How far offshore is the H.M.S Pinafore?
Lyric Opera San Diego’s current production of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s 1878 operetta, playing through Feb. 24 at the North Park Theatre, demonstrates just how far.
An incompetent Lord of the Admiralty (J. Sherwood Montgomery) comes aboard (despite scenic designer Elvira Perez’s apparently roiling seas) off a barge laden with a bevy of sisters, cousins and aunts. Sir Joseph Porter K.C.B. has come to claim the maiden Josephine as his bride. Does no one question why this single man has so many women in his entourage? Who cares, so long as he sings the patter song, “When I Was a Lad”?
The daughter of the ship’s seasick commander (Scott Gregory), Josephine (Priya Palekar) plans a shore excursion to elope with able seaman Ralph Rakestraw (Robert Boldin). It’s that old “class” thing that we Yanks fail to understand: The daughter of a highborn ship’s captain can’t marry a commoner. The film “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” brought such class distinctions into sharp focus.
Little Buttercup (the excellent Martha Jane Weaver) sells sausages to sailors (a motley crew that never learned to articulate when singing together) and usually goes ashore every night. The Captain has a secret hankering for the “pleasantly round” Buttercup; never mind that she nursed him as an infant.
Gilbert’s libretto makes as much sense as that of “Il Trovatore,” in which the gypsy nurse, Azucena, mixes up the babies, throwing one into the fire. Buttercup was merely careless: both survived. There’s a lot of Azucena in Buttercup, who gets to sing “Things Are Seldom What They Seem,” one of this production’s highlights.
When Ruth reveals the baby switch, those that were high are brought low. Various sets of lovers are sorted out, according to class one supposes, though it’s a mystery why Rakestraw is content to marry a commoner. Oh, never mind. It is all an excuse for the music anyway.
“Pinafore” was a warm-up for “The Pirates of Penzance,” written the following year. “Pirates” has a superior score, Sullivan reaching his stride before launching into the rest of the oeuvre with the also superior “Iolanthe,” “The Mikado,” “Gondoliers,” and the best of all, “Yeoman of the Guard,” for which Gilbert provided a touching libretto and Sullivan some unforgettable, quality music.
Thanks to D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, which performed the oeuvre for 130 years and ceased doing so only in 2003, there are certain hidebound traditions when it comes to staging. The argument is: do we perpetuate this business or do we move forward? Apparently, the answer is perpetuate, perpetuate, perpetuate. Certainly any director is either at sea or upholds the tradition. Director David Brannen is no exception. Update and enrage traditionalists. Witness the furor still surrounding the Broadway “Pirates.” Another question must be addressed: Are the operettas to be played sincerely or as parody?
With the exception of Weaver, who plays it straight from the heart, the rest of the principals are young, aspiring opera singers with varying degrees of promise, experience, aptitude and suitability. Vocal standout in the amplitude department is the attractive, gangly Gregory, who struggles valiantly with the tessitura of “Fair moon, to thee I sing,” perhaps because it requires a floating pianissimo line, which he does not employ. He sings loudly, but with such beauty one cannot complain.
The orchestra plays competently under the baton of Leon Natker.
“H.M.S. Pinafore” continues Feb. 14, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 24 at Birch North Park Theatre, 2891 University Ave. For tickets $30-$50 (children half price), visit www.birchnorthparktheatre.net or call (619) 239-8836.
