Gilbert & Sullivan - The Pirates of Penzance / Hyslop, Tomlin, Carver, Stratford Festival

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Some stage productions transfer to the small screen better than others; this 1985 performance at Canada's Stratford Festival, with the actors hurling their lines to the last row in the house, has its drawbacks. Much of the broad, broad humor--such as the Pirate King's habit of mangling his words--isn't worth the trouble. Flawless voices are a secondary concern of this production, which includes an exceptional amount of dancing. Jeff Hyslop, who's quite appealing as Frederic, was surely cast for his athletic footwork, not his singing. Though Caralyn Tomlin, as Mabel, has a voice (Mabel doesn't get to do much besides vocalize), she's a screechy cliché of a soprano. As the Pirate King, Brent Carver gives a lively but misguided performance. Carver's King is an exquisitely groomed matinee idol, which drains the surprise (and the comedy) from the idea that this is a ruffian who salutes poetry and reveres the queen. That sort of imprecise thinking weakens the production as a whole.

The most satisfying turns come from the Major-General and the policemen, those characters with the deepest innate humanity. Douglas Chamberlain lets the arcane content of "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" whiz by in a manic blur (except when he shows off a witty new verse). He treats the song as a tour de force from a man who knows how preposterous his knowledge is and nevertheless takes huge delight in it. It's a charming performance. --David Olivenbaum

Customer Reviews:

Best G & S ever.......2007-09-11

I had the joy of seeing this production in live performance, and it was simply the best Gilbert and Sullivan performance I'd ever seen. Instead of treating the operetta as a dusty museum piece, the creators ot the Stratford Festival production remembered that, above all, it was supposed to be fun! It clearly was so for its performers as well as audience, and won a standing ovation, which is much rarer in Canada than in the U.S. A DVD can't replicate the live experience, but this captures the exuberance and boundless energy of the production.

Almost perfect but not quite........2007-06-11

I enjoyed this version very much but would not buy it for myself.

This is a light hearted romp through one of my favorite opera's. I watched it with my husband, who watches opera's mostly to make me happy, and he enjoyed it a great deal. There is a great deal of added material that for the most part makes this much more viewer friendly for those being introduced to opera.

There were two additions that just fell flat however. One was the strip scene at the beach. As amusing as I can see some people would find it it completely misses the mark of the scene, that the girls are so prudish that showing their ankles is scandalous and that Fredrick is so utterly shocked by it himself he destroys his chance to spy on some very lovely ladies to warn them he's there. It has always been one of my favorite parts of the opera and never fails to make me laugh... except this time. The second part was the addition of the dance at the end. It was boring, unnecessary, and entirely out of place, especially the dance between the Pirate King and "bluestocking". It felt like a dance you would see in a play set in Spain not Victorian England.

Other then those my only other objections was the need to suspend my disbelief in Fredrick being "a thing of beauty" and a weak ending. Fredrick seemed to old and not "beautiful" enough to carry off the naivety and fanaticism to duty the role demands. Anytime either was called for I found myself distracted by my disbelief. The ending also seemed out of place in an otherwise well polished performance. Perhaps it was because everyone was out of breath from dancing for 15 minutes but there was no inflection in the last few lines of the opera. The call for the pirates to surrender in "Queen Victoria's name" and their subsequent capitulation is as flat as cardboard. It was a real let down after such a colorful execution of the rest of the opera.

With all that you are probably wondering why I rated it so high. In my opinion with the exception of the flaws I have mentioned this is possibly one of the best staged and polished performance I have seen and I have seen more then a few. The Pirate King is possibly my favorite performance in this role I have seen yet. I would watch it again just for him. The pirate crew were delightful if a little strange. The sisters were easily understood and never boring, a frequent difficulty in this opera. Almost all the lyrics were well enunciated and easy to understand, another issue I have found frequently. The staging in the background of the scenes constantly gave you something to enjoy no matter the situation and added a great deal of depth to the situations.

My favorite part of this play would probably be the transition between the pirates chorus of "With cat-like tread" and the Major-Generals entrance and subsequent soul baring. The breaking into the house and subsequent theft of the Major-Generals worldly goods by the pirates in the background while he dances and sings through the foreground is priceless.

So why wouldn't I buy it? Well, I don't care for the ending enough to want my own copy and I can check it out anytime I want at the public library. If you don't have access to a copy as I do however it may be worth your time to get one. I would very much recommend it to anyone who wants a "lite" opera to show any friends you are trying to convert to one of my favorite forms of entertainment.

Very Entertaining!.......2005-10-08

I have several versions of The Pirates of Penzance on DVD and video and I enjoy watching all of them . I Have this Stratford Festival version on DVD and I enjoy it and thought it was great and very entertaining and I didn't think it was a bad production at all. In my opinion all of the performers are good but the best performers are Brent Carver as the Pirate King and Douglas Chamberlain as Major General Stanley and I personally think that the minor changes like the addded character of Mabel's Bluestocking sister and one or two added songs were done very well and didn't take away from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta and I didn't see those changes an an insult to them and I thought the sets and props were good! I own this DVD and I don't feel like I wasted my money buying it.

Pirates of Penzance.......2004-01-08

Perhaps it is because this was the first opera I ever had the opportunity to see and I was only nine years old at that time, but I have always loved this performance. The humor and charisma drew me in and now I cannot think of anyone other than Brent Carver as the Pirate King. I found this to be the perfect piece to introduce me to the world of opera and it will forever hold a place in my heart. I believe that most people overthink this performance and should just look at it as a fun and interesting story even if there have been a few changes. After all, the performers interpretations are part of the beauty of watching different performances.

I Loved It!.......2004-01-05

I am not a G & S purist. I just love theatre -- especially theatre where the cast exudes a love of the craft as this cast does. I thought the songs wonderfully played - perhaps the voices were not operatic enough for some, but the diction, enthusiasm and character more than made up for any missing fullness. In my experience, this is the first production of an operetta in which every sung word could be understood on the first hearing without following along in the script!
Great fun, skilled and imaginative choreography, fast-paced and filmed without cinematic tricks. A delight!

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