Quintessential G&S!: Rapture Unmodified

The New York Gilbert and Sullivan players took a night off from their latest City Center stint of The Mikado and HMS Pinafore in repertory to present a special one-nighter, Quintessential G&S!

Act I consisted of the full company from both productions performing the jolly, pocket-sized comic opera Trial By Jury. Premiering in 1875, Trial By Jury was the first partnership between Gilbert, Sullivan and producer Richard D'Oyly Carte. Needing a curtain raiser for his mounting of Offenbach's La Perichole, the young producer commissioned this short comic piece which was met with such approval that it overshadowed the intended main attraction and established a career-long partnership between the three.

A rollicking spoof of the British legal system, the NYGASP production has been set in 1935, allowing costume designer Gail Wofford to provide some snappy period costumes which, when combined with the wit and tunefulness of the original text, make the show reminiscent of the glory days of The Marx Brothers. Indeed, Stephen Quint, as the less-than-qualified judge, gives a Groucho-like performance of the hilarious patter, "When I, Good Friends, Was Called to the Bar." Michael Scott Harris makes for slick and dapper defendant; a ladies man being sued for breach of promise by the lovely and flirtatious plaintiff (Laurelyn Watson). It's all very silly and fun, as directed and conducted by Albert Bergeret.

For Act II, Bergeret handed over the baton to Jan Holland and, dressed as Richard D'Oyly Carte, narrated a sampler of the company's repertory appropriately titled NYGASP a la Carte. The opening "Ring Forth, Ye Bells" (The Sorcerer) featured a parade of Gilbert and Sullivan characters and was followed by a trio of favorites from The Pirates of Penzance: the ladies chorus in a frisky "Climbing Over Rocky Mountain", Stephen Quint in a lightening fast "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" and the very funny Keith Jurosko as the Sergeant of Police leading "When the Foeman Bares His Steel."

Other highlights included a sneering male chorus in the Iolanthe showstopper "Loudly Let The Trumpet Bray" and the quick-tongued trio of Erika Person, Keith Jurosko and Stephen O'Brien bringing down the house with Ruddigore's famous "Matter Patter", known as "My Eyes are Fully Open."

NYGASP's latest New York engagement has already completed its run, but their annual Gilbert and Sullivan revivals -- traditional, but fresh and vibrant -- are always as welcome as the flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-la.

Photo by Carol Rosegg: Laurelyn Watson and Stephen Quint