THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
QPAC, Lyric Theatre
Brisbane
20 November - 10 December 2006
The Canberra Theatre,
Canberra
9 November - 18 November 2006
Sydney Opera House, Sydney
2 August - 4 November 2006
By Gilbert and Sullivan.
Opera Australia. Conductor: Andrew Greene.
Director: Stuart Maunder. Sydney Opera House,
August 2. Tickets: $65-$140. Bookings: (02) 9318
8200. Until November 4, then touring to Canberra,
Brisbane and Adelaide.
THE PIRATES OF
PENZANCE - REVIEW
The Canberra Times, 11
November 2006
by W L Hoffmann
Gilbert and Sullivan's
enduringly popular comic opera began a
12-performance Canberra season to a capacity
audience in the CanberraTheatre on Thursday night
at the start of a touring program that will take
it on to Brisbane and Adelaide.
This imaginative new
production of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE,
deftly directed by Stuart Maunder, was a notable
success during the Opera Australia winter season
in Sydney, featuring as it does an excellent cast
of singers who play it up with engaging gusto.
Anthony Warlow is a suitably
swashbuckling Pirate King, bringing his fine
voice and presence to the role, while a matching
strong performance is provided by tenor David
Hobson as young Frederic, the pirate apprentice.
And as his beloved Mabel, soprano Taryn Fiebig
sings delightfully, bringing a suitably bright
tonal quality to her first act Poor Wandering
One. There was also an excellent
contribution from Susanne Johnston as Ruth,
Frederic's former nurse and now the pirates'
maid-of-all-work.
This opera also offers the
opportunity for two comic characterisations,
Major-General Stanley and the Sergeant of Police,
which are both strongly projected. First, there
was John Bolton Wood as the Major-General with
sparkle and a suitable flourish, and then former
Canberra baritone Andrew Collis as the Sergeant,
bringing vocal resonance and doleful expression
to his solo A Policeman's Lot Is Not A Happy
One.
There were also excellent
characterisations, both vocal and visual, from
the supporting cast, whether robust as the
pirates, or sprightly as the Major-General's
daughters, or rather tremulous as the police, to
maintain the high standard of performance. This
was a presentation of PIRATES
that was a sheer delight from start to finish.
ROLLICKING ROMP
RETURNS - ARTICLE
The Canberra Times, 7
November 2006
by Phillip O'Brien
Opera Australia has
taken the much-loved show of PIRATES
OF PENZANCE
back to its original form, reports Phillip
O'Brien
THE PIRATES OF
PENZANCE has been a joyous choice for
Opera Australia in its 50th anniversary year.
It's also been an extremely successful one -
which is interesting given the number of times
that Simon Gallagher's company has toured the
operetta around Australia during the past two
decades.
Yet Opera Australia director
Stuart Maunder says he hasn't felt overshadowed
by that production. Instead, it was the Broadway
version of the early 1980s, featuring Linda
Ronstadt and Kevin Kline, which has most
influenced him.
"It had a tremendous
energy and excitement about it and made me look
at the piece with new eyes," he says.
"When I directed PIRATES
for the D'Oyly Carte Company in London, I was
over-reverent to the work. I was determined to
put on stage what Gilbert and Sullivan had
written and I was probably a bit slavishly
correct. Now I'm older and more prepared to be
more adventurous."
Opera australia's production
of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE,
directed by Maunder and starring Anthony Warlow,
David Hobson and Suzanne Johnstone, begins at the
Canberra Theatre on November 8.
Maunder admires that Simon
Gallagher has done PIRATES in
previous years but says there are strong
differences between the two productioins.
"He didn't have a
girls' chorus and only had orchestrations for a
very small band. We haven't played around with
the music or the words. It's basically Gilbert's
and Sullivan's original. We've just given it a
21st-century gloss."
The publicity describes this
production as "a big adventure book for
boys" which is more than just billboard
hype. In fact, it's the way that Maunder and
designers Roger Kirk and Richard Roberts
conceived it. They had in mind the confident
innocence and brightly coloured pages of those
boys' own annuals of the mid-20th century.
They've also reinvented the Pirate King (played
by Anthony Warlow) with more than a nod to the
swashbuckling style of Johnny Depp in the film PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN.
This production also has a
strong Canberra connection. Indeed in the chorus,
chosen by Maunder, are Damien Hall, Matthew
Thomas and Luke Barron, each of whom has spent a
number of years performing in music theatre in
Canberra. Maunder was impressed by Hall during
the early rounds of the recent ABC television
series OPERATUNITY. When he was
eliminated from the finals, Hall was invited,
together with several other semi-finalists, to
take part in this production.
Lighting designer Trudy
Dalgleish has also spent some years working in
Canberra as has Alex Budd - now manager of
enterprises for opera australia - whom maunder
met in the 1990s when he was engaged to direct a
production for local company Stopera.
Finally, mezzo-soprano
Catherine Carby, another former Canberra, has
been playing the role of Ruth in the Sydney
production. Now heavily pregnant, her place has
now been for the remainder of the touring season
taken by Suzanne Johnston.
Opera Australia's production
of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
opened in Sydney in August. Since then, it's
played to near full houses.
"We haven't had one
performance in Sydney with less than 90 per cent
capacity," he says. "That's unheard of
for us. It's also a hreat joy because those
audiences haven't just been grey-haired ladies of
a certain age. It continues to speak to modern
audiences and they've been coming in their
thousands."
And what's especially
intriguing, he saus, is that Gilbert and Sullivan
should be still so popular in spite of the fact
tat their language and musical idiom is so
different to anything today.
"There's no doubt that
there's something about the heady mix of delight
in the English language and tunefulness in all
their operettas. And in the fact that, almost in
the one breath, you can be laughing at the
characters then turning to Victorian
sentimentalism and be almost crying. It's fast,
furious and a delightful romp."
COMING HOME TO
PERFORM- ARTICLE
The Chronicle News, 24
October 2006
Three young men from
Canberra and Queanbeyan who moved interstate to
pursue their musical theatre dreams returned to
Canberra last week ahead of the opening of THE
PIRATES OF PENZANCE at the Canberra
Theatre in November.
Matthew Thomas, formerly of
Turner; Damien Hall, formerly of Queanbeyan and
Luke Barron, formerly of Latham grew up in
Canberra and returned last week to encourage
residents to attend. All three young men have
extensive experience in musical theatre, much of
which has been provided by the local Canberra
arts community.
Baritone Matthew Thomas
currently studies at the Opera School of the Sydney
Conservatorium of Music.
Damien Hall has performed in
many local shows including LES MISERABLES
and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR with
the Canberra Philharmonic Society. Luke Barron,
who is playing the role of Samuel in the Adelaide
leg of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE,
graduated from the Western Australian Academy
of Performing Arts in 2004 with a Bachelor
of Arts (Music Theatre).
THE PIRATES OF
PENZANCE stars Anthony Warlow in the
role of The Pirate King, David Hobson as Frederic
and Suzanne Johnston as Ruth and will be at the
Canberra Theatre from November 8 to 18.
BUDDING YOUNG
PIRATES READY TO HIT THE HIGH Cs -
ARTICLE
The Canberra Times, 18
October 2006
by Ron Cerabona
Three former Canberra
performers stole into town yesterday with
cat-like tread to promote the forthcoming Opera
Australia production of Gilbert & Sullivan's THE
PIRATES OF PENZANCE, in which they all
have parts.
Luke Barron, 28, Damien
Hall, 32, and Matt Thomas, 26, have been touring
the country as members of the chorus in the show,
a big boost to their budding professional
careers, and all credit their start in Canberra
as crucial to their success.
"Its a nurturing
environment," Thomas said, "and the
strength of the artistic scene is unlike any
other small city in the country."
An actor for 10 years,
Thomas has been a singer for only two, but is
undertaking studies at the Sydney
Conservatorium, and intends to pursue a
career in opera. Before landing the PIRATES
role he spent the first six months of 2006
touring with the Opera Queensland Schools
Company in a production of the Australian
work THE SONG BIRD.
Hall was a stalwart of
Canberra Philharmonic Society musical productions
for many years and a finalist in the ABC's recent
Operatunity television series - indeed,
that's where PIRATES director
Stuart Maunder spotted him and asked him to
audition. Hall said the many performance
opportunities provided by Canberra singers had
given them an edge in terms of acting technique
over conservatory-trained students.
Barron, who studied at the Western
Australian Academy of Performing Arts, said
he had appreciated the opportunity to work with
and learn from directors such as Colin Anderson
in Canberra. He was amazed at the depth of talent
the city produced, saying he frequently saw
people he knew from Canberra at auditions in
Sydney, and pointed out that several other
members of the company were either from Canberra
or trained at the ANU School of Music,
including Catherine Carbey, Sean Andrews and
Sharon Olde.
All three have been with THE
PIRATES OF PENZANCE since it opened in
Sydney in August and have had the opportunity to
work with and learn from stars such as Anthony
Warlow and David Hobson.
One of the perks of working
with Opera Australia was watching other
productions, comparing favourites and seeing how
quickly the sets could be changed between one
opera and another.
Thomas is also understudy to
the Sergeant of Police and Barron understudies
Samuel, sidekick to the Pirate King.
After the Canberra season
finishes, they will go to Brisbane and Adelaide,
with the season ending in late January.
FEELING GOOD ABOUT
SWASHBUCKLER - REVIEW
Mosman and Lower North
Shore Daily, 10 August 2006
by Barry Quigley
THE PIRATES OF
PENZANCE is the ultimate feel-good
opera, in which the most jaundiced souls in the
audience cannot fail to be carried along on a
tide of Gilbert & Sullivan highjinks.
The latter's music sets the rollicking tone for
the swashbuckling night of pantomime antics, but
it's W.S. Gilbert's talents as a playwright that
give this opera its timeless appeal.
Perhaps those talents are seen and heard at their
most dazzling pyrotechnical best in the famous
virtuoso patter aria of I am the very model of a
modern major-general.
John Bolton Wood has never had a chance like this
to reinforce his reputation as one of Opera
Australia's best performers as the twinkle-toed
buffoon.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of this
delightful night at the Opera House is not
Anthony Warlow as the Pirate King, superb though
he is, but David Hobson as Frederic, the newest
member of the pirate band.
Hobson has always had the matinee idol looks, but
it's not until now that his light tenor voice has
taken on a new richness, authority and range of
tone that has been just out of reach for many
seasons in light opera romantic lead roles.
The inspiration for PIRATES
stems largely from Robert Louis Stevenson's TREASURE
ISLAND, but also from the episode in
Gilbert's own childhood when he was captured by
Neopolitan bandits.
There are so many moments of memorable musical
comedy created out of this unlikely set of
circumstances, of which those that are the most
memorable include Frederic's bel canto tenor
lament Oh, is there not one maiden here,
and the policemen's chorus Taran-tara,
Taran-tara, as well as A policeman's lot
is not a happy one, and Mabel's coloratura
waltz Poor wandering one.
The plot, if that's not too strong a term, is
based on Gilbert's view of those in 19th-century
high places.
The pirates are, after all, revealed as rogues of
a different kind, disguised noblemen of the House
of Lords.
Soprano singing honors go to Emma Matthews as
Mabel. Matthews continues to put her stamp at the
top of the company's list of singing stars.
As Frederic's nursemaid Ruth, Suzanne Johnston
performs to her customary high standard and
baritone Richard Alexander is well cast as the
oafish police sergeant.
This new production from Opera Australia takes a
worthy place in the company's Gilbert &
Sullivan productions.
All those involved, from director Stuart Maunder,
to set designer Richard Roberts and costume
designer Roger Kirk, and conductor Andrew Greene
- together with the Australian Opera and Ballet
Orchestra - share the honors equally.
AND LO, SONGS RULED
THE WAVES - REVIEW
The Sydney Morning
Herald, 5 August 2006
by Peter McCallum
One day, our national opera
company, jewel of jewels, announced a new
production of - yes! - THE PIRATES OF
PENZANCE! (Oh, be still, be still, my
beating heart.) And behold a great groan spread
across the land, the groan of all groans, greater
even than the groan of the citizens of Bennelong
at the glad tidings from Not-Happy John. And they
were sore afraid.
But, lo, the goddess Emma Matthews descended in
the guise of Mabel (for, in truth, she was way
above this sort of stuff) and bestowed glorious
singing upon it, with mock cadenzas that
glistened like Neptune's pearls, and high notes
in the climaxes of the choruses that gleamed like
a beam of sunlight in a crowded sky.
And to conduct the throng, the company enlisted
Andrew Greene, who began mistakenly with the Ride
of the Valkyries to be sure, but persevered
with style and a rare feeling for gravity and
weight so that nothing was rushed and all was
emphasised and exaggerated, like an old joke well
told.
And at all of this the people laughed. Apollo
being indisposed, Stuart Maunder, who directed
the company with light wit, told David Hobson to
take the part of Frederic, for he is still tall
and noble though his voice has lost the patina of
youth, though John Bolton Wood as Major-General
Stanley had plenty of the patina of age. With
low-life insouciance, Anthony Warlow camped up
the Pirate King with a voice of gravel and a
moustache of maidenhair. Richard Alexander was
the dourest of policemen and Suzanne Johnston a
tart, acerbic Ruth. The chorus of pirates,
policemen and blushing maids sang and danced like
tributes just released from sacrifice.
And lo, the groaning stopped and glory shone
around.
THE VERY MODEL OF A
MODERNISED OPERA - REVIEW
The Australian, 4 August
2006
by Murray Black
I've
never fully understood the continuing attraction
of Gilbert and Sullivan. Their operettas are
tired, outdated and bourgeois in the most
pejorative sense, as their gently mocking satire
never becomes too critical or subversive. The
whole experience usually leaves me totally cold.
Nonetheless, you can't deny the cleverness and
wit of the lyrics and the irrepressible verve of
the music, and this new production plays to those
strengths. It also revels in the opera's
silliness and absurdity.
The acting is deliberately larger than life, with
sweeping gestures and high-camp antics being the
order of the day. The singing, too, celebrates
the dominant mood of parody, particularly the
overly long-held notes and ridiculously ornate
flourishes that mock the operatic styles of the
time.
This production works because director Stuart
Maunder keeps the action moving along. There is
an appealing buoyancy and lightness of touch
about it that never flags. The stage is always a
hive of activity but never at the cost of
upstaging the focus of each scene. Maunder also
understands that this is very much a work of its
time and he respects that without being held
captive to it.
The ensemble cast is strong. Emma Matthews lights
up the stage as Mabel. Her singing is radiant and
agile and, for once, the style of the opera suits
her slight tendency to overact.
As her beau, Frederic, David Hobson gives a
performance of great freshness and enthusiasm.
John Bolton Wood is a marvellously pompous Major
General Stanley, Suzanne Johnston is an animated
Ruth and Richard Alexander's Chief of Police is
delightfully doleful.
Anthony Warlow's Pirate King is a more
problematic characterisation as it is blatantly
derivative of Johnny Depp's eccentric pirate
chief Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the
Caribbean films. It sometimes jars against the
other, more conventional, performances and Warlow
finds it difficult to maintain the Sparrow
character in his musical numbers. But it works as
satire and gets a lot of laughs.
As the Major General's daughters, the female
chorus singers make a vivacious bevy while their
male counterparts are equally assured as rousing
pirates and somnolent policemen. Conductor Andrew
Greene keeps the music flowing at a lively pace
and the orchestra playing is zestful and stylish.
If G&S is your thing, you'll love every
moment of this joyful production.
