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Running Time:  2:20 - one intermission
A comfortable evening of Gilbert and Sullivan musical whimsy
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Storyline: Young hero Frederick is mistakenly apprenticed to pirates rather than pilots by his nurse Ruth who misunderstood his father’s request. He longs to be free of his indentures because he dislikes all that piracy represents. Finally, as he celebrates his birthday he believes himself to be free to the lead the Queen’s forces against his former colleagues. But the indentures were written to last until his 21^st birthday and not simply until his 21^st year. Since he was born on February 29 of a leap year, he won’t have accumulated 21 birthdays for nearly a century! By the time Frederick’s adventures are done, he has gained the love of Mabel.

High audience expectations are met with this production of Pirates. Years ago, the great New Yorker theater reviewer, Robert Benchley, wrote that he wished to be “allowed to enjoy” Pirates in his own way ....”  This production will allow audiences, either those die-hard followers of all things Gilbert and Sullivan or first timers, to enjoy it each in their own way. Director Klewin has a solid group of experienced featured actors who can sing and act at the same time. The large ensemble includes nine students from Catholic University who support the featured cast with solid skills and voices. And, in the large Atlas Theater space there are no microphones to be found on the actors but their voices by and large do project to the back of the House. In the various permutations of group settings and singing throughout the production, the harmony is pleasing. The men in the ensemble move about energetically, using some athletic leaps and bounds, while the demure and prim moves of the women are cheery and pleasurable to view. When the choreographed traffic of the chorus of over 20 moves around the Atlas stage, they do not seem to look about for their places -- they are a confident group. The large orchestra is also an assured lot under Musical Director Pedersen’s baton.

In the featured roles, Stacey Mastrian is a marvel at hitting the highest soprano notes without a crack or a creek and with nary a need to gasp for breath. She is delightfully coy with a coquettish aura in her facial and body presentations.  Matthew Loyal Smith and his tenor voice grow into his role as the strong spirit who must carry the book part of the show on his back. Smith goes from just being cute to a stronger force in the production. Adam Juran, with his strong baritone voice, plays his Pirate King with a broad, dashing and tongue-in-cheek attitude and athletic abilities. Scott Kenison’s baritone work is generally comically delivered though sometimes a bit over-the-top for this reviewer. Diana Cantrelle's handsome soprano voice is both touching and droll as her role is the most changeable over the length of the script. Among the musical numbers which stand out above the rest are “Poor wond’ring one,” “I am the very model of a modern Major-General” and the various numbers that included the Police … nah, not those Police.

The beautifully restored Atlas Theater space is used to advantage. The set of a ship with gangplank is well done. Lighting is deftly accomplished with changes from bright white to softer shades of blue or pink depending upon the scene's needs. Costumes for such a large cast are, as they should be, swash-buckling for the pirates, all proper for the women, and comic for the police and the Major-General.

Music by Arthur Sullivan. Libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Directed by Carrie Klewin. Musical Direction by N. Thomas Pedersen. Choreography by Pauline Grossman. Design: Elizabeth Jenkins McFadden (set) Eleanor Dicks (costumes) Colin K. Bills (lights) Christopher Mueller (photography) Debbie Grossman (stage manager). Cast: Jamie Boyle, Marion Brzezanski, Diana Cantrelle, Tanya Feist, Robert Fischell, Joana Frezzo, Michael Gallo, Ben Gibson, Annie Gill, Andrew Halpin, Nic Jaeger, Adam Juran, Scott Kenison, Katie Keyser, Jeremy King, Matthew Loyal Smith, Stacey Mastrian, Mary Millben, Darnel Morris, Jase Parker, Laura Quenzel, Laura Rocklyn, Elizabeth Rothschild, David Williams, Chad Zimlich.

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November 30 - December 9, 2007
Babes in Toyland
Reviewed by Brad Hathaway

Running time 2:30 - one intermission
A colorful, tuneful approximation of the 1903 hit operetta
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Storyline: Orphans Alan and Jane are wards of their wicked Uncle Barnaby who tries to have them killed so he can inherit their fortune and force Contrary Mary (of garden fame) to marry him. Alan, Jane, Mary and her brother Tom-Tom escape to Toyland where a host of Mother Goose characters live. Barnaby follows and frames Alan for a capital crime. He promises Mary he will clear Alan if she marries him. She agrees, but after the ceremony Barnaby goes back on his word and Alan seems fated to die by poison. But, in a switch only an operetta could contain, Barnaby drinks the poison, Mary becomes an instant widow and exercises the right in an obscure Toyland law that a widow may select a condemned man as a replacement husband. Of course, she selects Alan and they live happily ever .... well, you know. 

Victor Herbert's often lovely and frequently lilting score is the strength of the show, although director Catherine Huntress-Reeve gives the lightweight script with its nonsensical and un-motivated plot twists a fair presentation. That script is closer to its original 1903 three-act source than many revisions that have made it to stages, movie screens and television sets over the past century. No Laurel and Hardy here. No Annette Funicello, no Drew Barrymore. Not even Wally Cox. With strong-voiced operetta performers and a passel of youngsters, the story unfolds mostly in song, and most of those songs will be familiar even though they aren't standards by any means. The original was more than just a vehicle for great songs, however. It was an extravaganza display of sets, costumes and spectacle. The Savoyards don't try to match that value. Instead, with bright but simple sets and very colorful costumes they keep the focus on the performers.

Jeremy King and Carolyn Agan make a fine pair of siblings off on an adventure. Their work together on "Before and After" is charming. The pants role, the traditional young-man-played-by-a-woman part, is delivered with high energy by Meghan Heis. Evil Uncle Barnaby, a hiss-the-villain type bad guy, has Daniel Pushkin slinking about the stage swishing his cape over his shoulder and leering with that particular brand of menace that melodrama makes un-menacing for all but the youngest in the audience. The comic team of would-be evil-doers is the very good Shawn Perry and his constantly energetic side-kick Jase Parker. Of course, all of these polished performers have agreed to violate the old vaudeville adage "never share the stage with a child." It is the children in the cast who charm throughout the evening.

Musical director Michael Rossi conducts the orchestra in the pit which provides solid support for the vocalists and slightly mechanical but full sounding instrumental segments including a full overture and entr'acte. Those expecting a lengthy "March of the Toys" with row upon row of toy soldiers performing in Busby Berkley-style geometric patterns may be a bit disappointed, but this is a staged operetta, not a Hollywood spectacle musical. Within the constraints of contemporary theater budgets, they do a satisfying job of it.

Music by Victor Herbert. Lyrics and book by Glen MacDonough. Directed by Catherine Huntress-Reeve. Musical direction by Michael Rossi. Choreographed by Pauline Grossman. Design: Andrew Berry (set) Eleanor Dicks (costumes) Julie Roedescheimer (properties) Neil McFadden (lights) Caitlin Furman (stage manager). Cast: Carolyn Agan, Nairi Checkosky Balian, Nareg S. Balian, Sareen N. Balian, Aryana Bolourian, Alexandra Boulé-Buckley, Jaira Noelani Byrams, Kurtis Carter, Cheng-Ming Chow, Missy Curl, Rebecca Cznadel, Logan Dana, Taylor Dana, Charlie Hatcher, Meghan Heis, Bronwyn van Joolen, Jeremy King, Kacie L. Lester, Justine Moral, Jordan Moral, Darnell Morris, Carolyn Myers, Paul Nalabandian, Jase Parker, Shawn Perry, Guylene Prophete, Daniel Pushkin, Rachael Saltzman, Michelle Urcuyo, Liana Ventimiglia, John Weihrauch, George Willis, Richard Yingling.

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Running time 1:25 - no intermission
A staged and costumed but abridged version of Gilbert and Sullivan's classic comic operetta
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Storyline: A condensed version of W.S. Gilbert’s original story of the son of the Mikado, the Emperor of Japan, who has disguised himself as a mere traveling musician (a second trombonist, no less) who is in love with the ward of Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner. The Mikado comes looking for his son but the town assumes he’s really coming to find out why there have been no executions performed. The Lord High Executioner doesn’t know how to behead a victim ("I intend to take lessons") so they fake an account of the execution of a second trombonist. All ends happily.

Music by Arthur Sullivan. Book and lyrics by W. S. Gilbert. Condensed and directed by Scott Kenison. Musical direction by Alvin Smithson. Music arranged by Dave Simmons. Design: Emily Lagerquist (lights) Lyndsey Gore (stage manager). Cast: Doug Benton, Alexandra Boule-Buckley, Frederick DuPuy or Scott Kenison, Karourn Demirjian or Mary Gresock, Karen Mercedes, James Myers, Aaron Reeder or Robert Ritter, Karen Rice, Matt Williams. Musicians: Lisa Erenspeck, Lauren Rostek or Bob Brooks, Renae Smith or Jeff Kahan, Alvin Smithson.

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Running time 3:00 - one intermission
A lush presentation of a classic musical comedy
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Storyline: On openin’ night of a musical comedy based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the leading couple are warring privately while they battle on stage. He’s the director as well as the star and she’s his former wife, newly engaged to another. Their bickering is exacerbated by the fact that the actor playing Lucentio has a bad gambling addiction and has signed the star’s name to an IOU for his losses in a game run by the mob. Gangsters take over the performance to ensure repayment.

Once upon a time, Cole Porter and Sam and Bella Spewack made "a heck of a show out of the shrew," as one of the first lines of dialogue in this show puts it. That time was 1948 when Broadway demanded tuneful songs that could become pop hits before pop music went its own way under Elvis and the Beatles. Few shows ever had as many hits as this one. Porter, who was at the time assumed to be washed up (A tremendous success in the thirties but what had he done lately?) churned out tune after tune that gave performers with big belting voices and others with sweet romantic voices and even grating gangsterish voices the chance to capture the limelight. Add tremendous dance numbers and what more could you ask? How about a script that was both functional and funny? The Spewacks provided that by borrowing from and then embellishing Shakespeare. Their book worked like a charm. It has ever since.

Leading off the Savoyards revival are Michael Nansel and Sandy Bainum. He already has a WATCH award for best actor in a musical for this part in a community theater production. (Click here to read our review of his 2003 performance at the Arlington Players). Now, crossing over to professional level, he's even more polished and still has that wonderful booming voice which he puts to good use for all his songs, but which is at its best for his nicest piece of work, the comic gem "Where Is The Life That Late I Led?" Playing opposite him, Sandy Bainum is in great voice especially for her emphatic delivery of "I Hate Men." They get together for a wonderful "Wunderbar."

The supporting team is something of a mixed bag. Rosie Sowa wows the crowd with a great rendition of "Always True To You In My Fashion." Her partner, Robert Mintz, as her gambling boy friend, can dance up a storm, but is a bit weak on the vocals and a bit awkward in the dialogue scenes. The "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" team of Ron Sarro and Austin Wolfe don't quite constitute a team and seem inexplicably tentative. The company of twenty-five is supported nicely by a pit orchestra of twenty-one. That pit is deep, so the orchestra is subtly but effectively amplified. The lead singers are miked as well, but not quite so subtly. The transition between un-amplified speech and amplified song is abrupt and distracting.

Music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. Directed by Hal Simons. Choreographed by Douglas Yeuell. Musical direction by N. Thomas Pedersen. Design: Elizabeth Jenkens McFadden (set) Eleanor Dicks (costumes) Kathryn Pong (properties) Neil McFadden (lights) James Mulhern (stage manager). Cast: Kayce Allison, Sandy Bainum, Doug Bowles, John Dow, Michael Grew, Thomas Hedgpeth, Stacie Hering, Jeannie Hosler, Jeremy King, Emily S. Levey, Matthew McGloin, John-Paul G. Makowski, Don Kenneth Mason, Stephanie Meyer, Robert Mintz, Justine D. Moral, Michael Nansel, Daniel Pushkin, JR Russ, Ron Sarro, Tosia Anne Shall, Rosie Sowa, Guillaume Tourniaire, Vishal Vaidya, Austin Wolfe.

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Reviewed April 29
Running time 2 hours 35 minutes

Storyline: A young lady who is a ward of the chancery court is in love with a young man. What she doesn’t know is that he is the son of a fairy (Iolanthe) who was banished for marrying a mortal. He is a fairy above the waist but, from the waist down, he’s mortal. When she sees him expressing devotion to his mother she’s riven with jealousy because his mother, like all fairies, hasn’t aged in appearance and still looks like a 17 year old girl. Complications arise when the entire House of Peers applies for her hand in marriage. The Fairy Queen is insulted by the attitude of the mortals toward fairies and, as a reprisal, casts a spell sending the young half-fairy into Parliament with the power to pass any bill that strikes his fancy, including one opening the nobility to anyone who can pass a competitive examination.

If proof were ever needed, here is ample evidence of the magical effect of the sublime melding of W. S. Gilbert’s solidly constructed pieces of whimsy and Arthur Sullivan’s music both serious sounding and perfectly matched to even the most nonsensical lyric. Was ever there a match between melody and gibberish as heavenly as in the entrance of the House of Peers chanting “Tantantara! Tsing! Boom!?" Where in the entire cannon can you find so sincere a melody to land a zinger like “As every child can tell / The House of Peers, throughout the war / did nothing in particular / And they did it very well.”?  And many first time listeners can be excused if they think they are hearing Beethoven when the orchestra sets up the aria “When you’re lying awake with a dismal headache” not knowing that they are about to hear a patter song to rival H.M.S. Pinafore’s “I am the monarch of the sea / the ruler of the Queen’s Navee.”

There are many delights among the performances but none so delightful as Mary Gresock as the young lady with whom the half-fairy/half-human is in love. She sings very well indeed but it is her comic acting skills that make her performance so very much fun. She's well matched vocally by William Heim as her intended. Among the secondary roles, David Williams stands out as the British Army Private and both Gary Sullivan and David Kozisek as the two members of the House of Lords who come to blows over Gresock's hand. Kozisek has the finer voice of the two but Sullivan the keener comic touch in the fabulously titled roles of Lord Tolloller and Lord Montararat. Ali Oliver sings the title role well but looks too old to be mistaken for Heim's girlfriend and Michael Galizia's booming voice echoes around the big stage, making some of the patter songs of the Lord Chanellor difficult to follow. He is hindered by the fact that the Savoyards productions are amplified with area microphones which pick up footsteps, furniture movements and costume rustles along with the voices.

With Victoria Gau as music director, the production benefits from both a solid performance by the thirty-two piece orchestra and from attention to detail and clear enunciation in the choral singing. From the overture onward Gau concentrates on the melodies in Sullivan's score. The woodwind section is particularly strong which is important given Sullivan's use of those instruments to convey much of the idyllic, fairyland touches of the plot. That lightness is matched by the whimsy in Elizabeth Jenkins McFadden's design for the creek from which Iolanthe emerges. The time of the story has been set as the 1920s in order to permit flapper dresses and spiffy spring suits for the men but this makes very little difference, for the charm of this piece is timeless.

Written by William S. Gilbert. Music by Arthur Sullivan. Stage Direction by Deb Niezgoda. Music Direction by Victoria Gau. Choreography by Cyana Cook. Design: Elizabeth Jenkins McFadden (scenic design) Jessica Frakes (scenic artist)  Denise Young (fairy costumes) Joe Walker (makeup) Neil McFadden (lights and sound) Drake Sorey (photography) Willette Thompson (stage manager). Cast: Bob Ashby, Dave Bradley, Kiersten Drumm, Gaye Freese, Michael Galizia, Emily Gilson, Shereth Gilson, Mary Gresock, Michelle Hastings, Becky Henry, Kris Henry, William Heim, Deborah Jacobson, Ralph Johnson, David Koziek, June J. Morris, Alicia Oliver, Debbie Peetz, Amy Rauch, Andrea Schewe, Joseph Sorge, Gary Sullivan, David Williams, Denise Young.

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Reviewed November 8
Running time 2 hours 55 minutes

Around the world there are many companies specializing in producing the thirteen comic operas written by the incredible pair of Victorian Englishmen, William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan between 1875 and 1896. Many of these operas were composed specifically for performance in the Savoy Theatre in London built to present their extraordinarily successful output. Taking its name from the theater, the Washington Savoyards is just such a company. Its productions run a single weekend, and, thus, we rarely have a chance to review a show until it has already closed. But we thought that a review, even if included as an archive item, would be of use to readers deciding on the company’s future offerings so we attended this production.

Storyline: A gentleman is being held in the Tower of London in the sixteenth century. He’s to be executed on a trumped up charge of sorcery. Indignant over the fact that, being unmarried, the law requires that his estate go to the very kinsman who falsely testified against him, he convinces his jailor to find a girl willing to marry him on his way to the block. A willing lass is found and the ceremony performed. But then he is saved from the execution, leaving his new bride in a difficult situation.

Gilbert and Sullivan are most renown of course for the inspired foolishness of their most comic of comic operas, specifically their “big three” comic hits, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. But, as their quarter century collaboration approached its end, composer Sullivan became more and more impatient with what many saw as “wasting his talent” on comedy and librettist/lyricist Gilbert produced less comic, more serious texts. The farthest they got from “comic opera” and the closest to “grand opera” is this, their 1888 collaboration. It doesn’t dispense with comedy all together, with plot twists involving an oaf of a jailor (actually, “Head Jailer” and “Assistant Tormentor”), a court jester and other light-hearted elements. But don’t look for the equivalent of a lead comic role such as Pinafore’s First Lord of the Admiralty, The Mikado’s Lord High Executioner or even The Gondoliers’ Duke of Plaza-Toro. Do expect convoluted plots expertly structured, literate lyrics filled with a joy of wordplay and music running the gamut from lovely to lively.

Tradition is what The Washington Savoyards is all about and, as a consequence, you get a production of a hundred and fifteen year old work that is very much like you might have found it on opening night. There is some electronic reinforcement of the sound but the cast does not wander about with telephone operator mikes attached to their ears. The sound is quite natural and most of the singers are fully capable of projecting their voices to the rear of the hall without assistance. These are trained voices and the solos and choruses are equally distinguishable. They are all backed by a large pit orchestra whose sound is very full and satisfying. The costumes and sets are true to the Savoy tradition with no attempt to modernize the look. The glory of these productions is the opportunity to experience these extraordinary works in their own style.

Casting obviously places top priority on voice with other talents lower on the list. As a result, there are a few roles played by performers who are either less than comfortable in their dialogue scenes or who are less than perfect matches for their parts. The condemned British gentleman in this production was sung beautifully by Aurelio Dominguez whose Italian accent was mildly anachronistic. However, the emphasis on strong voices yielded such delights as Jen Morris singing the key role of Phoebe and Mary Gresock the part of Elsie. The real delight was Timothy R. King as the jester. This role, requiring both comedic and dramatic abilities as well as a good enough voice and the dexterity to handle the tongue twisters inevitably found in Gilbert’s lyrics, gave him every opportunity to demonstrate diverse strengths. He met each challenge. His duet with the excellent Michael Galizia, the “Assistant Tormentor”, was a delight. In all, the cast acquitted themselves well, especially in the musical numbers. Ray Colllum’s direction of the dialogue scenes, however, was ponderous resulting in an overall impression of a more heavy and weighty show than was necessary. Gilbert and Sullivan fans may require that every last line and bit be lingered over, but, for overall enjoyment, a sense of these gems flitting by can enhance the fun.

Book and lyrics by William S. Gilbert. Music by Arthur Sullivan. Stage direction by Ray Collum. Music direction by Catherine Huntress-Reeve. Design: Elizabeth J. McFadden (set) Ray Collum (lights) Neil McFadden (sound). Cast: Joanna Boales, Dave Bradley, Michael Brinkman, Margaret Davis, Mary Catherine Davis, Aurelio Domínguez, Les Elkins, Heidi Emmer, André Enceneat, Michael Galizia, John Gideon, Shereth Gilson, Mary Gresok, Becky Henry, Alexandra Huntress-Reeve, Samantha Huntress-Reeve, Deborah Jacobson, Ralph Johnson, Timothy R. King, Julie Kinzey, John Kuykendall, Erin Magill, Jen Morris, Shane Perry, Shawn Perry, Barbara Schelstrate, Andrew Schewe, Joseph Sorge, Julie Stevens, Harv Wileman, Trish Wileman, David Williams, Richard Wilmer, Denise Young.