No 7 — July 1977 Edited by Michael Walters
This was a thoroughly enjoyable attempt at a very difficult show. Much of the production was admirable, with many imaginative touches and several characterisations worthy of individual note. There were, of course, disappointments, no amateur society can hope to cast all the principal roles adequately in a work like Utopia but on the whole the standard was satisfactory. The opening scene was slow but this cannot be the first time that this scene has been slow. Calynx has a thankless task conveying Gilbert's distinctly unsubtle exposition of the Utopian situation and Geoff Allen managed as well as possible. Tarara (Tony Larraz) bounced through his opening dialogue with a boyish glee at the prospect of blowing up the King. The proceedings only really began to gel with the entry of Scaphio & Phantis (Ron Potter & David Longes), two highly competent characterisations by two actors with admirable stage presence. Their Scaphio & Phantis were a rather bumbling and amiable pair and their position as the wise men was only believable when the ineffectual personage of Paramount as considered. Michael Elstone does not possess the sort of voice I expect of Paramount and he tended to overact with misdirected purpose. His diction during songs left a little something to be desired, allowing, as it did, such concepts as 'Greet Briton' & 'Eenglond'. Nekaya & Kalyba (Shiela Watson & Virginia King) were very nicely cast, they offered a lovely portrayal of two young, high-spirited girls brought up "properly" but with just the right quantity of suppressed naughtiness and giggle to make sense of the later quartet with Dramaleigh and Goldbury. Lady Sophy (Hazel Hitchcock) was not, unfortunately, so well cast; vocally she was not able to cope with the music and was not able to project the forceful character which Lady Sophy must be. Barbara Garton made an adequate, if somewhat quiet Princess Zara. David Brown, while vocally a little coarse for Fitzbattleaxe, made the part very effective, his acting was good and his solo "A tenor all singers above" was very amusing and worked well. The Flowers of Progress were a mixed bunch, Michael Earle was an amusing Blushington and Frank Pigeon a very nice voiced Capt. Corcoran whilst Helier Dreux as Sir Bailey Barre had some unfortunate diction problems. Ian Stone was, vocally, highly competent as Dramaleigh but his slightly self-conscious bearing and awkward gesture were, rather unfairly, shown up against the poise and self-assurance of Clive Walker's very Jewish Goldbury. No avaricious, money-grubbing Jew this, but a highly efficient and affluent company promoter to whom it really would be child's play to float a country as a company. Not only his general bearing and stage presence told us this, but also his voice; he possesses a very pleasant, well modulated and well produced voice.
The producer and musical director decided to turn some of the recits, particularly those between Lady Sophy and Paramount, into dialogue with faintly ridiculous musical punctuation. Whether this was for purely vocal reasons or some unstated musico-dramatic purpose I do not know but it certainly spoiled the flow of some of the musical sections. Rosemary Pigeon's production was very enjoyable but not inspired; some sections worked well but not all the problems of this piece were solved. Angela Baker is a very clear and precise conductor; she had trained the chorus well and, at times, drew some very nice sound from the generally competent orchestra. MICHAEL WITHERS
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