Sarah Anne Hughes and David Ramón Zayas
Gamut Theatre opened its 30th season last weekend with “Innocent Merriment; Or, an Evening with Gilbert & Sullivan,” directed by trained opera singer Benjamin Krumreig.
Popular for their distinctively British Savoy operas and operettas, (a mashup of musical, comedy and opera), Gilbert & Sullivan composed 14 operettas. Incorporating a sampling of 28 of the duo’s greatest hits of music and silly skits, yet intentionally skips over the unnecessary element of a continuous plot.
Before the show begins, the stage looks like we’re getting a peek behind the curtain of an old Victorian-era theater, with apparel draped all about the gilded antique furnishings, including two prop trunks with the surname of their producer D’Oyly Carte (get it?) painted on the sides.
This sets the mood perfectly for the ambush of intentionally ridiculous nonsense that characterizes British humor, rife with over-the-top characters, whimsical slapstick, ridiculous storylines, absurd dialogue exchanges and illogical reasoning that tippy-toes down a path of no particular shape.
Here you will find, among other hilarity, foolish choreography, the sort that features grown men playing pat-a-cake and the same sort of slap games you’d see little girls playing during recess.
Unlike traditional opera, you won’t need subtitles to understand it, although some of the speedier scores require listening with a processing speed that runs molto rapidamente than the typical brain. And I would have to ask my dog to translate the lyrics of some of the soprano arias that hit those impossibly high falsetto notes.
If some of these songs were a novel, there would be very little white space. They are that packed, filled with satisfying harmonies, tongue twisters with four-syllable words, and humorous lyrics that still hold up over a century later.
The sole instrument stringing along the merriment is a playful piano. I’ve learned from past performances how talented Nicholas Werner (pianist) is. But I didn’t imagine that his fingers could run a marathon all by themselves. To play over two hours’ worth of Gilbert & Sullivan’s music, heavily laden with 16th and 32nd notes, is the equivalent of doing continuous drumrolls. It’s a demanding gig, and Werner nailed it.
I would rattle off all the notable songs and skits I enjoyed, but the titles are long, my word count is firm, my revered editor is a stickler, and he finds me long-winded enough already. Suffice it to say, the entire cast earned their respective places in this ensemble cast with their impressive singing and acting chops. (One baritone, Matthew Hogan, took the role so seriously that he carved his facial hair into literal Victorian-era chops.)
In addition to the original score, baritones Hogan, Jimmy Kohlmann and David Ramón Zayas treated us to a bonus track: a parody of a Gilbert & Sullivan favorite entitled “I am the very model of a modern-major Shakespeare fan.” This song is the tongue-twister to beat them all. Bravo for their extraordinary memorization and lightning-fast recitation skills. (Lyrics by Mya Gosling, whose works on Shakespeare are worth following into its rabbit hole.)
I am impressed by the number of players making their Gamut debut with this musical: Tony Barber (tenor), Maggie Haynes (mezzo-soprano), Sarah Anne Hughes (soprano), Melissa Janicki (soprano), Latreshia Lilly (soprano), Becky Mease (soprano), Olivia Ramsey (soprano), and Scott Sealover (tenor). If the debuts weren’t mentioned in the program, I would not have suspected. Additionally, the newish Sydney E. Crutcher (soprano) lends her lovely lilting voice to the show and also works for Gamut as a production manager.
Through this production, Gamut Theatre Executive Director Melissa Nicholson said, “We’re dipping our toes for a full-length Gilbert & Sullivan show, seeing how well-received it would be, seeing if people would like it.”
For a little peek behind my proverbial curtain… although I am a fan of opera and musicals, my husband George is not. The one and only time I dared to drag him to an opera, he smuggled a six-pack to the theater to get him through it. But because he regularly and randomly sings all 12 syllables of my full name in 16th and 32nd notes more often than John ever sang about Yoko, I think George would enjoy Gilbert & Sullivan. If my caveman everyman can find something to enjoy in Gilbert & Sullivan’s oeurve, I think anyone can.
Bravo/brava to cast and crew for undertaking this vigorous show. The vocal ranges showcased here (to borrow from my favorite British baking show) are a triumph, with the actors delivering a remarkable amount of comedy, energy and detail in their performances.
“Innocent Merriment; Or, an Evening with Gilbert & Sullivan” runs through Nov. 27 at Gamut Theatre, 15 N. 4th Street, Harrisburg. Find more information at www.gamuttheatre.org.
