The Choir: G&S at 6.30 pm on 20th

[ardcarp]

"With a touch of 'Tripping hither tripping thither', with a dash of 'Climbing over rocky mountain', Aled Jones talks to Simon Butteriss, Natalie Herman and Robin Wilson, about the choral works of Sir Arthur Sullivan, including some jaunty choruses from the popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas."

OK G&S is like Marmite. I'm pro, having been Phyllis in Iolanthe, aged 12. No-one called me a poufter because all my mates were dressed up as fairies singing 'Tripping Hither'. They looked a lot better than the average 75-year-old soprano from the local G&S Society. I think my favourite lines, from the sentry outside Parliament are:

And in that House MPs divide
If they've a brain and cerebellum too
They've got to leave that brain outside
And vote just as their leaders tell 'em to:

[DracoM]

Tell you what, ardcarp, that Sulllivan Te Deum porbably won't be top of too many DoMs next season's lists, will it?
Discussion was good, and pretty shrewd about G&S.

What other bits would listeners have wanted to hear?

[amateur51]

OK G&S is like Marmite. I'm pro, having been Phyllis in Iolanthe, aged 12. No-one called me a poufter because all my mates were dressed up as fairies singing 'Tripping Hither'

Quelle délicatesse!

I'd say it's not just G&S that's like Marmite, Phyllis

[salymap]

I must listen to that programme. I like G&S but not with Frankie Howerd, who is definitely like Marmite to me. Ugh. I was given a set of dvds of G&S for Christmas and and only now sampling them. Made in 1982, they are very strange to me, introduced by Douglas Fairbanks, with Ambrosia Singers and the LSO, they should be okay but aren't. I was brought up on D'Oyle Carte, Sargent performances of course.[superior smile]

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I agree about Frankie Howerd, with his out-of-tune Sprechstimme. I remember it well and it was dire.