28th July
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Iolanthe Bournemouth G&S Society Opera House 7:30 pm  We had seats B19 & B20 in the Dress Circle for this performance

The first night of competitive performances started tonight.  Gillian Humphries, our new adjudicator, was in the front row of the dress circle and the audience waited with anticipation as the overture struck up at a lively pace.

The scene opened to a series of groans and moans behind the tabs and as they were lifted the fairies were seen asleep scattered over the stage.  They were gradually awakened grudgingly from their sleep.  This was not the usual band of fairies - it was more like Keystone cops in fairy land.  The word dainty was not in their vocabulary as they stomped about the stage in time with the music.  This different approach was fine as they kept it up with great skill.  However, where they were let down was in the wigs - at first I though they all had large blue shower caps on.  The three principal fairies all worked well together.

The queen entered and although she was small in stature she showed her presence with a magnificent dress and a delightful, if rather soft voice.  After much pleading from the fairies she agreed to release Iolanthe from the stream, with unfortunate noises from the smoke machine and rather too much of the smoke.

Iolanthe had a lovely voice, again a little soft at times.  Strephon came on - not quite the "young" Strephon we were lead to expect but he had a clear voice and good diction.  He had some good fun with the fairies.

Phyllis came on and at this point the production went up to another level.  What a wonderful costume and how well she looked in it.  She had an excellent voice and a great stage presence.  The duet "Non shall part us" was a delight.

As I sat in anticipation of the entrance of the peers I was somewhat disappointed as they strolled on in morning suits carrying their robes and coronets.  This lacked the visual impact of the entrance in full robes and the parade around the stage which we usually get in Iolanthe.  As the introduction to the peer's chorus was coming to an end the peers were dressing themselves but even so as they started to sing three of them were still not ready and some of those that were still looked untidy.  A mistake I think!  Again I found that they did not look proud or haughty enough, except that is for Lord Tolloller who was magnificent in his sneering dominance.

A second highlight arrived with the entrance of the Lord Chancellor.  What a wonderful actor and singer - and such confidence.  The only thing which spoilt this entrance was the Page - not the usual active young boy who copies the actions of the LC but a mature gentleman who walked on and froze during the entrance, despite the LC's efforts to animate him.  At the end of the entrance song the page collapsed and was carried off by a couple of peers - It may be me but I could not understand what all this was about?

The LC's song "The law is.." was excellent and again he showed his confidence in the role.

Phyllis returned and had great fun with the peers as she spurned them.  Tolloller's song was well delivered - if a little quiet.

Much business was carried on as Strephon returned and was told that in no way could he marry Phyllis.

As the peers returned to find Strephon chatting with Iolanthe they were "hidden" with some bits of branches and they crept up close to "mis-hear" what was being said.  When confronted about this flirting Strephon told Phyllis and the Peers that she was his mother.

On the Queen's return she promised to help him and get him into Parliament - much to the chagrin of the assembled peers.  A colourful and active finale to the first act.

Act two started with the fairies on stage and no Willis.  They danced about during the introduction until Willis marched on and then they all "hid" to listen to his song - a delightful touch.  Willis, although small in stature was large in confidence and he had a good strong voice.  However, his most remarkable feature were his eyes which were full of expression all the way through.  A little more attention to parade ground actions would have helped create a wonderful character.

Mountararat sang a good "When Britain really ruled the world" and then great fun was had as the fairies tried to prevent the peers from leaving - the spell cast by the fairies stuck the peer's feet to the floor which resulted in much fun as they tried to drag themselves and each other off stage.

The queen sang a lovely "Oh foolish Fay" and this was followed by an equally good quartet "Tho' p'raps I might incur your blame"  with Willis stealing the scene.

The nightmare song was extremely well sung and then the trio really enjoyed themselves with the "If you go in"  The Lord Chancellor cunningly avoiding any encores by hiding behind the sentry box - much to the chagrin of the two earls.

Iolanthe's interaction with Strephon and Phyllis were a delight and then the scene with the LC was most moving.  The way he protected her from the Queen was most touching.

Once everything had been sorted out we were treated to a colourful and vivacious finale  

A very good production which sets the standard for the festival - there were little bits of it which I did not like, these were mainly due to the directions the cast had been given but these did not spoil my overall enjoyment of tonight's production.

Cabaret

This evening was the first example of the new format - a short first cabaret and then a longer one from the night's group.  Our friend Romy did the first act - she sang some delightful songs based upon the music of late Victorian up to Gracie Fields - very good it was too.   Here she tells us about her little cat.

The group from the Opera House - Bournemouth then came on and gave us a real lively cabaret.  The full chorus really were well directed and produced some outstanding sound.  

We had extracts from Pinafore, a reprise from the evenings Iolanthe. 

Then a very racy Miller's Daughter in which I was "persuaded" up on the stage  by Phyllis from the Iolanthe.  

A thoroughly enjoyable evening - Well done Romy and the Bournemouth Cast.