Houston has engaged former D'Oyly Carte star Alistair Donkin for the last several years as both director and patter baritone. As he is a professional, his personal performance is not adjudicated, but Houston is still eligible for every other award. Some people feel that this is unfair, because his presence in the cast raises the level of the entire production. I even know someone who strongly believes that Houston should be required to substitute an amateur patter baritone if they wish to compete in the Festival. But, this would also be unfair: forcing the group to adjust to a performer they did not learn the show with. I would hate to see adjudication raised to such importance that it causes us to make bad artistic decisions.

Alistair Donkin has certainly matured as a director. Both the Festival "Mikado" that he directed the first year, and the "Pinafore" he brought with Houston the second year, were practically gesture-for-gesture duplicates of the traditional D'Oyly Carte productions. His "Yeomen," while by no means avant-garde, was a fresh staging. From the second half of the overture, during which the cast pantomimed the fire in the Beauchamp Tower (very believably), every scene bubbled over with inspiration.

Vocally, the show was without a significant weak link. I have heard a number of the roles sung better, but all of the voices were above average, and most were excellent. Dramatically, the cast were considerably more uneven. Phoebe (Kitty Karn) and Shadbolt (Ralph Katz) were the strongest; their scenes sizzled. Glay Marie Posch's Elsie was also a highlight.

At the other extreme, Leonard (Joe Key) spoke in a stilted Houston drawl; Sergeant Meryll (James R Jennings) was dishwater dull and affected a distracting limp; and the Lieutenant (Billy James Hargis II, the son of a televangelist) overacted so dreadfully that it was almost comical. Leah Tsamous may be a great Dame Carruthers some day, but she was too young and, dare I say, attractive for the part.

Alistair Donkin's Point is controversial. He is always worth watching. He moves gracefully, and every line leaves an indelible impression. It was an interpretation I enjoyed. But, others felt that his reading was a bit sterile and failed to attract enough sympathy. He also wore a grotesque blonde wig that would have been far more suitable for Archibald Grosvenor after he gets his hair cut. In "A private buffoon," he left out the traditional pauses at the end of each verse, which virtually everyone felt harmed the performance. This is one of the hazards of directing and starring in the show: lack of detached objectivity.

Conductor Robert Linder has been doing G&S for 36 years, and I'm sorry I missed most of 'em. The choral direction was as good as you'll ever hear in G&S, professional or amateur. Linder treats every number like a virtuoso piece. Dynamics, articulation, and cut-offs are all drilled to perfection. The Festival Orchestra can be awfully variable night to night, but Linder had them at their majesterial best.

The Festival is a crap shoot: it can be terrible one night, brilliant the next. But, the two amateur performance nights I attended this year will both rank among my most memorable Festival experiences over the last five years.