Word: baronets
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...York City, 1928. Sir Thomas Beecham, the prickly British baronet and conductorial autodidact, was making his American debut in a concert with the New York Philharmonic. So was Horowitz. Beecham was apparently not about to let some upstart, unknown Russian steal his thunder, even if the piece was Tchaikovsky's thunderous Piano Concerto No. 1. Horowitz was unable to speak English, but it was clear from the rehearsals that even a translator would be no help. "Beecham thought I was of no importance," the pianist remembers. At the concert, the conductor adopted an even more ponderous tempo than during...
...ancient curse. A well-mannered, blushing maiden. A would-be Baronet masquerading as a farmer. A village lunatic. An elderly spinster. Mix all of these elements together with a troupe of professional-and equally blushing-bridesmaids, add a chorus of dead Baronets, toss in a generous pinch of satire and a large dash of energetic singing and dancing, and you have none other than Ruddigore, or the Witch's Curse, presented by the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players...
...other seven Bridesmaids will soon follow. The Bridesmaids shine in the ensemble numbers, such as their opening song "Fair is Rose," as well as in "Welcome, gentry," "Oh, why am I moody and sad?" and of the course the showstopping finale "When a man has been a naughty baronet...
...Kevin Angle '03 surpasses himself in the role of Rose's love interest, Sir Rutheven Murgatroyd, an inheritor of the Murgatroyd family curse, which causes the holder of the title of Baronet to perform one evil deed each day until he will invariably refuse to commit the crime and then die, in agony, at the hands of his ancestors. Sir Rutheven has faked his own death and has disguised himself as the sweet, disarming young farmer Robin Oakapple, who has such low self-esteem that he cannot confess his love to Rose without the help of his long-lost foster...
...whole premise of a curse that forces one to be "naughty" is Britishly weird, and as the driving dramatic element of the plot is inadequate. The second act, set in the castle of Ruddigore with the ninny Ruthven assuming the role of evil baronet, is humorous at first; the effect of the spooky forbears of Ruthven stepping out of their portraits is cool for a while. But when the spirits all start convincing Ruthven to be "bad," it just gets inane and silly. The conversion of Despard and Margaret from the morally loose characters of the first act to puritanical...