Prom 49 (19.8.12): Gilbert & Sullivan – The Yeomen of the Guard

[Volti Subito]

Originally Posted by Volti Subito
catholic tastes

Careful now
you might incite the righteous wrath of our Caledonian friend

As I understand (and use) the term catholic, it has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church - it means "having a wide range of interests"

Collins English Dictionary defines it as " ... Comprehensive in interests, tastes etc; broadminded; liberal."

V S

[Tony Halstead]

Is it just possible that MrGG's comment was a 'clockwork' one?

[amateur51]

Is it just possible that MrGG's comment was a 'clockwork' one?

seems to have worked as well

[salymap]

Curiouser and curiouser said Alice.

[salymap]

Surely my favourite, Trial by Jury would be suitable for half a programme with something requiring much the same forces for the other half

TbJ has little, if any, spoken dialogue, the RAH platform would make a lovely courtroom, with semi-staging
and the chorus at the back. My Decca ffrr'high fidelity' sounds as good as ever.
I expect it has been done though........

[Flosshilde]

I can't get those tunes out of my head for weeks.

Is that neccessarily a good thing, or even a measure of excellence in music?

[Volti Subito]

Is that neccessarily a good thing, or even a measure of excellence in music?

No. Did I suggest it was? There are a great many tunes that I would prefer to have going round and round in my head, driving me crazy.

Volti

[Flosshilde]

No. Did I suggest it was? There are a great many tunes that I would prefer to have going round and round in my head, driving me crazy.

Volti

Well, that's how I read

I would have preferred "Pirates of Penzance" or (pious hope) "Patience" as better examples of Sir Arthur Sullivan's excellent music.

I say "excellent" because whenever I have attended a G & S performance - even local amateur productions, I can't get those tunes out of my head for weeks. Sorry, but I can't say the same about most "classical"(sniff) music (except, perhaps Elgar's Violin Concerto, which seems to haunt me from time to time.)

But if I was mistaken, I apologise.

[David Underdown]

Both lovely pieces, but Pirates was done at the Proms in 2005 and Patience in 2009, so neither was likely to be back so soon.

I don't quite understand what you mean by "better examples" of Sullivan - for my money, Yeomen is a really fine score (as are the other two - "different" rather than "better" surely?)

Point of order, it was Pinafore in 2005, not Pirates - which doesn't seem to have a note heard since the 70s

[Northender]

Rumour has it that HMS Pinafore might be permanently decommissioned as part of the ongoing defence cuts. At least the Yeomen are safe - who else is going to see to it that the ravens don't decamp?

[makropulos]

Point of order, it was Pinafore in 2005, not Pirates - which doesn't seem to have a note heard since the 70s

My mistake! It was indeed. Sorry for the confusion. And that being the case, Pirates would be a great choice for the Proms.

[bluestateprommer]

Being not at all a G&S aficionado / Savoyard at all, and actually never having heard TYotG in any form, I arrived at iPlayer for this Prom with minimal preconceptions, besides having seen productions of The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance in a past life. A very few slipped lines of dialogue aside, this proved to be very enjoyable, although things do darken especially with Jack Point at the end, not to mention the less than completely desirable matches for 2 of the couples.

Watching it last night I thought that the effective and 'natural' dancing, acting and costumes must mean that this was a borrowed stage production like the Peter Grimes. Was staggered to find out at the interval that they'd cooked it all up from nothing in about a week. Very well done!

There's nothing like limited time and stage space to force one into making quick choices, isn't there? :)

Others have mentioned the television productions for US airing back in the 1980's. I remember those back in the day as a teenager, where in retrospect, some of the casting was indeed odd to try to appeal to the US market, like William Conrad in The Mikado, Peter Marshall (the game show host) in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Vincent Price in Ruddigore (although VP was actually pretty good as Sir Despard there, IMHO).