No 13 — July 1979 Edited by Michael Walters
THE GRAND DUCHESS OF GEROLSTEIN, Imperial College O.S. Concert Hall, I.C. 14 Feb. 1979.
The main interest of this production was the fact that the Society opted to perform Adrian Ross's translation as used at the Savoy Theatre with Walter Passmore and Henry Lytton in the cast. The production fully demonstrated two things. Firstly, why no one does Ross's translation these days. It's dreadful. Secondly why Phil Park and Ronnie Hanmer rewrote it. Although I dislike Park?Hanmer rewrites, there is no doubt that their version, while retaining little of the original music, is a more interesting piece of theatre than the dreary and boring Ross version. The main problem is that Ross's words are impossible to sing ? most of the first two acts were unintelligible. In Act 3, things were different. To meet the Bowdlerized and prudish tastes of the Victorians Ross had been obliged to rewrite Act 3, which in the original takes place in the bedroom and depicts Fritz and Wanda getting into bed together. For the IC production Ian Gledhill returned to the original Act 3 and Mr. Gledhill translated it himself. His words I could understand very much better than Ross's. The production was a low water mark for IC, and I hope, not typical. It didn't even sound like my idea of Offenbach, though Michael Withers took the Act 3 Entr'acte with flair and panache. This at least was worth coming to hear. Most of the cast were basically miscast, though they struggled manfully (and womanfully) with their respective roles. The best performances came from Tim Johnson as Prince Paul, Ellis Pike as Baron Grog, and Bernard Tagg in the tiny part of Nepomuc. This last was an object lesson in what to do with a small part by way of getting the most out of it without ever overdoing it. MICHAEL WALTERS
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