Acclaimed opera director Peter Sellars promised in his pre-show introduction in Wilson Hall on Friday that the best Gilbert and Sullivan performances were those done by amateur groups. Fulfilling his promise, the Glee Club's rendition was high in energy and full of wit.
"The Pirates of Penzance" first premiered in 1879 and tells the story of Frederic, a young man who was mistakenly apprenticed to a band of pirates when he was a boy. Frederic falls in love with a major general's daughter, Mabel, and plans to marry her once he is freed from his apprenticeship on his 21st birthday. Instead, however, he has to remain with the pirate band because he was born in a leap year and will technically not celebrate his 21st birthday until he is 84 years old.
Alex Cook '09 was quite competent in the lead role as Frederic, projecting his voice to fill Spaulding Auditorium. Yet, because his character shared several scenes with the major general's daughters, his acting was often lost in an explosion of pastel dresses, ruffles, ribbons and lace.
The production was highlighted by the performances of the female leads. Amber Dewey '12 dominated the stage in all of her scenes as Ruth, the 47-year-old nurse who was responsible for Frederic's accidental apprenticeship with the pirates and who eventually falls in love with her charge.
Dewey delivered a straightforward performance as a scorned woman raising hell, grabbing the audience's attention despite her barely five-foot frame and the 20 loudly dressed males accompanying her on stage. Her British accent was the most believable out of any of the actors, yet comical, tinged with the cockney twangs of Eliza Doolittle.
The scene in which Ruth tells the story of how Frederic came to join the band of pirates almost mirrored a scene from "Peter Pan," when Wendy tells stories to the lost boys. In fact, many aspects of "Pirates" were reminiscent of "Peter Pan," from the costumes to the secluded cove and night sky that served as the backdrops for acts one and two, respectively.
Both Courtney Valentine '09 and Emma Alexander '10 also delivered remarkable performances. Valentine demonstrated her vocal range and agility as Mabel, hitting several high notes over the course of the operetta and moving from one to another with ease. Valentine's Mabel was not only lyrical, but also poised. She flirted and danced with Frederic, creating a dream-like aura around her that had audiences believing she was truly in love.
On Saturday, Alexander gave an equally skillful rendition of Edith, another one of the major general's daughters, although she sounded more like a mezzo-soprano than the soprano that the program labeled her. Alexander, a member of The Dartmouth Staff, shined on stage, showcasing the most developed operatic voice of any of the singers in "The Pirates of Penzance."
The stand-out performances by the female singers created a sense of irony, as "The Pirates of Penzance" is a rather misogynistic piece. In more than a few places, women are portrayed as vapid and naive. Gilbert even dedicated an entire song in the play to a trivial discussion of the weather among the major general's daughters as they ignore Mabel's scandalous involvement with Frederic.
"The one thing I would try to do one day is to try to feminize ['The Pirates of Penzance'] a little, because the attacks on women are a little difficult to take in this material," Sellars said. "I would say in the 21st century, it is time to move on and that is part of the legacy of Gilbert and Sullivan that we are not so proud of. Maybe one day, I'll ask Steven Sondheim to just have a go at it because very few people have the verbal facility that Gilbert had where the words just sparkle."
While few of the male actors could match the technical skill of Alexander or Valentine, Kyle Lad '09, who played the major general, deserves praise for fully embracing his role as the boorish father and understanding that his character functioned as comic relief in the play.
Lad also succeeded in making sure the music did not drown out his voice. Because the orchestra ensemble was seated on the left side of the stage, some of the actors had difficulty singing over the music and properly enunciating their lines. It was always easy to understand Lad, however, even during the fast-paced song, "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General." Lad took control of the music, playing with conductor Louis Burkot and telling him when to stop and when to carry on.
As conductor, Burkot was very sensitive to the needs of his students and adapted the pace of the music for the singers.
The Glee Club lampooned Sullivan's score, which at some points became very monotonous and flat, making it more difficult for the singers and causing the characters to sound alienesque.
The members of the Glee Club who played the police officers mocked this sometimes dull music by deliberately sounding like robots, which enhanced their characters and added to the show's humor.
"One of the things I've always loved was that it is Gilbert 'and' Sullivan," Sellars said. "You know nobody says Verdi 'and' Boito. I love that the words are as juicy and delicious as the music. I love that they're in this wonderful kind of equal tension. And that is what is so marvelous about Gilbert's words next to Sullivan's music, because Sullivan's music just simply is never able to be glorious."
It was evident from the Glee Club members' lack of inhibition in their movement that they enjoyed working with choreographer Maria Laskaris '84, dean of admissions and financial aid. Laskaris, who was a dancer during her student career at Dartmouth, lent her signature jazzy choreography to this production and had the actors leap into each other's arms, use their swords and clubs as batons in a kick line and form a pirate ship with their bodies.
"The great thing about Gilbert and Sullivan is that it is just for pleasure and it is also marvelous the sun has set on the British Empire," Sellars said. "England from my point of view has quite detoxed since these things were written. Yet, on the other hand, there might be some other country that might consider itself the most important country on earth that is saving the whole planet, while other people consider it a form of slavery. Maybe Gilbert and Sullivan have something to say to people in that country."
