Magic of Savoy

Aireborough Gilbert Sullivan Society brought the magic of the Savoy Opera, The Pirates of Penzance, to life last week with a production which was sufficiently D'Oyly Carte for even the most ardent traditionalist but with enough "elemental strategy" to satisfy the most vociferous modernist.

A superbly played overture under the baton of Maureen Earl set the tone for the evening. The West Yorkshire Orchestra are G and S specialists and it shows - not a wayward note throughout. The society is fortunate in having a very strong principal and chorus line-up and they were shown to their full potential in this production under the guidance of Judith Smith who has established herself as one of the premier directors of the Savoy Operas in Yorkshire. I particularly liked her use of the little known original finale which was used by Sullivan himself in the original New York production.

One highlight of the show was the clarity of diction, both sung and spoken, of all the players. Mabel (Gabrielle Dawson) sang with power but without losing the essential coquettish nature of the part, whereas the Pirate King (Mitchell Wolfe) was more subdued than one perhaps expects of a Pirate King but not one nuance spoken, sung or visual was missed by him. The alternative title of this operetta is "The Slave of Duty" and Frederic (John Tattersall) was this slave to his fingertips - if duty had required he would have fallen on his sword without a second thought. Ian Davies was indeed the "very model of a modern Major General" and his diction, unlike many Major Generals, allowed us to hear every word of that very song - even in the final and traditionally super fast encore. There was excellent support from the other cast members with the Sergeant of Police (James Smithies) and his fellow members of the force adding lots of humour and business but without falling into the trap of going "Panto".

Aireborough is fortunate in having a wealth of excellent amateur theatre and this production ranked among the best.