Word: loeb
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...breathtakingly sudden appearance of Robert Brustein, dean of the Yale School of Drama, as the potential successor to Robert Chapman as director of the Loeb, has been heralded in almost apocalyptic terms. The Crimson editorial on "The Brustein Affair" suggested that, with the advent of Brustein, the "Loeb blahs of the past few decades" were at last to be eradicated, that academic and professional drama throughout the Boston area would be revitalised...
GREG DELAWIE'S direction at the Loeb completely misses its chance to underscore the irony, leaving poor Gilbert's words to stand or fall on their wit alone. That they could stand at all is a tribute to the universality of his satire. No one remembers W.H. Smith any more (the newspaper-stand magnate Gilbert caricatures as Sir Joseph Porter)--except the tourists to Great Britain who still see his name on every other newsstand. But no one can miss this general broadside against sinecures of any kind...
Once you give up looking for any idea behind a Gilbert and Sullivan performance, you can only hope that there will be individual singers good enough to hold the show together. The Loeb cast is near-perfect--the overall quality of singing is strikingly high--even better, the cast and chorus remain completely intelligible throughout the evening. This is the best insurance possible for a G & S show; as long as Gilbert's words come through, laughs will follow...
...middle of the second act does the cast loosen up, and give a taste of what the entire show could have been like. In the traditional encores after the trio, "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore," Prince, Falk and Weary suddenly perk up and begin to command the Loeb stage. It doesn't matter that many of their routines are classic D'Oyly Carte fare--they start to look like they're having fun. The rest of the act, through the big finale, benefitted...
...Pinafore for granted; they didn't put in the energy it needs. Theirs is still an over-whelmingly competent production, with superb singing--one worth seeing of you lovePinafore, love Gilbert and Sullivan, or just love watching all those funny, cute Englishmen acting so very English. But then, the Loeb is sold out already. Ironically, enough people love Pinafore as a harmless trifle that it can be de-fanged with impunity. Who would want to scare away all those big middle-class audiences by staging any "language strong," anyway...