Rough Sailing for Gondoliers

One of the best things you can say about Melody Scheiner's production of The Gondoliers is that it improves significantly after the first 10 minutes. If you survive the excruciatingly slow painful beginning without running, screaming, out of the Agassiz you will be rewarded with the entertaining performances of the several accomplished leads. But all the talent in the world doesn't quite redeem a production marked mostly by its slow pace and stale direction. The funnier moments of the Gilbert and Sullivan operates do shine through the dreariness but it is depressing to see such a fine cast wasted.

The main reason that The Gondoliers picks up is the arrival on the scene of Jill Weitzner as Tessa and Tori Jueds as Gianetta, the two Italian women who get engaged (quite randomly) to two gondolier brothers, Marco and Giuseppe, at the beginning of the show. Both show more spirit than the rest of the cast combined and have lovely voices to match. Given the lackluster direction they have to cope with, the performance of the two women is particularly remarkable.

Like most Gilbert and Sullivan plots, that of The Gondoliers is fantastic in the extreme. Shortly after the dual marriage it turns out that one of the brothers (needless to say, no one knows which) is really the King of Barataria, who was stolen away as a baby. Both men are rushed off to the palace by the Machiavellian Grand Inquisitor, who has been hurried into action by the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro. It seems that their daughter Casilda was married in infancy to the young King and they now want her to take her rightful place as Queen. Casilda, meanwhile, is secretly in love with the Duke's servant, Luis, whose mother is (of course) the former nurse of the King of Barataria who is the only one who can determine the true identity of the King. If you have seen more than one Gilbert and Sullivan operetta you can pretty much figure out the rest of the plot without thinking too hard.

As the two possible Kings, Braden Linard and James Patterson are convincingly lovable goofs. Patterson, in particular, has both a strong voice and considerable acting talent that he puts to good use; his interaction with Weitzner is amusing and sincere. Linard is a little less focused, with a tendency to notice the audience more than the actors around him, but he gives a fine performance, nonetheless.

Also good are Doug Miller as the Duke and Yoseph Choi as the Grand Inquisitor. Miller has one of the strangest accents in a show full of pseudo-Brits but he prances about the stage in the best tradition of the "little man who sings the patter song," as Anna Russell put it. If he is less strong in the second act, his introductory song, "The Duke of Plaza-Toro," in the first is one of the best moments of the show. Blessedly, he understands the importance of enunciation. Choi plays the Inquisitor as a little more of a lech than necessary but makes up for it with his powerful voice, one of the best in the show. Unlike Aimee Matheny (Casilda), who can both act and sing well but not do either simultaneously, Choi maintains his character throughout his impressive musical numbers.

Gondoliers has a strong supporting cast as well, unusual for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Laura White's Duchess and Marcia Groome's Inez give fine cameo performances and the chorus, although plagued by one member so annoying that I spent most of the show wishing a flat would drop on her, has a fine vocal quality.

The orchestra plods along slowly throughout. Musical Director Ellen Cogen seems to have worked more strongly on some numbers than others--the orchestra can often sound brilliant in one instance and like a fourth grade beginners group in the next. Both the set and the costumes seem to have come from Gilbert and Sullivan Central Casting, less the fault of the designers perhaps than of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, which seems to regularly eschew creativity in favor of predictable bland productions.

This is especially evident in Scheiner's direction which is not so much inept as it is unimaginative and rote, sort of the directorial equivalent of painting by numbers. Many bad cliches are used in this production--from the overture pantomime of Tessa and Gianetta (five minutes watching the two girls place flowers in baskets oh so carefully) to the set staging of the chorus. When Casilda is holding a rose during a bittersweet love song, you know she will drop it at the end. She does. The evening is full of things like that too depressing to recount here.

It is in the best tradition of Gilbert and Sullivan to update lyrics and dialogue to refer to contemporary events; that the sole efforts of this show are on the level of forcing the Grand Inquisitor to say things like "wicked awesome" and of a lame reference to Oprah will indicate the level of wit the show aspires to. There a few redeeming moments: the entrance of the Plaza-Toros is well staged and choreographer Susanna Witt's staging of the blind man's bluff dance is clever. Overall, however, the actors succeed by overcoming the direction, not because of it.

If you've seen one Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta, you can pretty much figure out the rest of the plot without thinking too hard.