Review: 92Y presents Lyrics and Lyricists- W.S. Gilbert And The Broadway He Inspired 1/13/13

On a rather foggy sunday, after deciphering subway transfers, I visited the 92Y. There, I attended a concert program which was the first in the 2013 Lyrics and Lyricists series. The subject: W.S. Gilbert and how his lyrics inspired hits from the great american songbook. The artistic director and pianist was Rob Fisher, best known as the music director for Tony Award winning revivals of Chicago, Hair, and Anything Goes. Sitting at the adjacent piano was Mr. Ian Axness, who also played percussion. The host was none other than famed lyricist Sheldon Harnick (Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, The Apple Tree). Having been a guest of the series for many years, Mr. Harnick decided to showcase the comic and lyrical genius of Gilbert and Sullivan. The first act consisted of songs from the duo. The second half involved lyrics by Mr. Harnick and other lyricists who claimed they were inspired by Gilbert, including Cole Porter, Noel Coward, Lorenz Hart, and Ira Gershwin. There was also an excerpt from Sondheim, although he stated he never had inspiration from Gilbert.

The show began and ended with 'Hail, Poetry" from The Pirates of Penzance, sung beautifully by the 8 eight person ensemble. This four lead vocalists were Jason Danieley (Curtains), Jenn Gambatese (Tarzan, All Shook Up), David Garrison ( TV's Married with Children, Silence! The Musical), and Mary Testa (On the Town, 42nd Street, Xanadu). The other singers who joined in as an accompanying quartet were Ross Benoliel, Christine DiGiallonardo, Michael Marcotte, and Lindsay O'Neil.

In the first half, Sheldon Harnick spoke about Gilbert's life and the style of his writing and inspiration, even suggesting that Gilbert's mother was the inspiration of Katisha in The Mikado. He even quoted from Wikipedia, where all the Gilbert and Sullivan articles are edited by a Mr. Sam Simmons, who I and Mr. Harnick met after the show. Some highlights from this section are Mr. Garrison's rendition of The Nightmare Song from Iolanthe, Mr. Danieley singing the comedic "A Tenor, All Singers Above" from Utopia, Limited, Mr. Harnick singing from Yeoman of the Guard, and "Brightly Dawns our Wedding Day" from The Mikado sung by the quartet. Ms. Testa was also enjoyable singing "When Frederic Was a Little Lad" from Pirates and joining Mr. Garrison in "Beauty in the Bellow of the Blast" from The Mikado. Mrs. Gambatese also presented great talent singing "The Sun whose rays are all ablaze" from The Mikado.

The second half was no less entertaining than the first. Thanks to Sheldon Harnick, I am inspired by "The Suave Young Man in the Trench Coat" to be that man. Everybody brought out their comic prowess. Mr. Garrison and Ms. Testa, wearing an electrical tape mustache, sang a duet version of Noel Coward's "The Stately Homes of England". Ms. Testa returned to sing "Mr. and Mrs. Fitch" from Cole Porter's Gay Divorce, complete with cymbal crashes at mention of the B-word. Mrs. Gambatese shined in the hilarious "To Keep my Love Alive" from Rodgers and Hart's A Connecticut Yankee. Mr. Garrison brilliantly channeled Danny Kaye in "Tchaikovsky" by Gershwin and Weill, and singing all three witnesses with hilarious accents in Harnick's "Little Tin Box" from Fiorello!.

All in all, I am glad that a google search brought me to this concert. The $25 discount ticket was also a good incentive. That's the lucky thing about being under 35. But like most programs of this nature, I was among the few young people in a crowd of senior citizens. This did not hinder my enjoyment, minus when the couple next to me were talking while Mr. Harnick spoke. It upsets me though how people my age are really missing out on these great opportunities to meet great people that made our world great. My only other complaint was my seat, A101. It was right in front of Mr. Harnick's station, but large speakers at the foot of the stage blocked my view of Mr. Fisher's piano and some of the ensemble. Otherwise, I commend the 92Y on their great programming and hope people will attend the rest of the season to learn about other great Lyrics and Lyricists.

Repost: Princess Ida Production Concept

I was asked by the stage manager to remove the photos from the original version of this post. This will help those of you who have never seen this opera to get an idea of the director's interpretation.
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"What is Man?" According to women, all men are Cavemen! Thus begins the idea for the Hofstra Opera Theatre production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida. The 8th of their 14 collaborations, the opera is about a prince who seeks to regain the princess betrothed to him at the age of two years old. However, she has formed a women's university and cut herself off from men, thinking them stupid, vile, and disgusting creatures. How does this idea get translated to a modern production? By showing the extremities of separatism between men and women, in the eyes of womankind. Director Isabel Milenski has taken the medieval storyline and set it in 50,000 BP (Before Present).

Act One takes place in a primitive caveman dwelling. There are rocks, piles of wood, and even a rack to hang dead animal carcasses. It is essentially the world of man as seen from the viewpoint of women of Ida's University. King Hildebrand, Prince Hilarion, Florian, Cyril, and the rest of the kingdom are all neanderthals. They are uneducated, wild creatures. Suddenly, they have their first welcomed guests, King Gama and his three sons, who represent the other side of man as seen by women: Greedy Wall Street Tycoons. (We apologize that this may not make sense historically. The director did not seek to recreate a historically accurate setting.)

Act Two moves the action to Princess Ida's all women's university at Castle Adamant. She and the other ladies are models of class and distinction. They all wear matching uniforms and see themselves as the dominant gender in the world. They do not believe in the regular christian god, but rather give praise to Minerva, or the greek Athena, goddess of learning and strength. This is also important because according to mythology, she was born from Jupiter's forehead.

Act 2: "Gently, Gently": As Hilarion and his friends enter the university, they pass a display showcasing the atrocities of man. Freddy Kreuger, a man on a toilet, a caveman, a football player, and Kim Jong Il.

Act 2: "The World is but a broken toy": When the men, now disguised as lady graduates, meet up with Princess Ida, she sings of how the world has been destroyed of all innocence and peace by men. A large tank rolls behind the display case as the four sing the touchingly beautiful song, a metaphor for the world we live in today.

Act 2: "A Lady Fair of Lineage High": When the boys run into Lady Psyche, she tells them about how evolution proves that man is filthy and vile. She brings the display forward and adds photos of Monkeys to the heads of the figures, and to the men.

Act Three begins with the women preparing for battle. The ground from the display case is cleared and is shown as the merger between the worlds of Act 1 and 2. This is the moment when the ladies and Ida become more like men, because war is not of womanly nature. And after the battle, the ladies begin to associate themselves with men and find they are attractive and not at all bad. When Ida surrenders, she decides that her separatist views will not help the world. She must share the knowledge she has learned with the world in order to make it a better place. She and the other women leave the university and join the cavemen, who are pure and innocent creatures, to rebuild the world.

Thoughts? Leave a comment below. Share with your friends. Come see Princess Ida at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse at Hofstra University on February 1st and 2nd at 8pm, and February 3rd at 3pm. 

Princess Ida Production Blog: Orchestra Rehearsal

After a break from observing singer rehearsals, I finally reached that point where I am contributing to the performance: the orchestra rehearsal. It was great to see my classmates for the first time since the end of finals. The maestro was just printing up parts from the new rental company, so he was forced to read from the vocal score. Most of the work we did was for Act 1 and the finale of Act 2. For the latter, we had to go over cuts, for which there were many. But minus a few sight reading errors, we read through the first Act relatively quickly. Unfortunately, there were other problems. Several musicians were unable to come to today's rehearsal, most of the brass and a few winds. Luckily, we have three more rehearsals this week. With technical difficulties put aside, everything is going smoothly and no major roadblocks are in the way of sounding like the great orchestra that we are.

Funniest Part of the day: little note on page that says it was left blank for easy page turn. Adds " it's a great place to write your favorite conductor joke".

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 4

Today, I sat in on the dialogue rehearsal for the principals. Due to the fact that it is 2013 and that the production is extremely different from the original, some cuts had to be made to the script and score. But it is life however. I will be sad that there will be no version of "The woman of the wisest wit" or 'Merrily ring the luncheon bell". Lines are cut or rewritten, songs are shortened, etc. But most importantly, the actors must enhance the dialect to match the fact they are cavemen. No victorian english accents in 50,000 BP. So add on some lovely caveman grunts. But honestly, this is necessary when you do something that isn't a normal Gilbert and Sullivan production.

Isabel Milenski is great when it comes to teaching. I took her Opera Scenes course in the previous semester. We not only took on singing, but we took on one of the toughest things I ever dealt with at school: acting. I learned so much in that class and from sitting in on today's rehearsal. Character work, playing with pitch and energy, word accent choice, etc. I personally believe that the show is in good hands with my classmates. They took great care in figuring out what makes their characters tick. The art of acting certainly has evolved since the days of Gilbert and Sullivan, especially in the opera world.

This is it for now. I will be back again on Tuesday after the first orchestra rehearsal.

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 3

The set designs were revealed today by Isabel Milenski and Jian Jung. Consider instead of medieval times, that Princess Ida takes place around 50,000 BP (Before Present). Hildebrand's court is Primative man, Gama and his son are Wall Street tycoons, and Princess Ida resides in a ladies university that looks like the Museum of Natural History. Confused? So was everyone else. But let me assure you that there is sense in this concept.
(See future post for full details on the production concept and design).

The chorus and principals of Act 1, minus King Gama, Arac, Guron, and Scynthius, began to block the first number after focusing on their inner caveman. To instruct them on the dancing was the choreographer, Ashley Handel. She worked diligently to make sure the opening chorus was perfect, even making sure the singers had the right posture to not obstruct their breathing.

Meanwhile, the music director was faced with a dilemma, the orchestra parts were sent to another location by accident. Luckily, he began damage control and found another place to rent from. The day was saved.

Now that the cast, crew, and myself are now aware of the ultimate goal of the show, it is up to all of us to put in 110% and make it a production no one will soon forget.

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 2

Day two consisted of the chorus working with the assistant conductor and the principals working with the music director. I sat in with the choral conductor. Boy was I impressed. He presented himself professionally and with a great knowledge of the score. He went over the notes he took yesterday and the tempos that the musical director will take during the show. It went rather smoothly, except at parts where the dividing of the vocal lines became hard even for me to decipher. At least the singers can learn each other's parts to strengthen their own.

The patter songs were a challenge at the beginning, but the singers managed to take them on with eagerness. And once they got it, they sounded amazing.

I have high hopes come show time. Tomorrow, the day of the blocking commences.

Princess Ida Production Blog: Day 1

Principals, Conductor, and Vocal Coach/accompanist run through the music for the entirety of the show in this order: Act 1, Act 3, Act 2.

It is interesting as a instrumentalist to observe a vocal rehearsal. The Conductor works with the pit and the singers separately until close to a week before showtime. Therefore, learning how the vocalists think and act as you play gives you new insight into the art of performance.

Going through each number, the singers run through the song until either they made a mistake or when the conductor had a suggestion about breathing, pacing, and tone color. In sections where words are repeated, it is important to have a different tone each time, as if the words change meaning.

In patter songs, the vocal coach suggested to accent at mid bar. The singers are actually sounding secure on the tougher/faster sections than would be expected on the first day.

We unfortunately had some cast members missing, so not every number was rehearsed.

Everyone was incredibly professional. Total focus and attention was paid to the conductor and to the others as they worked.

Tomorrow, they will combine with the chorus from Act 1. And then the next day, blocking begins. I will give details about the set design, if I can, on Friday's blog.

G&S: The Telephone Code

The early days of the telephone were that of discovery. It was Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor, who wanted people to say "Ahoy!" when they answered, but then decided to say "Hello" thanks to Thomas Edison. Besides making phone calls, people who subscribed to the phone company could listen to concerts and operas. But many were still suspicious of the operators who could possibly listen to their private conversations.

Such men were W.S. Gilbert, who shared conversations over the phone with Mr. Richard D'Oyly Carte. They discussed financial figures from their productions in a secret code. Each number 1-9 and 0 were replaced by a letter of the alphabet based on the word:

F = 1
A = 2
V = 3
O = 4
U = 5
R = 6
I = 7
T = 8
E = 9
S = 0

So 365 pounds would be VRU. Easy enough. Write out a math problem featuring this code and challenge your friends to decode it.

Introduction to Princess Ida by Gilbert and Sullivan

In 1859, Charles Darwin published his famous "Origin of the Species", concluding that humans and apes evolved from the same ancestor. Thus, a line was drawn between science and religion. During that time, Victorian "scientists" were pondering the effects of women participating in activities normally permitted to men, such as education and politics. According to Stephen Gould, they "found" that it would lead to a decrease in reproduction. Ridiculous if anything else. So then comes the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, who in 1847, wrote a poem entitled The Princess, about a young prince who seeks a feminist princess who runs an all female university. This work was adapted to a play by W.S. Gilbert in 1870. Having been successful with the play, Gilbert teamed up with long time collaborator Arthur Sullivan to adapt it to an operetta. Thus, Princess Ida was conceived.

Following the success of Iolanthe, Gilbert and Sullivan took on the themes of evolution and feminism in an operetta with a prologue and two acts. The story concerns two kings, Hildebrand and Gama, who joined their children, Hilarion and Ida respectively, in marriage before either of them was 3 years old. 20 years later, the prince and princess are to meet for the second time. However, Gama's daughter Ida has set up an all-women's university at the Castle Adamant. In anger, Hildebrand holds the other king and his 3 sons Arac, Guron, and Scynthius until the troops come back with the princess. Instead of storming the castle, Hilarion volunteers to go to the castle to take back Ida. Along with his friends Cyril and Florian, the three disguise themselves as women to enter the university.

Meanwhile, Princess Ida acts as Principal of the University while Ladys Blanche and Psyche teach. As Florian's sister, Lady Psyche promises not to reveal the identity of the men. When Melissa, a student, finds out, she is so enthralled by seeing men for the first time that she also pledges her secrecy. Later, the three run into Lady Blanche, and when she discovers the identity of the men, promises to also keep quiet. Secretly, she wants Hilarion's plan to work so she can take the reins of the school from Princess Ida. However, Cyril gets drunk and reveals the plan. But luckily the men are saved by Hildebrand, Gama, and the three brothers.

Later, the ladies of the university refuse to fight Hildebrand. In anger and sorrow, Ida takes up an offer from her father Gama to let her brothers fight against Hilarion and his friends. If the brothers win, Ida can continue the school. If Hilarion wins, Ida is to marry. The six men meet on the battlefield and Hilarion wins, even though he and his friends are still in drag. Ida resigns from the university, leaving Blanche as the new Principal. A trio of couples are now together: Ida and Hilario, Cyril and Psyche, and Melissa and Florian. They all promise to stay together unless the men are mean to their respective ladies, thus ending the operetta in joyous delight, as is every ending of a G&S tale.


The 1884 premiere met mostly rave reviews, citing Arthur Sullivan's grand score, the performers interpretations of the songs, as well as the sets and costumes. Other critics were mixed on W.S. Gilbert's  libretto. The Leicester Chronicle said it was too predictable and illogical as compared to previous works like The Pirates of Penzance and Iolanthe, where the plots were more elaborate and complicated. Never the less, audiences loved the work. Audiences found favor with the first two acts, but were less enthralled with the final act, except for the "stripping song" sung by Gama's sons, and the finale reprise of "Expressive glances". But the opening would not have happened had it not been for Sullivan's persistent eagerness to conduct despite sickness.

The operetta finds its hilarity in the satire of women's rights and evolution. "The Ape and the Lady", sung by Lady Psyche, is the most visible satire of the work. It tells of a lady who is hit on by an ape. When he fails, he shaves, takes a bath, buys fancy clothes and calls himself a man. The lady refuses after each attempt to improve, citing that he is a monkey at heart. The song itself was only written for the opera and had not been suggested in the original poem or play. The rest of the second act and the third act do all the poking at women. Their logic in their teachings and rules, their unwillingness to fight men, and the only victory that comes to them is that the ladies agree to marry until the husbands are rude to them. Its sexist in today's terms and may be one of the reasons why it is the least successful and least performed today of the Gilbert and Sullivan canon.

Today, it is still performed, but with less frequency than the works that came before or after. But many people are still trying to decipher what can make it popular to an audience today. The philosophical and scientific ideas are both prevalent in modern culture, but it isn't as re-adaptable as The Mikado was for Jonathan Miller or The Pirates of Penzance was for it's first broadway run in the United States. Many colleges and professional/semiprofessional companies continue with traditional style productions and maybe a few changes to the script and additional jokes, as is necessary for an enjoyable performance.

Which now leads me to plug the upcoming performance at Hofstra University in February. The director is Isabel Milenski, who has also done Handel's Alcina, Die Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, and Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea for Hofstra in the past few years. The musical director is David Ramael, who will conduct the work before going on sabbatical for the Spring 2013 semester. Dates for the performances are set for February 1-3.

This has been an introduction to my coverage of Princess Ida for Music with Maestro Weinstein. Be sure to check out this blog, YouNow, Youtube, and Facebook for more as rehearsals start.

*All information courtesy of The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive at Boise State University.