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General Discussion / Re: And now for something a bit different...
Having not checked into this forum for a long time ...
Lamplighters:
... There are so many fond memories of your wonderful G&S productions when I lived in SF in the 1960s.
... The Ruddigore where the ancestors stepped out of their pictures on the wall (they had stood stark-motionless behind scrims) was perfect. Only a cliche in other Ruddigores, you handled it with tension and spookiness, through lighting and the music's dramatic pace. I'll never forget how well that was managed.
... The Mikado where Katisha's entrance could have been the end of the world -- not exaggerating it in any way. You handled it with lighting, and with choral work that shook like thunderbolts in a hurricane. No other Mikado I've seen -- major companies, no need to mention names -- has ever achieved that dramatic impact.
Funny -- one can do G&S as slapstick as so many do, sadly, and it fails utterly. You Lamplighters knew how to respect and stimulate the intellect of your audience, and they cheered you for it afterward.
I recall a Boston Academy of Music 'Mikado' that was so bad ... as the audience crowded out afterward, through the foyer toward the street, there were grim looks everywhere. My eyes happened to meet another person's there, and we only shook our heads. It was awful. And that was after their Trial by Jury done in a 20's vamp style that was juvenile slapstick. Harsh words, to be sure. Sadly, but thankfully, that group are no more. They didn't know, and didn't learn.
But back to Lamplighters: _Your_ Mikado was a treasure. Serious enough to let the humor sink in, and to let the irony make folks relish the delight of thinking about it, until the next musical number carried them away. You did G&S at its finest.
Superb. Thank you, Lamplighters.
After one Lamplighters' Mikado, I remember a discussion with the cast (they always assembled in the lobby to meet the audience after the performance), in which Pooh-Bah mentioned how hard it was to be 'fresh' for a Friday night performance. All the cast members had day jobs, and doing a Friday night gig was hard after the work week. But Saturday night and Sunday matinee were fun for all the cast.
I asked if they'd ever considered Utopia, Limited. Pooh-Bah told me they'd tried it once and it bombed. I asked about The Grand Duke. Pooh-Bah said they'd read through it and decided it would be a disaster. You've got to believe Pooh-Bah.
They did a Princess Ida that brought out the best in that -somewhat secondary- G&S work. Not a stunning commentary by Gilbert, but Sullivan's music was lyrical and soaring. It was easy to see why it didn't rank with the top 'hits', but the Lamplighters' fortitude in bringing in to the stage showed their dedication, as well as their artistic depth, especially in the singing.
... Iolanthe was, well, what can one say. I've seen two since, and they pale. As in other Lamplighters' G&S, you let Gilbert have his say. No slapstick or vaudeville. One blinks at Gilbert's lines, reflects, and then grins. Then Sullivan takes it on to melody.
... And your Sorcerer had a scene that made folks in the front rows startle when John Wellington Wells's spirits popped forth.
Those are the 'dramatic' recollections. Beyond those, such singing. Soloists and chorus. Truly superb.
There's been only little approaching your Lamplighters' G&S, for many years.
One carp. I attended one HMS Pinafore in which I think Captain Corcoran was drunk at the beginning of the second act. Not so fine. That would be about 1966 or so. Perhaps he had tippled between acts. His first act was good. His second act opening solo sagged away and got lost. I had brought guests to their first Lamplighters production. I walked out. Maybe I should stand corrected, and would be happy to do so.
But that's just one missed tick over a long set of years.
What fond memories have been stirred by the earlier posts in this forum.
Again, thank you, Lamplighters, for such memories.
Joe