The Gondoliers

Hackney Empire, London

Rating:

Are Gilbert and Sullivan on the way back? There’s evidence of it. This beautifully dressed and presented Gondoliers from Scottish Opera got an ovation from a packed Hackney Empire. 

Meanwhile, a mile away at Wilton’s Music Hall, an all-male cast were completing a four week run of HMS Pinafore, also in front of full houses.

I first saw The Gondoliers in the early 1960s from a touring D’Oyly Carte Company. It’s a tribute not a complaint that the Australian Gilbert and Sullivan specialist Stuart Maunder was every bit as traditional here as they were then. 

What’s wrong with seeing a show the creators would recognise? But in the 1960s, copyright issues meant you got tradition or nothing. Now, if producers want to camp up Gilbert and Sullivan, they can.

Different stagings can happily exist in parallel. The one thing common to all is the sheer quality of Sullivan’s melodies, and Gilbert’s wit, which almost never stales. Especially when the legendary Richard Suart enlivens the Duke of Plaza-Toro’s contribution with some contemporary references, as he invariably does in ENO’s acclaimed Mikado.

Other standouts, such as Ben McAteer’s Don Alhambra and Dan Shelvey’s Luiz, show that the art of Gilbert and Sullivan singing is alive and kicking, even if some of the other principals weren’t so good.

But this is not a moment to carp. This is a moment to take real joy from a production that looked like a West End show. No wonder it took two huge pantechnicons to bring it all down from Glasgow.

Maunders’s staging reflects a lifetime’s devotion to Gilbert and Sullivan. This production gained enormously from the attractive dance routines from the Spanish choreographer Isabel Baquero. It had a great look throughout.

All in all then, a thoroughly entertaining evening. If those huge lorries could make it down from Glasgow again in the reasonably near future, I for one would be delighted.