Review: MasterVoices' IOLANTHE Brightens Up Carnegie Hall

It was a treat to see MasterVoices' production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe last week at Carnegie Hall. On Wednesday, May 3rd at 7 pm, director Ted Sperling and the MasterVoices team brought together masterful performances by a star-studded cast, sumptuous costumes designed by Tracy Cristensen, a supremely talented orchestra, and an enormous chorus to bring a nearly 200-year-old comical opera to life. Iolanthe, one of the best works by famed composer-lyricist pair W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, is a satiric sendup of 19th-century British government, imagining the House of Lords' first meeting with a bevy of beautiful fairies, an English obsession at the time. Aided by the wonderful acoustics at Carnegie Hall and the perfect touches of minimal staging (including one very talented ballerina and simple but effective choreography by Andrew Palermo), the concert reading felt as magical as the fairies themselves.

Part of MasterVoices' goal is to "revive neglected masterpieces," like Anyone Can Whistle or Lady in the Dark, with concerts that focus on full choruses of talented singers and a full orchestra. They certainly achieved that with Iolanthe. Although it's a compelling show with jokes that hold up, it's not the most commercially viable show to put on, and if it weren't for non-profits like MasterVoices probably no one would put on the kind of staging that they did. I'm familiar with the score to Iolanthe, but it's astonishing to hear the difference it truly makes, hearing a full 120-member chorus and orchestra perform the songs.

If it had only been the full chorus and orchestra, it would have been enough, but on top of that, they brought an extremely impressive cast of principals. Christine Ebersole (42nd Street, Grey Gardens) was delightfully charming as the Fairy Queen, with equal parts gravitas and comedy. Santino Fontana (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Tootsie) and Jason Danieley (Candide) were delightful comedic foils as the two plain but rich earls vying for the affections of a young shepherdess who couldn't care less about them. David Garrison (Married... with Children) was fantastic as the Lord Chancellor, delivering the difficult patter song "The Nightmare Song" as fluidly as if he was just talking. Phillip Boykin (Porgy and Bess) charmed as Private Willis, a soldier who's amiable enough to accept the Fairy Queen's amorous attention. Ashley Fabian and Schyler Vargas added more comedy as the pair of young lovers central to the show's plot, and Shereen Ahmed (My Fair Lady) played the sweet Iolanthe. Nicole Eve Goldstein, Kaitlyn LeBaron, and Emy Zener were great as the other main fairies. New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck wowed as the dancing fairy. In a fuller staging, there would have been many more ballerinas, but Peck and the choreography managed to convey enough hints of what would have been to gel the performance.

The production also supplied digital text printing the lyrics as they were sung, along with some context necessary to understand the show (like that Captain Shaw was the Chief of London's Metropolitan Fire Brigade). It was neutral enough that it didn't interfere with the show, and it aided the show a lot to be able to quickly glance at the lyrics to confirm what was being said, especially on the patter songs.

Iolanthe was the last show of MasterVoices' 2022 to 2023 season, but if you're a fan of musical classics you'll definitely want to check out their next shows to find out what they do next.

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