your Heart” was an emotional high point.

Noel Gay’s tuneful score, including the very earwormy “Lambeth Walk,” (staged to a fare thee well by Reese) got a first-rate performance, right through Bill’s beguiling eleven o’clock number “Leaning on a Lamp Post.” 

The strong supporting cast included James Mitchell as the family solicitor, Yvonne Trobe as Bill’s disapproving Duchess aunt, Madison Barrett (demure Eileen in “The Arcadians”) as vampy Lady Jacqueline who sets her gold digging cap on Bill, and Jack Murphy as her frustrated suitor Gerald demonstrating his limber dancing prowess in the second act opener, “The Sun Has Got His Hat On.” R. Porter Hiatt as the Duchess’ old flame was another asset, and dueted entertainingly with Reese on “Love Makes the World Go Round.” 

There was savvy direction from Jacob Allen, and lively accompaniment in the pit by Michael Borowitz. 

The Sound of Music

For all the sometimes patronizing attitude about Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final collaboration one hears in certain quarters, it must be said that the show is rock solid and an audience pleaser which never fails to pull on the heartstrings, even in a relatively modest production such as this. 

Once again, the Daigle/Southerland team were at the helm directing and conducting respectively, and it was gratifying to hear the original 1959 stage score in its original form with neither of the two movie additions. So, too, the songs were all in their customary place: Maria and the Abbess singing “My Favorite Things,” Maria comforting the children during the storm with “The Lonely Goatherd,” and so on. 

Dramatically, Rachel Weinfeld made a sympathetic Maria, and sang beautifully. She was well matched by Zachary Elmassian’s imposing Captain von Trapp who again impressed with his rich bass-baritone. Jordan Knapick transformed from the warmly likable soubrette in “Luxembourg” to the calculating Elsa Schraeder who contrives to marry von Trapp, while chameleon James Mitchell again scored, this time as impresario Max Detweiler. Though her roles in the season’s other offerings were mainly non-musical character parts, Yvonne Trobe got to demonstrate her rich mezzo in a grandly sung “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” 

 A couple of days before the end of season, Board Chairman Michael Miller offered his annual “Operetta Mania” morning video presentation. This included some choice moments from operetta productions around the world, as well as some pearly scenes from vintage OLO shows like Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Ruddigore,” Victor Herbert’s “Dream City/The Magic Knight,” and Emmerich Kálmán’s “Countess Maritza” with memorable turns by company regulars Julie Wright Costa, the late Brian Woods, Daniel Neer, Nicholas Wuehrmann, Nathan Brian, and Ted Christopher among other of the company’s well-remembered veterans. 

Donors were treated to a special morning concert narrated by Michael Miller with company members showing off their versatility in numbers from shows previously presented by OLO, an impressive and heady mix of Offenbach, Strauss, Coward, Lehár, Fall  and more. Highlights too numerous to mention in full included the “If I Loved You” bench scene from “Carousel” with Rachel Weinfeld and William Volmar who followed that with an excellent number from Kálmán’s “Autumn Maneuvers.” Jacob Allen reprised his comic role from “The Desert Song” with the snappy “It” in tandem with Arianna Paz, and later duetted with Maggie Langhorne in “A Picture of Me without You” from “Jubilee.” But Michael Koutelos, Christine Price, Davian Raggio, Laura McKenna, Owen Malone, Sara Nealley, Nicholas Orth, Julia Fedor, and Jeron Robinson all excelled in their individual or group numbers, with apt accompaniment by Eric Andries on piano. 

None of this season’s productions were filmed, alas, but last year’s excellent production of “No, No, Nanette” in its original 1925 version has just been released on DVD. It can be ordered from OLO’s web page below.

(The Ohio Light Opera, The College of Wooster, 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH; 330-263-2345 or ohiolightopera.org; through July 28)

Photos: Matt Dilyard

(Top) “The Arcadians”

(Below)

(l.-r.) Vince Gover, Laura McKenna in “The Arcadians”

(l.-r. foreground) Jack Murphy, Christine Price, Jacob Allen in “The Count of Luxembourg”

(l.-r.) Vince Gover, Andrea McGaugh, Zachary Elmassian, Holly Thomas, Nicholas Orth in “The Gondoliers”

(l.-r.) Madeline Coffey, Jack Murphy in “Guys and Dolls”

(l.-r.) Spencer Reese, Kate Bilenko in “Me and My Girl”

(l.-r. center) Rachel Weinfeld, Zachary Elmassian, Yvonne Trobe & cast  in “The Sound of Music

Iolanthe (or The Peer and the Peri) (MasterVoices)

By Harry Forbes

It’s only May, but I’m betting dollars to donuts that this starry production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s seventh comic opera will be reckoned New York’s G&S event of the year. 

Director/conductor Ted Sperling continued his winning streak of superlative musicals and operettas for this latest annual MasterVoices spring event. He had previously mounted “The Mikado” and “The Pirates of Penzance” with felicitous results, but this was arguably the best of all. 

What a pleasure to hear Arthur Sullivan’s overture, melancholy and sprightly by turns, played so superbly and with such seriousness of purpose. And the action that followed was not in any way camped up. 

For non-Savoyard readers,  W.S. Gilbert’s plot concerns Strephon (Schyler Vargas), an Arcadian shepherd, who loves shepherdess Phyllis (Ashley Fabian), ward of The Lord Chancellor (David Garrison). She, in turn, is being wooed by the upper crust twits, Earls Mountararat (Santino Fontana) and Tolloller (Jason Danieley). What Phyllis doesn’t know is that her betrothed is the son of the fairy Iolanthe (Shereen Ahmed), sent into exile years before (under fairy law) for marrying a mortal. (Spoiler: her husband was the Lord Chancellor, who believes Iolanthe died years earlier). Strephon is thus a fairy (but only down to the waist).

The Queen of the Fairies (Christine Ebersole) is stern but softhearted and allows Iolanthe to come back from her banishment. This causes all sorts of complications with Phyllis when Strephon is spied speaking to his mother who, as fairies are immortal, appears to be a woman younger than he. All this was played absolutely straight, with no cheap gags, or audience snickering, about being “half a fairy.”

The large MasterVoices chorus was positioned upstage behind the MasterVoices Orchestra, except for the March of the Peers, that number spine-tinglingly positioned in the score after the quiet and bucolic tunes which precede it. With a burst of brass, Sperling had the huge tenor/bass contingent enter dramatically from the wings and parade around the stage. 

The sopranos and altos (as fairies) were upstage all evening, except for the principals including Nicole Eve Goldstein (Celia), Kaitlin LeBaron (Leila), and Emy Zener (Fleta), all excellent. And there was the delightful addition of Tiler Peck from the New York City Ballet as a Dancing Fairy who flitted in and out most attractively, and contributed to the magical atmosphere. And it was such a relief Sperling eschewed the frequent vulgarization of having the fairies stomp about to the beat of the music. 

The cast was a deft mixture of Broadway and opera performers and, as with past MasterVoices productions, the blend worked seamlessly. From the former, Ebersole wasn’t a traditional Fairy Queen, normally cast with a deep contralto, but she made her well trained, light soprano work beautifully for the part and she didn’t miss a comic beat. Her second act ballad “Oh, foolish fay” was her vocal highlight.

Garrison, on book mostly but ironically not the tongue-twisting bravura “Nightmare Song,” adapted his persona well to the crusty Lord Chancellor, though his English accent was a bit hit or miss, also true of some of the others.  

Danieley and Fontana made a highly amusing pair of stuck-up peers, and their dialogue about which of them should make the sacrifice not to marry Phyllis, a comic highlight. They sang beautifully: Danieley’s big moment was “Spurn Not the Nobly Born” in the first act; Fontana’s “When Britain Really Ruled the Waves” in the second. 

The young lovers were vocally and dramatically strong. As Strephon is only a fairy down to the waist, Vargas was outfitted (by costume designer Tracy Christensen) in shorts, which visualized this dichotomy and made a droll picture. His comic timing and delivery were as impressive as his strong baritone. Fabian also sang strongly and conveyed Phyllis’ cool ambition and self-awareness. 

Ahmed, like Ebersole, was cast counter to the traditional voice type. Iolanthe is usually a mezzo but the part suited Ahmed’s sweet soprano, and her poignant plea for Strephon near the end was as moving as I’ve ever heard it.

And I mustn’t forget Phillip Boykin’s Private Willis which was really outstanding and his second act opener, “When all night long a chap remains,” got one of the biggest ovations of the evening, along with Garrison's "Nightmare Song." 

Christensen’s designs for the fairies and peers was just right for this semi-staged concert. And there were clear white supertitles for the lyrics, and even green footnotes for some of the arcane references.

Sperling’s directorial decisions every step of the way seemed absolutely apt, and his musical leadership impeccable. I look forward to his next foray into G&S whenever that may be. 

(Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, 881 Seventh Avenue; carnegiehall.org;  May 3 only)

Photos by Toby Tenenbaum: Top: Cast

Below: (l.-r.) Ebersole, Ahmed

(l.-r.) Fabian, Vargas, Ahmed

(l.-r.) Garrison, Fabian, Danieley, Fontana