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 UA Opera Theater Students Stretch Their Skills In Gilbert And Sullivan's 'The Gondoliers.' By James Reel GILBERT AND SULLIVAN almost missed the boat with The Gondoliers. In 1889, after 14 years of collaboration that produced the most-adored operettas in English, librettist William S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan were at odds. Their latest work, The Gondoliers, would be their final success. In fact, it led directly to their estrangement. Gilbert maintained that their employer, theater owner Richard D'Oyly Carte, had misappropriated some of the profits from the new show. Sullivan resented Gilbert's overbearing artistic control and was counting on Carte to stage his serious (and Gilbert-free) opera Ivanhoe, so he took Carte's side. A lawsuit ensued, sinking the glorious Gilbert-and-Sullivan partnership. Two further collaborations surfaced in the 1890s, but they were merely the bloated corpses of operetta. The Gondoliers was their last real pleasure cruise, even if it was almost a voyage of the damned.
"It's not as popular as The Mikado or Pirates of Penzance or H.M.S. Pinafore," concedes the stage director, UA voice professor Charles Roe. "But it's a bright, happy show, just what we need to help us get through the summer." Here's the setup: A delegation from the obscure island of Barataria arrives in Venice with news that one of two just-married gondoliers is their king. The gondoliers, Marco and Giuseppe, grew up thinking themselves brothers; but because of a bit of sleight-of-hand in the nursery a few years back, one of the lowly boatmen apparently descends from the royal line. Trouble is, the Baratarian representatives aren't sure yet which is the regal brother. So both gondoliers set off to rule Barataria "as one" until things get sorted out. Unfortunately, they're ordered to leave their wives behind. The true king was destined by his parents to marry a certain girl of noble birth named Casilda. In time-honored operatic fashion, Casilda is in love with Luiz, her father's attendant, so complications abound. In Barataria, Marco and Giuseppe set up a republican monarchy. It's a good-hearted experiment in communism. Gilbert, always eager to poke fun at English class-consciousness, here satirizes a society in which everybody is a somebody. Not much else happens until the authentic king is abruptly identified at the end, whereupon everyone finds a way to live happily ever after. Savoyards--hard-core devotees of Gilbert and Sullivan--fall into two groups: those whose principal interest lies in Gilbert's sharp wordplay, and those who prefer to hum along with Sullivan's fine tunes. The word people don't much care for The Gondoliers, which they find deficient in irony, and instead prone to mindless and sunny jubilation. At least the purists among them will be relieved that Roe isn't updating the lyrics with contemporary political references, or moving the action from the canals of Venice to the C.A.P. The music people, on the other hand, adore the thing. It begins with an unprecedented 15 or 20 minutes of elaborate musical development before the talk sets in; there are more dance sequences than usual, meaning more tunes; the first act is full of Italianate lyricism; and the second act has a light Spanish flavor. For once, Sullivan was wresting concessions from Gilbert, and was finally asserting himself as a composer. The Gondoliers is a good vehicle for college singers. "There are nine roles of almost equal importance," Roe points out, "so that gives a lot of people an opportunity to make an impression, especially when we double-cast the show. And operetta makes allowances for less developed voices. Only one role here is quasi-legit."
There's also the matter of choreography, which is being devised by UA dance professors Jory Hancock and Melissa Lowe. "They've brought in a few of their own dancers, but they're also trying to help the singers; singers are not noted for their ability to move," Roe notes ruefully. "Jory and Melissa are doing a lot of, 'This is your left foot, and this is your right foot, and this foot goes here.' "We've (had) 15 hours of rehearsal every week for five weeks, which is not much for a show of this caliber and with these complications. The kids are not coming in with all the skills you need for something like this, so rehearsal isn't just preparation, it's training. I'm not complaining; that's what we're all about at the university. But it does take time. "Some of these people have never done lead roles, and I have to say to them, 'Come on, you've got to be more dynamic! Would anybody other than your mother buy a ticket to see you do this?' At the university, what we can do better than anything else is bring energy to the stage."
UA Opera Theater presents Gilbert and Sullivan's The
Gondoliers at UA Crowder Hall, in the Music Building
south of the pedestrian underpass on Speedway at Park Avenue.
Show time is 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, June 24 through
26, and 3 p.m. Sunday, June 27. Tickets are $12, with discounts
for UA employees, students and seniors. For tickets and information,
call 621-1162.
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Now The Gondoliers will ply the waters of Crowder Hall
in a regatta of performances by the UA Opera Theater. Student
soloists, a 16-member chorus and a semi-pro orchestra will make
their case for a worthy operetta that isn't quite the equal of
Gilbert and Sullivan's best.
Ah, but operetta makes other demands. "This is a unique
experience for the kids, because that quick, precise articulation
of the patter songs is quite different from the cantabile material
they usually work on," says Roe. "Also, there's lots
of dialog, and that's where their inexperience shows. They know
how to project their singing voices, but acting and projecting
their speaking voices is new to them."
