 | Christchurch Gilbert and Sullivan Society | |
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| Stephen Adams' inventive entertainment, Heavenly G&S worked a treat at the Tivoli. The story, which is set in Heaven and sees W S Gilbert arriving there 10 years too early, is fresh and amusing, and the musical numbers interestingly include several lesser-known ones as well as a couple of Sullivan's own. A well-balanced chorus produced a magnificent sound, at its best in The Long Day Closes, and there was excellent solo work all round, particularly from Olwen Kieser as Rachel Scott Russell. The orchestra, under musical director Nigel | Finch, provided a sympathetic accompaniment to the singers, and also, with the Di Ballo overture, to Louise Golbey's delightful Lilac Angel ballet solo. Unfortunately though, their Mikado selection was played with such gusto that it all but drowned out Leonard Godfrey's crystal ball reading of Gilbert's future. After the interval, Trial By Jury did not quite live up to the promise of the first half. Although Zach Higgins' Learned Judge was a joy, Christine Eastwood sparkled as the plaintiff and Stephen Adams was a suitably lovelorn Defendant, generally both orchestra and singers seemed a little unsure of themselves, which tended to deter from what would otherwise have been a superb production. | |||||||||||||
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| An original story with timeless music and one of the classic gems of musical theatre blended well together to produce an evening of quality entertainment played to an enthusiastic and receptive audience. Finding a different way of presenting a concert of the works of Gilbert and Sullivan has taxed the minds of many and Stephen Adams came up with a very inventive way of making sure every single one of the 14 operas - plus a couple of bits of Sullivan only - was given an airing. The orchestra, under Christchurch G&S founder Nigel Finch, opened proceedings with an abridged version of Sullivan's Overture Di Ballo - a little shaky in parts but they gained in confidence as the evening went on - which accompanied a simple ballet by Louise Golbey as the Lilac Angel. Set at the gates of Heaven, the story involved Sir Arthur Sullivan (Zak Higgins) awaiting the arrival of his friend Richard D'Oyly Carte but W.S. Gilbert (Christopher Root) arrives instead - 10 years too early! | The Gate-Keeper (Leonard Godfrey) and Chief Guardian Angel (Sue Higgins) send the Lilac Angel "down there" to fetch D'Oyly Carte and then set about amusing Gilbert until he arrives because they have to keep up the numbers. There were particularly good performances from Stephen Adams (as a devilish Mephistopheles), Olwen Kieser (as Sullivan's love Rachel Scott Russell) and the whole chorus. Bravo to everyone, too, for using the theatre's natural acoustics instead of the ubiquitous microphones. Trial By Jury sparkled as the gem it is with some delightful cameo roles from Zak Higgins as the Learned Judge, Stephen Adams as Edwin, the Defendant and Brian Morgan as The Usher. Minor details - there were only six jurymen instead of 12, for example - did not matter as the whole performance fizzed like vintage champagne. | |||||||||||||