Word: gilberts
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...course, I'm easily amused, but the Gilbert and Sullivan Player's second production could easily amuse anyone. After all, the only thing that Gilbert and Sullivan really requires is a good chorus and plenty of vigor. Iolanthe has both, and more. The show has a few good voices, enough upright carriage and arching of brows, and just the right proportion of gentle traipsing. Iolanthe's brilliant lines, scoring Liberals and Conservatives, Queen Victoria, and the peer-made British plebes, Parliament and Chancery and even Captain Shaw of the London Fire Brigade, could carry virtually any cast. Happily, they...
...Earl, is not troubled by this latter difficulty, but carries himself well and obscures none of the humor, which is all that counts. The Lord Chancellor, Arthur Waldstein, has an even less prepossessing voice, and occasionally his froggish hops seem uncertain and feeble, but he does manage some of Gilbert's speedier lyrics, all the while conveying a most Chancellorial wizenedness. Perhaps less sure of himself on stage, and thus even more effective (as a shepherd gone M.P.) is John Bernard, a Strephon with a good voice and lively (though mortal) legs...
...conveys a less satisfactory impression. She is said to have a good voice, but I find it, and the seriousness with which she takes it, irritating. Her part, of course, will not permit the clownishness of the others, but still one wishes that she would consent to do mere Gilbert and Sullivan. (With a heynonny. .) Another element of undue sobriety can be found in the piano-playing, which because of its conscientious competence makes the overture seem interminable. The blocking is also occasionally stiff, but, in the case of the chorus, amusing enough. The production as a whole is more...
Jack's pull, however, was not always in proportion to its charm, which was sporadic. Top-heavy with talent (Celeste Holm, Cyril Ritchard, Dennis King, Leora Dana, Billy Gilbert) and electronic gimmickry, the big beanstalk was often heavy on its feet. Main trouble: for a 90-minute musical, the music just wasn't very good. Best scene: Choreographer Rod Alexander's March of the Ill-Assorted Guards, with Newcomer Joel Grey, 24, who as Jack showed real promise in the difficult triple chore of actor, singer and dancer...
...supported by Christian convictions." Some 240 of Cambridge's most distinguished scholars wrote a letter to the Times protesting Eden's intervention. More than 350 dons at Oxford filed a similar protest, but a rival group of 30, led by 90-year-old Greek Classicist Gilbert Murray, supported Eden...