Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Not recent but more recent successes..... | |
| Posted by: portenopete 10:45 am EDT 08/30/20 | |
| In reply to: Gilbert & Sullivan - SUBRCCS 10:57 pm EDT 08/29/20 | |
|
|
|
| The Stratford (Ontario) Festival has had tremendous success over the years with G&S, especially during the years Brian Macdonald directed a series at the Avon Theatre (1982-85) and his production of THE MIKADO ended up on Broadway and in the West End, as well as on an American tour. One year (1984) three of his G&S productions played in rep (MIKADO, GONDOLIERS and IOLANTHE)! His choreography and staging combined with Susan Benson's exquisite design and a crack team of comic singing actors made stars of everyone involved and tour of the productions were broadcast nationally on CBC TV and there are bits and pieces of them on YouTube. He built a core company of actors who became expert at the G&S comic style like Eric Donkin, Richard McMillan and Douglas Chamberlain in the comic roles and Marie Baron, Karen Skidmore, Karen Wood in the soubrette roles. Stars like Canadian opera legend Maureen Forrester and Brent Carver would occasionally appear (as the Queen of the Fairies and The Pirate King, respectively). After the initial burst of G&S activity the productions became more sporadic and Macdonald revived a number of productions with largely new casts. Having moved over to explore the American Musical Theatre Canon with shows like GYPSY, CABARET and CAROUSEL (all magnificent), Macdonald finally retired and there have been a couple of attempts since. There was a terrific PIRATES in 2012 directed by Ethan McSweeny and a decent PINAFORE a couple of years ago directed by Leslie Wade. And I am forgetting a delightful adaptation of PIRATES that Macdonald did in 1994 with Colm Feore as The Pirate King that had a framing device of a silent film being made by a tyrannical, Teutonic director that the brilliant comic actor Tom Wood wrote and played the director. It was totally different from his 1985 production and hilarious. Almost all the productions featured new lyrics to pepper into the patter songs that dealt with contemporary figures as a way of reminding the audience how topical and specific the original Gilbert lyrics were. I'm lucky to have seen them all. Those original Macdonald shows were my introduction to G&S and they continue to be deeply satisfying memories. |
|
| reply to this message |
| re: Not recent but more recent successes..... | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 07:31 pm EDT 08/30/20 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 07:19 pm EDT 08/30/20 | |
| In reply to: Not recent but more recent successes..... - portenopete 10:45 am EDT 08/30/20 | |
|
|
|
| I watched a recording of the complete Macdonald IOLANTHE and enjoyed it very much. | |
| Link | Iolanthe - Opening Chorus |
| reply to this message | |
Time to render: 0.012681 seconds.