PART 2: ALL G&S ALL THE TIME!!!

I made it clear, I hope, in the previous posting, that Virgin Atlantic basically -- or not so basically, EXACTLY -- told all their customers at Heathrow that we were all on our own, as far as our Thursday, August 10 travel plans were concerned. We were directed from desk to desk and finally told to get out -- we couldn't have our luggage. Of course I was in a stupor all this time, from an uncomfortable, frustrating night and a sleeping pill that didn't quite knock me out. We made our way up to Manchester and thence to Buxton. Some lovely hilly country up there. Sheep safely grazing, that type of thing.

"Buxton has been a popular holiday resort for centuries. Blessed with stunning scenery, magnificent architecture, a wealth of shops, a thriving arts scene and its world-famous spa water, Buxton has plenty to offer any visitor." How can I say it any better than someone who was hired to write that stuff? The Opera House is in beautiful condition and gets used continually.

It is a fabulously beautiful town and the inhabitants are as merry as Munchkins. Working at the Opera House  and its rehearsal spaces every day was like working in a park. You'd look out any window and see rolling green hills, people feeding ducks and swans, a band in the bandstand, bucolic stuff. After a couple of days I stopped expecting my luggage to turn up and bought a shirt and some underpants to supplement what I'd been wearing since the untidy business at Heathrow, and our sympathetic stage manager presented me with a new pair of socks.

This "International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival" is like nothing else I'm aware of. You can't compare it to a Star Trek convention because those things only last a long weekend. You can't compare it to Bayreuth because that's all about the performances. The G&S Fest is two solid weeks of fourteen hour days of concerts and lectures with full-out productions of the shows every night. And after the performances you get cabarets. Cabarets with all manner of drinks. Plus there's an excellent old pub right across the street from the Opera.

It's kind of difficult and annoying to give a very vivid impression of this festival. It's mostly about amateur performers, G&S companies from all over the UK and the States, who pay their own way to come to this thing and put on their show. In addition to the performers is a large number of fanatics, and there's nothing a fanatic loves better than being around other fanatics. People travel the world to be able to be with a group who shares their obsessions. I must say it was quite nice being among such friendly people who all had a great passion in common. Hardly any of them were horrifying, just kind of socially clueless. And that doesn't bother me much.

John Reed, with whom I've worked several times with NYGASP, turned up and came to a rehearsal to listen to me sing the Judge's Song, which was a trifle nerve-wracking. Reed was the last great Gilbert and Sullivan star. He performed the principal comedian roles -- the roles I do -- with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for 20 years, and was on all the original stereo recordings of the shows. His voice was perfect for these roles. I maybe only say that because it's the voice I grew up with. He's an incredibly sweet man, which, of course, comes across in his work. He's 90!

Here's Reed as Ko-Ko.

And here are John, on the right, and his mate Nikki Kerri visiting our rehearsal, obviously having the time of their lives listening to me sing the Judge's Song.

 

I mentioned in a posting months ago, before I went to Alaska, exactly what I was in England to perform. It was a NYC amateur company, "The Actors' Opera," which also seems to want to be called "Light Opera of New York," for the sake of a catchy acronym. They wanted to do The Zoo, composed by Arthur Sullivan but written by BC Stephenson, at about the same period in which Sullivan and Gilbert wrote Trial by Jury. The Zoo is a rarity, considered lost for 90 years. It's a miserable one-act through-composed piece about nothing in particular, which happens for no particular reason to take place at a zoo. The best thing about it is the music, which stinks. The Zoo was act one. Act 2 was Cox and Box, also composed by Sullivan but written by someone else. C&B is also a one-acter, this one with dialogue. About two tenants at a boarding house -- Cox (baritone) and Box (tenor) -- who have been sharing the same room without realizing it, due to the machinations of their dishonest landlord. Only three characters. Other than the basic situation there isn't very much amusing about it, and it's almost always performed -- on those rare occasions when it is performed -- with cuts and deletions, and is over with in about 40 fairly fast-paced minutes. This performance was uncut, which added about 15 minutes to the running time and 6 hours to the pain. Act 3 was a Gilbert and Sullivan masterpiece, Trial by Jury. I was there (expenses paid) to play the Judge. It was very exciting to perform G&S in England, for such a group of aficionados. Unfortunately, the aforementioned luggage never turned up, so my lovely judge's costume, robe, wig, and even the gavel were all floating around somewhere in Virgin Atlantic Land. A costume and a ratty old wig were dredged up from the festival's storeroom the day of the performance. Also I was without my contact lenses (with makeup in luggage) and my vision is just too bad to do anything other than wear my glasses, kind of pushed down over my nose.

In addition to an extremely long evening of one-act operas it was decided that there would be performing during the intermissions. So members of the cast -- mostly very excellent chorus members, with a few principals -- came out and did old music hall numbers. This, naturally, stopped the audience from getting up, going to the bathroom or whatever, and made for 2 REALLY long intermissions. I was supposed to perform a very lame 'comic' tongue-twister song, "Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts for Soldiers," but canceled out that morning. It was just too awful to get completely into my head. Perhaps some of you performers out there can back me up on how difficult it is to learn crap. Well-written stuff is easy to memorize.

Without going into any detail, which would not only confuse you needlessly but possibly cause some brain damage, all 3 of our actual shows were "held together" with a dreaded DIRECTOR'S CONCEPT. It was Nathan's idea (Nathan Hull, who played Cox and the foreman of the jury) that Sullivan had wanted these three pieces to be performed together. And Nathan contrived relationships between the characters who were actually the same characters from show to show. Why the Judge should be Tom Brown's major-domo in The Zoo and Tom Brown should be the Counsel for the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, and why the Trial usher should be the landlord from Cox and Box -- not just the same singer but the same character, the landlord -- who wants to go there? No one wants to think about it enough for it to make sense! It made me feel schizophrenic. I don't think it was the Ambien.

Anyway, the audience loved it all and we had prolonged applause and cheering.

Immediately after the show many of the cast members performed at the cabaret! More old songs. Some with elaborate dancing. What a long day.

The most interesting day of my 9 in England was the next day, my journey to London. Check again. Mind the gap.

Comments

[Doug]

Did I eat at Happy Burger with John Reed, or have I invented that? Maybe I don't want to know if it's false.

[eva]

Dear Doug,

Yes, yes, you DID eat at Happy Burger with John Reed - I was there,too! Don't you remember? We were grossed out by the big, discusting-looking dill pickles sitting out on the table for God only knows how long!

[Doug]

It's all true? I'm not hallucinating this?

Happy Burger is long gone. Remember the business cards? Dancing burgers on long, splndley legs?