Self-Help : The Gondoliers [VHS]
Gilbert & Sullivan - Iolanthe / Hammond-Stroud, Mills, Collins, Opera World | 
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Theatrical Release Date: 1982
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 The best "Gondoliers" on DVD--which really isn't saying very much
SOURCE:
This is one of a series of eleven Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas (plus Sullivan's "Cox and Box") produced for broadcast by the BBC and by PBS. "The Gondoliers" was rehearsed and shot over a two-week period in 1982. This DVD version was issued in 2002.
CAST:
THE DUKE OF PLAZA-TORO, that very knowing, overflowing, easy-going Spanish nobleman of impeccable family but limited means - Eric Shilling (patter baritone)
THE DUCHESS OF PLAZA-TORO, whose relations had bet her that she couldn't love the Duke, but she did--desperately! - Anne Collins, (mezzo-soprano)
CASILDA, daughter of the Duke and Duchess, in love with Luiz, but married at the age of six months to the King of Barataria - Sandra Dugdale (soprano)
LUIZ, the Duke's own particular drummer - Christopher Booth-Jones (baritone)
DON ALHAMBRA DEL BOLERO, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, who is always up to date - Keith Michell (baritone, sort of)
MARCO PALMIERI, a gondolier passionately loved by all the pretty young contadine and who just might be the King of Barataria - Francis Egerton (tenor)
GIANETTA, a peasant girl, contadina, who becomes Marco's wife - Nan Christie (soprano)
GIUSEPPE PLAMIERI, Marco's brother, also passionately loved, etc. - Tom McDonnell (baritone)
TESSA, a contadina who becomes Giuseppe's wife - Fiona Kimm (mezzo-soprano)
FIAMETTA, a contadina - not identified (soprano)
VITTORIA - not identified (mezzo-soprano)
GIULIA - not identified (soprano)
ANTONIO, a gondolier, with loving and laughing and quipping and quaffing, as happy as happy can be - Peter Savidge (baritone);
FRANCESCO, a gondolier - not identified (tenor)
GIORGIO, a gondolier - not identified (bass-baritone)
ANNIBALE, a gondolier - not identified (speaking part)
INEZ, foster-mother to the King of Barataria - not identified (mezzo-soprano)
CONDUCTOR:
Alexander Farris with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus.
SOUND:
Minimally acceptable 1980s analogue stereo, but no more.
PRODUCTION STAFF;
George Walker, executive producer; Judith de Paul, producer; Peter Wood, stage director; Dave Heather, video director.
PRODUCTION:
This production of "The Gondoliers" adheres quite closely to the "traditional" form of production established by W. S. Gilbert, who was not only the author of the piece but the stage director and set designer as well. Like the stage version, this video production is essentially a two-set show. Act I is placed in a sunny Venetian plaza with a practical canal up stage. Act II is placed in a throne room of the palace on the Mediterranean island of Barataria. The Act I set is quite handsome and obviously intended to capture the warm, muted colors and general look of 19th Century Italian genre paintings. The Act II set is more generic in nature, a bright open hall and not much more.
The costumes for the main principals are again traditional. The Duke, Duchess, Casilda, Luiz and Don Alhambra are all decked out in the fashion of aristocrats and their servants in the days of Louis XVI. (The costume designer missed an intended visual joke, however, in failing to differentiate between the threadbare state of the Duke and Duchess in the first act and their well-heeled sartorial splendor in the second act.) Marco and Giuseppe are (traditionally) garbed as late 19th Century gondoliers in Act I and uncomfortably (again traditionally) as joint-King of Barataria in Act II. The chorus, on the other hand, are not handled traditionally at all. Despite their repeated insistence that they are respectively "contadine," peasant girls, and "gondolieri," gondoliers, the women are dressed as fairly sophisticated town girls and the men are clearly Venetians of every employment but that of gondolier.
It should be noted that the choristers not singing solo parts are far too good as dancers to be any believable group of real singers. It is clear that the Ambrosian Chorus recorded their numbers, while dancers mouthing the words appeared on screen.
TEXT:
Unlike too many recent productions of the masterpieces of G&S, this "Gondoliers" is quite faithful to both the words and music of its creators. The major musical cut is the second verse of Antonio's song, "For the merriest fellows are we." The spoken dialogue has been subjected to some trimming but mostly left untouched. There are, thank heaven, no feeble "improvements" or lame "updatings" to either words or music.
DOCUMENTATION:
Libretto, showing the lyrics as used in this production. Spoken dialogue is omitted, being replaced in the libretto with a sentence or two summarizing what is said. The DVD is infested with the absolutely wretched nuisance of poor old Doug Fairbanks, Jr., offering appallingly inept introductions to each of the two acts.
COMMENTARY:
From 1875, with "Trial by Jury," to 1889, with "The Gondoliers," W. S. Gilbert and Arthur, Sullivan had an unbroken string of eleven successful comic operas, some of them, "H.M.S. Pinafore," "The Pirates of Penzance," "The Mikado" and "The Gondoliers," becoming world-wide smash hits. "The Gondoliers" was the end of the line. There were, indeed, two more G&S collaborations, both of which did well enough in their original productions, but both the partners and the general public knew that the magic time had passed. (From the last years of the late 20th Century, revivals of the last two shows, "Utopia, Ltd." and "The Grand Duke" were successfully mounted with some regularity, but they are still not quite on a level with the great eleven.)
Around 1980, the BBC ordered production of the eleven G&S shows then regarded as worthy of revival. A major aspect of the financing of the project hinged on the participation of the American PBS, hence the lame introductions from the familiar figure of that thoroughly Anglicized American, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Budgets were tight and closely watched. The shows had to fit within a two-hour broadcast slot. Every show had to have at least one "star" performer who would be familiar to the home audience. In this case, it was Keith Michell, who had gained international fame as Henry VIII in "The Six Wives of Henry VIII."
The show is well-sung--except, of course, for Keith Michell, who is weak and miscast. His part, the Grand Inquisitor, can be done as a charming, sunny old chap inexplicably caught up in an unpleasant profession or as a menacing monster on his best behavior, a sort of tiger come to afternoon tea. Michell is neither, offering only a vacuum on the stage. The Duke of Plaza-Toro, for his part, gives a perfectly straight-forward reading from beginning to end, failing time after time to bring out the laughs in one of the great comic characters.
Overall, the impression provided by this "Gondoliers" is generic and bland, reflecting the pick-up nature of the cast, the short rehearsal time and the absence of practical experience performing as a group before the public. It's all right, I hasten to add, but it could have been so much better. Still, as the competing productions from the Canadian Stratford Festival and the Australian Opera have demonstrated with such exquisite clarity, it could have been worse, oh, so VERY much worse.
Four slightly dubious stars ... until something better comes along.
LEC/AM/8-08
 Found much better...
Altho in another Gilbert & Sullivan operetta review, I urged finding D'Orly Carte performances, I failed to add that when this can't be found, the "Opera Australia" versions are VERY good, and staged in imaginative style. "The Goldoliers" is the very best done by Opera Australia, on DVD with the Kultur label. Excellent! (So skip this version).
A Delight
As a long time fan of Gilbert and Sullivan I have enjoyed many good productions and suffered through many a painful one. This series is wildly erratic in its quality, but The Gondoliers is one of the good ones. My acid test -- I showed it to my 15 year old niece and her three 16 year old friends -- all of them really enjoyed it. So did I! It is greatly enhanced by the libretto -- which unfortunately was not included in the box. I brought out one from another resource and when referenced and some historical issues were addressed my niece couldn't wait to see another. Very enjoyable addition to any collection, for watching or just listening.
A Production Afraid of Jokes
On the plus side of this production are the scenery, costume and dancing. From that standpoint it is useful to view this video.
I must agree with those who say that great material was turned into a yawn.
I quote a reviewer, "The cast does not seem to be having any fun, the hallmark of a good G&S performance. They are not sharing the joke because they are so pre occupied with their technique."
The older actors are especially guilty on this count--in particular, the actor portraying the Grand Inquisitor, Don Alhambra del Bolero. This character should be throwing looks at people that terrify them. Instead, the actor gives boring looks and so the rest of the cast has very little, if anything, to motivate a response on their characters' behalfs.
Where are the raised eyebrows, the tongue in cheek, the knowing smiles, the sneers? British humour can be dry ... but this production is dry to a fault. There is a balance between laughing at your own jokes and not laughing at all. Unfortunately, this production falls on the boring--even perfunctory--side of the laughter spectrum. No G&S production should leave you thinking the actors were apathetic, but this one did.
Best in the series
This is by no means a perfect performance, but I consider it the best of the series. It is intact, excepting small (though funny) parts of the dialogue and the second verse of Antonio's song ("For the Merriest Fellows are We"). The singers, I thought, were all quite serviceable and well cast. The worst problem, as with all of the Brent Walker G&S videos, is overacting, cheap sets, and bad camera work. However, those iniquities are less in this one and it is quite serviceable. It captures the spirit of the opera, at least, and we are not left to groan over bad acting and singing as we are in the other videos.
Considering that this is practically all we have in the way of recorded G&S, I think it deserves four stars.
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