Word: gilbertian
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...banditry−bandit being of Italian origin−and that kidnaping is as much part of the Italian scene as opéra bouffe. (The great master of English opéra bouffe, W.S. Gilbert, was kidnaped as a baby in Naples−an event both Neapolitan and Gilbertian.) And it is true that it has traditionally been hard to think of Italy as tranquil, law-abiding, prepared to solve its problems through calm discussion and the slow process of democracy. Italy is a very new democracy, and its citizens distrust democracy as they have always distrusted more autocratic forms...
...fair, this spoof on late Victorian aestheticism and its pretentiously empyrean devotees is not sterling Gilbert & Sullivan. Patiencedoes have its share of Gilbertian humor, mostly deriving from the parody of aesthetic attitudinizing, and its plot is powered by the usual sort of Gilbertian paradox--in this case, an identification of love with duty which brands the love of anything worth loving as undutiful. But it lacks the consistently memorable score that distinguishes Pirates of Penzance, for example, or the brilliant comic sequences which make Iolanthea favorite...
...goes to a country house to steal jewels and runs off with the daughter of the aristocrat who owns the estate instead. Although Softly Speaking stands apart as one of the few originals in a season of adaptations, at least in name, Fuller's play has a decidedly Gilbertian...
Dennis Crowley, back once again to sing the patter song, is another familiar face. Crowley has somewhat less to do as Major General Stanley than he did as the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, but he carries the part off with the same Gilbertian quizzicality that has marked his previous successes. His rendering of the difficult patter song is excellent, with every word--well, just about every word--clearly audible...
...overwhelms any deficiencies in her acting. By contrast, Linda Anne Kirwan is a gifted comedienne, handling the part of Pheobe with real comic flair and singing well, if less vigorously than her rival. Roberto Gaston makes an extraordinarily winning Fairfax, with his broad toothy grin, strong tenor and charming Gilbertian sense of the absurd...