Review: Iolanthe by The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin
by Michael Meigs

What a sensation Gilbert & Sullilvan must have been back then, the 19th century London equivalent of our Capitol Steps and Second City rolled into one! In fine satirical style, in their best known works they took on the Empire, the peerage, exotic Asia and the Royal Navy.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin in its 34th year brings us with Iolanthe their mockery of Parliament itself, pairing the pompous velvet-clad peers of the House of Lords with diaphanous fairies operating by quite a different set of social rules.

Gilbert and Sullivan provided my very first initiation into musical theatre. I was about 12 years old when my father took my brother and me to see The Mikado, all unprepared, in the distinctly unexotic setting of a high school in northern Alabama. We were enraptured by the music, the style, the color and the wit, and we have probably not recovered even yet. I took my wife, equally unexposed to G&S, to see this production of Iolanthe. I was cheered to see on her face, throughout the two acts, the same very attentive little smile that must have marked my own, way back then.

Their light opera is brainy stuff, pretty far removed from your standard American broadway musical. Recognizing that, Austin's G&S society has put a lot of effort into teaching and outreach. Artistic director Ralph MacPhail Jr. and musical director Jeffrey Jones-Ragona worked the talk shows with Dianne Donovan at classical station KMFA and with John Aielli at KUT-FM. Their website includes streaming video both on the front page and on the page providing a history of the organization, with photo and video galleries reporting the last five years of productions. Since Gilbert and Sullivan is music, song and promenading-cum-dancing, that visual approach is effective.

The story of Iolanthe is silly, intentionally so, since they're poking fun at the peers who are the self-important Rulers of the Empire. Arthur DiBianca as the Lord Chancellor stalks about in black robes and a cascading wig with young Dirk Yaple scrambling behind to lift his trailing train.

 

Lords in red velvet and absurd headgear wheel ceremoniously about a forest clearing. The Lord Chancellor and the Oliver-and-Hardy pair of earls Mountararat (David Fontenot) and Tolloller (Andrew Fleming) are foolishly enamored of Arcadian shepherdess Phyllis (Meredith Ruduski). For her part, Phyllis loves Strephon the Arcadian shepherd (Derek Smootz), who is half fairy (the upper half) and half human (the lower bits).

Victorians are reputed to have been sexually repressed, one result of which was the fashionable obsession with fairies -- not with the self-aware and sometimes swaggering ones of our own day, but, rather, with barely pubescent young women. As the graceful, twinkling chorus of them demonstrates, they were profoundly feminine and attractive but not avowedly sexual.

Strephon's fairy mom Iolanthe (June Julian) fell for a human 25 years ago, but on orders of the Fairy Queen she had to end the relationship upon pain of death. Since then, Iolanthe has atoned for indiscretion by dwelling in a soggy spring. As the action of Iolanthe begins, the diaphanous band of fairies is congregating, arriving at a decision point that will free Iolanthe of that punishment. The magic world will consider how to deal with the obligatory distance between their existence and the beef-and-potatoes world of the empty-headed peers.

The youngish Gillman Light Opera Orchestra under the direction of Jeffrey Jones-Ragona delivers the music and tunes with proper jauntiness, and without exception the singing characters and chorus do fine renditions of G&S. Diction is generally crisp, with the best coming from Lisa Alexander as the Queen of the Fairies and Russell Gregory as Private Willis of the Grenadier Guards (shown on the poster). Arthur DiBianca's astonishingly glib patter song describing the Lord Chancellor's nightmare was an elocutionary feat -- and one for which one could be especially grateful that the texts were projected above the stage.

What a contrast between the golden world on the stage and the drear and dusty auditorium at Travis High School! The first ten center rows had been roped off, ostensibly to assure better acoustics, and the rest of the hall appeared relatively sparsely populated. One was reminded strongly of the cultish aspect of operetta fans by their decision to stage at curtain time a twenty-five minute homage to the late Frank Delvy, a much loved stalwart of the Society.

Iolanthe plays through this coming weekend -- after which, you will have to wait another year for a full-strength fix of G&S!

Comments by Clare Croft on the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog, June 14

Comments by odoublegood at metblogs.austin: "Iolanthe all-in-one entertainment center," June 16 

Review by Barry Pineo in the Austin Chronicle, June 18 

EXTRA

News 8 video clip (3 min) with Ralph McPhail, June Julian and brief scenes from the stage presentation:

Iolanthe
by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Gilbert & Sullivan Austin