Review: RUDDIGORE, Opera Holland Park

If a week is a long time in politics, eight years is a very long time in opera. It was in February 2015 that I reviewed the Charles Court Opera Company’s Ruddigore and here they are again, this time with a co-production in alliance with Opera Holland Park. The cast is larger, the budget bigger, the orchestra well, an actual orchestra, but the sense of fun while, honouring the twinned genius of William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, remains at the heart of the show.

The plot, as with much of PG Wodehouse’s novels, falls a little flat on the page, but sparkles in its proper context. A troupe of professional bridesmaids in an English village lament the lack of nuptials, particularly the reticence of local beauty Rose Maybud to be wooed by the equally shy Robin Oakapple. Little does she know that he is actually the Baron Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, presumed dead, who left his brother, Sir Despard Murgatroyd to the title and the family curse to commit one evil crime per day on pain of death, a bad baron indeed. Old love affairs are rekindled, new ones come and go, and ghosts step out from portraits - but, somehow, with a contrivance or two, they all live happily ever after!

Matthew Kellett and Lilo Evans make a winning couple, their duet  "I Know A Youth" a beautifully rendered scene of lovers’ pretence that could be lifted from any number of Shakespeare’s comedies. Kellett’s boyish lack of confidence plays partly off his lack of height, something used to fine comic effect throughout the show - he is a natural comedian.

The first half can drag a little (the Victorians, even the best of them, were not known for their concision after all) but it’s enlivened by the bridesmaids’ chorus, in blush pink, tiered, taffeta dresses and ever-so keen to get some work at a wedding. Madeleine Boyd’s design is a continual delight.

Things really take off - as one might expect - with the Bad Baron’s arrival, John Savournin (who is also on directing duty) milking his reluctant sinner’s villainy for all its worth, cape a-swishing, moustache a-twirling. He gets as good as he gives in comic and vocal performance from Heather Lowe as the irritating, but so, so sexy, Mad Margaret, his past and, as it happens, his future betrothed. Their matching horn-rimmed glasses and Sixties business suits as they try (Despard successfully, Margaret less so) to adjust to a non-crazy life, are a superb touch.

Those familiar with this less-performed addition to the G&S canon will be waiting for "When The Night Wind Howls", the ghosts of accursed barons past, bearing the marks of their terrible demises, released for Hallowe’en, the Spectres’ Holiday. What a set piece it is, magnificently sung by Sir Roderic (Stephen Gadd in top form) and the men’s chorus and lit by Mark Jonathan to capture the full potential of the Holland House backdrop. A more exhilarating ten minutes of theatre you will not see all year. 

There’s time for a little patter with "My Eyes Are Fully Open" (youtube Patricia Routledge and Kevin Kline’s version - you can thank me later) and the touching, if sentimental, duet between Sir Roderic and his spurned, but now reconciled fiancee, Dame Hannah (Heather Shipp getting her chance to shine late in the show) "There Grew A Little Flower".

David Eaton conducts the always impressive City of London Sinfonia to find plenty of bounce in the score and you’ll come out, as one should really from opera or musical theatre, humming the tunes. Best of all, and a delight that runs through the work of this company whether it be pantomimes above pubs in North London or big productions at such exalted venues as this one, they seem to be having as high a time of it as we are. Ah, the joy of joys shared - there’s not enough of that about.

Ruddigore at Opera Holland Park until 12 August

Photo Credit: Craig Fuller

             

 

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