No 2 -- April 1975 Edited by Michael Walters
Needless to say, the most important item to report in this number is the Centenary Season at the Savoy Theatre, during which I met a number of people with whom I had only previously corresponded or heard of by repute. Alas, I was obliged to miss the performances of UTOPIA and THE GRAND DUKE, because I had to go to an ornithological conference in Wexford, Ireland, on the final weekend; but such is life, and I received a couple of reports on the last two performances.
Tuesday 25th March 1975 was unquestionably an evening to remember. Not that the performance was anything remarkable by D'Oyly Carte standards, but it was not really an evening to worry about things like that. Curiously, there was no air of antiquity hovering over the proceedings one was very conscious of it all being "here" and "now". One never got the haunted feeling that it was W.S.G. and not Frederic Lloyd sitting in Miss D'Oyly Carte's box, or that Sullivan's halo was hovering over Royston Nash's head, or that John Reed was really George Grossmith in disguise. There was no magic, but I didn't look for magic, it was a gettogether of "US", Geeandessers who had come from all parts of the British Isles, and from U.S.A. and Australia, to be together on this night to end all nights. And that was really all that mattered well, almost all that mattered. For me, it all began outside the G & S pub, where I had arranged to meet David Skelly, from Co. Meath, Ireland. We had never met before, but had been in correspondence. In the mellee outside the Savoy I saw many familiar, unfamiliar and partially familiar faces (people whom, no doubt, I have seen in the audience at performances). I cannot mention, or even remember, all that were there, but some of those I spoke to included the Benfords, Norman Beckett, Warren Colston, Diana Burleigh, Selwyn Tillett, Aidan Evans and his wife, Michael Tompkins, David Skelly and his mother, Dick Stockton(representing Imperial College), Richard Duployen, Bob Elledge, Peter Zavon, Ted Wood, Peter BarkerJones, Jack Day, Ron and Jeanne Giffin, Daisy Canning, Tony Jones, Tony Hawes, Bill Pearman (of Geoids), Colin Prestige, and other G & S Society members. Among the other notables whom I identified by sight but did not speak to were Peter Pratt, Donald Adams, Isidore & Mrs. Godfrey, Harold Wilson, Danny la Rue, Mander & Mitchinson, Peter Valentine, Leslie Weaver, Jennifer Toye, Alan Barrett, Mary Sansom and Sir Keith Falkner. The performance of TRIAL was not of the best. John Broad's Usher came over best, firm and mellow. Colin Wright seemed to have a sore throat but was obviously enjoying himself, and there was that cheeky grin on his face and the Colin Wright twinkle in his eye. James ConroyWard (Foreman) was as usual over made up. It was a pity that John Reed (returning to the role of the Judge after a space of many years) did not know the score, and his performance was perfunctory. He appeared to be working on the premise that "an accepted wit has but to say 'Pass the mustard' and they roar their ribs out." Unfortunately he was right. Selwyn Tillett, (normally a Reed fan) admitted that he had been disappointed, and Dick Stockton, whom I spoke to during the supper interval, commented that it was the first time he had seen John Reed as the Judge and sincerely hoped it would be the last. Michael Rayner and Julia Goss (Counsel & Plaintiff respectively) were adequate. Colin Engel from Co. Durham, was also present, but I failed to find him in the crowd (not surprisingly, since we have never actually met), but he sent me his views on the performance:
"The striking lack of gaiety, inventiveness and, most culpable of all, polish in the Chorus, I felt, could have been forgiven if there had been a sparkling array of principals. This was not the case. I was not happy with John Broad's Usher. I think I missed the pomposity of the actor when I last saw D'Oyly Carte do Trial way back in the 60's. I used to be a great admirer of John Reed and would attribute his musical and rhythmic lapses to the conjecture that he was always having a bad night whenever I attended. Now I am finding his constant threatening to bring the numbers into chaos a positive annoyance. It seemed that the strongest contributions came from Michael Rayner and Colin Wright."
SORCERER was a great deal better, in spite of one or two carps. Julia Goss looks and acts beautifully as Aline (particularly in Act 2 with that lowcut dress) but vocally she does not seem to be suited to the role. Several of us wished we could have heard Pamela Field (the only principal who was not on) try it. Meston Reid was vocally excellent as Alexis, except that he had an unfortunate tendency to stop acting when he started singing. It is a beautifully produced clear ringing voice, which, I hope will be with us for a long time yet. I am not sure that his interpretation has quite settled down yet, but it may well prove to "wear" better than the previous two. Ralph Mason, admirable at the premiere, grew tiresome on repeated hearings, and I suspect Malcolm Williams might have done so too, but I only heard him in the role once. John Reed's interpretation of Mr. Wells was selfassured and dramatically convincing, if you accept the style and interpretation as correct. More than ever he talked instead of singing. The music, particularly in the Act 2 duet with Lady Sangazure went for nothing, all the satire was lost for cheap jokes. (Having recently studied the role, I know just how much fine and difficult music there really is in it.) Charles Haynes, whom I saw at the second interval, remarked that he felt it was a race between Reed and Nash to get to the end first. Beti LloydJones was a splendid Mrs. P., though she had a tendency to overact. Barry Clark (not credited in the programme), was Hercules. John Broad, John Ayldon & Kenneth Sandford gave their usual excellent performances, particularly the latter, whose opening song almost brought the house down. Judi Merri has a magnificent range(hitting the top C at the end of Act 1) but it is still uncontrolled. Lyndsie Holland was satisfactory as Lady S.
The second night brought the worst performance of TRIAL I have ever heard, the only occasion in my life I have refused to applaud a D'Oyly Carte performance at all, even at the end. John Reed brought a copy of the libretto on with him and had it on the bench, but even that did not prevent him from being out of time more often than he was in time, or for completely failing to come in at "That she is reeling" so we we had some bars of pure orchestra till James ConroyWard picked up with "Just like a father I wish to be". The rest of the performance was tatty, and there was no light on the front of the stage so that the singers were in darkness. PINAFORE, with Isidore Godfrey conducting, was better, though, as if to complete the night of disasters, someone blew a fuse during Act 2 and plunged the stage into total darkness (except for a couple of follow spots). On the third night I very nearly decided I couldn't bear to sit through TRIAL again, but I was glad I did, for on this occasion it really went rather well. John Reed had evidently learnt the score, though he still had his libretto on the bench. PIRATES, with Charles Mackerras conducting, had a sparkle which it does not always have. Peter Zavon and I spent the weekend at Rottingdean with Roger Chesher and his family. Roger had been unable to get to any of the performances. Peter and I came up for the matinee and evening performances on Saturday.
The matinee performance of PATIENCE was rather dull, perhaps the cast were saving themselves for the evening. During the interval between the two shows, I went to a restaurant with Peter and Connie Thompson, where we had a somewhat more leisurely meal than we really intended, owing to the difficulty of catching the waiter's eye, but we did not really mind as it gave us a chance to talk. IOLANTHE brought a section of the Grenadier Guards band on stage, which was great fun and certainly gave the proceedings a lift.
PRINCESS IDA brought some of the Cotswold Savoyards down from Cheltenham (they are shortly to do the show). Outside, I ran into David and Pat Manifold, and a very pleasant surprise it was as it was ages since I had seen them. David and Johnnie Johnson were also there (former minus beard) and I had a chat with them all in the second inverval. I gather Tony Jones was there too but I did not see him. Meston Reid was in the audience, and I kept wondering what he thought of it. It was grand to see some of the "old lags" again. Tom Lawlor and Ralph Mason were obviously determined to enjoy themselves, and by Jove they did and so did we. Colin Wright was obviously still suffering from a cold and his first act was poor, but by the second act he had picked up and completed a splendid trio. There can be no doubt, however, that the house's darling that night was Valerie Masterson, fresh from her triumphs at the E.N.O. Her two songs brought the house down. It was a stunningly fine performance, and I have always considered Ida to be Valerie's least good G & S role. It was interesting, though, that she reached her moment of greatest tonal beauty in the quartette, yet this number commanded much less applause than her two solos. Philip Bingham and someone else from Imperial College were in the audience, and Phyllis Karr arrived over from the States in time for this performance.
On Tuesday many of the American party and a few other friends went on a coach trip to Grim's Dyke where we had lunch and a wander round the grounds, It was on this trip that I made the acquaintance of Charles Hayter and learned about his Gilbert & Sullivan interests. (He is doing a thesis on Gilbert at Calgary University, Canada). After Grim's Dyke, we visited Gilbert's grave and the church adjacent to it, and got back to London at 4 o'clock. It was one of the few fine days during the season. When we returned Charles and I spent about an hour with Connie Thompson looking at photographs of her exhibition on G & S at Berkeley University, California. After that, Charles and I wandered down in the direction of the Savoy, and I shewed him the Tudor houses at Holborn and the Old Curiosity Shop. We then walked down to the embankment and he photographed the Gilbert memorial (which still had the sprays of green that someone had tied on at the beginning of the fortnight). We had a meal together and then a drink in the Wolf Room (which I think is much more interesting and atmospheric than the Gilbert and Sullivan pub), till it was time for the theatre.
THE MIKADO (which was being broadcast), was on the whole a good performance. Philip Bingham was in the audience again, as was Steve Bodle (obviously having just done the opera had not sickened them). Selwyn Tillett attended this performance but I did not see him till afterwards. He had a friend from Cambridge with him, called Bob Osborne (with whom I once played croquet).
On Wednesday for the RUDDIGORE matinee, the fans again started to foregather early, and to my great surprise I met Andie Gow outside. It seemed like "twenty years since he and I have met" and I had a lot of his news to catch up on. That occupied the period before curtainup and the interval. He had to dash off as soon as it was over, I hung around for a while afterwards to introduce Harry Benford to Sarah Lenton, whom he had wanted to meet. Then Charles, Peter and I went for a meal to the Italian restaurant under the arch at Waterloo. They complained about the overfreezing of the icecream! RUDDIGORE was a remarkably good performance for a matinee. Andie had come for the avowed intent of pillorying John Reed and found opportunity for doing so. He liked Meston Reid but disliked Judi Merri. I was sitting beside two girls who were John Reed fans and applauded vigorously on his entry, but in the event, it was for John Ayldon's Ghost Song that they (deservedly) gave the greatest applause, both at the end of the number, and at the final curtain. Kenneth Sandford was on top form and Judi Merri was good, if you accept that Mad Margaret ought to he played in that way. Afterwards George Applegate told me that he had not known the original finale to Act 2 had been put back, and he was absolutely delighted.
The Queen was supposed to have attended the performance of THE GONDOLIERS, but as it turned out she had a slight cold, though otherwise she was quite well, and she did not attend. Prince Philip and Prince Andrew were there however, and we gathered in Savoy Court afterwards to see them off. In one sense the evening was a sad one for me, as it was to be my last one of the season. I would be saying farewell to a number of newfound friends whom I should not see again for many years [in some cases, never]. As I wended my way home over Waterloo Bridge my mind was occupied with many thoughts. The first century of G & S had come to an end and the second was about to begin. The old ship had ended her last voyage and the new one was about to be launched on unknown seas. How would she fare, and how would we, her passengers fare ?
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