MESSRS. GILBERT AND SULLIVAN'S _Gondoliers_ deserves to rank immediately
after _The Mikado_ and _Pinafore_ bracketed. The _mise-en-scène_ is in
every way about as perfect as it is possible to be. Every writer of
_libretti_, every dramatist and every composer, must envy the Two
Savoyards, their rare opportunities of putting their own work on their
own stage, and being like the two Kings in this piece, jointly and
equally monarchs of all they survey, though, unlike these two
potentates, they are not their subjects' servants, and have only to
consider what is best for the success of their piece, and to have it
carried out, whatever it is, literally regardless of expense. And what
does their work amount to? Simply a Two-Act Opera, to play
two-hours-and-a-half, for the production of which they have practically
a whole year at their disposal. They can go as near commanding success
as is given to mortal dramatist and composer, and for any comparative
failure they can have no one to blame but themselves, the pair of them.
[Illustration: "Once upon a time there were two Kings."]
Whatever the piece may be, it is always a pleasure to see how thoroughly
the old hands at the Savoy enter into "the fun of the thing," and, as in
the case of Miss JESSIE BOND and Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON, absolutely
carry the audience with them by sheer exuberance of spirits.
Mr. RUTLAND BARRINGTON possesses a ready wit and keen appreciation of
humour; and, as this is true also of Miss JESSIE BOND, the couple, being
thoroughly in their element with such parts as _The Gondoliers_ provide
for them, legitimately graft their own fun on the plentiful stock
already supplied by the author, and are literally the life and soul of
the piece.
On the night I was there a Miss NORAH PHYLLIS took Miss ULMAR'S part of
_Gianetta_, and played it, at short notice, admirably. She struck me as
bearing a marked facial resemblance to Miss FORTESQUE, and is a decided
acquisition. Mr. DENNY, as the Grand Inquisitor (a part that recalls the
Lord High Chancellor of the ex-Savoyard, GEORGE GROSSMITH, now
entertaining "on his own hook"), doesn't seem to be a born Savoyard,
_non nascitur_ and _non fit_ at present. Good he is, of course, but
there's no spontaneity about him. However, for an eccentric comedian
merely to do exactly what he is told, and nothing more, yet to do that,
little or much, well, is a performance that would meet with _Hamlet's_
approbation, and Mr. GILBERT'S. Mr. FRANK WYATT, as "the new boy" at the
Savoy School, doesn't, as yet, seem quite happy; but it cannot be
expected that he should feel "quite at home," when he has only recently
arrived at a new school.
Miss BRANDRAM is a thorough Savoyard; _nihil tetigit quod non ornavit_,
and her embroidery of a part which it is fair to suppose was written to
suit her, is done in her own quaint and quiet fashion.
A fantastically and humorous peculiarly Gilbertian idea is the
comparison between a visit to the dentist's, and an interview with the
questioners by the rack, suggested by the Grand Inquisitor Don ALHAMBRA
who says that the nurse is waiting in the torture-chamber, but that
there is no hurry for him to go and examine her, as she is all right and
"has all the illustrated papers."
[Illustration: Rutland Pooh-Bah-rington, after signing his
re-engagement, takes his Bond, and sings, "Again we come to the Savoy."]
There are ever so many good things in the Opera, but the best of all,
for genuinely humorous inspiration of words, music and acting, is the
quartette in the Second Act, "In a contemplative fashion." It is
excellent. Thank goodness, _encores_ are disencouraged, except where
there can be "No possible sort of doubt, No possible doubt whatever"
(also a capital song in this piece) as to the unanimity of the
enthusiasm. There is nothing in the music that catches the ear on a
first hearing as did "_The Three Little Maids_," or "_I've got a Song to
Sing O!_" but it is all charming, and the masterly orchestration in its
fulness and variety is something that the least technically educated can
appreciate and enjoy. The piece is so brilliant to eye and ear, that
there is never a dull moment on the stage or off it. It is just one of
those simple _Bab-Ballady_ stories which, depending for its success not
on any startling surprise in the plot, but on general excellence, may,
especially on account of the music, be safely put down on the
play-goer's list for "a second hearing."