By Brian Scott Lipton . . .
Romeo and Juliet. Troilus and Cressida. Tristan and Isolde. The worlds of theater and opera are full of lovers separated by fate and outside forces, but we root even more for Strephon and Phyllis, the winsome inamoratas at the center of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe, which received a wonderful staging on May 3 at Carnegie Hall by the fantastic Master Voices company under the direction of the ever-superb Ted Sperling.
A mostly comic operetta, the show makes great fun of English government and conventional Victorian morals, while also keeping us engaged in these lovers’ quest to be together (although we know there will be a happy ending). What keeps them apart – on their wedding day — is that young Phyllis needs the permission of The Lord Chancellor (a delightful David Garrison), who wants her for himself and needs little excuse to deny their request to wed.
Once they’ve been separated, however, the Lord Chancellor resists the urge to wed Phyllis himself, turning her fate over to two high lords, the preening, brainless Lord Mountararat (a black bewigged Santino Fontana, displaying peerless comic timing and an operatic-sounding voice) and the slightly less dim Lord Tolloller (the velvet-voiced Jason Danieley). Not only can’t they decide which one of them should actually marry Phyllis, but she doesn’t care, even though she believes she has been betrayed by Strephon after she sees him embracing a beautiful young woman.
But that’s no woman: that’s his mother, Iolanthe (a lovely Shereen Ahmed), a fairy who never ages and therefore looks younger than her son. And as supportive as she is of her offspring — who knows he’s half fairy (only from the waist up, as his stunning shorts-clad legs prove) — he doesn’t know the whole truth: The Lord Chancellor is his father!
Moreover, the Lord Chancellor doesn’t know about his son either; he believes Iolanthe died childless, unaware she was sentenced to banishment for marrying a mortal by the imperious Queen of the Fairies (a perfectly cast Christine Ebersole, whose singing continues to dazzle), but who is now alive and back in the Queen’s good graces. (Got all that?)
While the score does not contain as many recognizable tunes as “HMS Pinafore,” “The Pirates of Penzance” or “The Mikado,” it’s still an excellent one. Among its highlights are the enormously difficult patter song, “love, unrequited, robs me of my rest,” sublimely sung by Garrison (in a long nightshirt and Bugs Bunny slippers); the heart-wrenching plea “my lord, suppliant at your feet,” gorgeously performed by Ahmed, and the popular “When all night long a chap remains,” perfectly rendered by opera and Broadway star Philip Boykin in the smallish role of Private Willis, a member of the Grenadier Guards.
As for Fabian, with her glistening soprano, and Vargas, with his warm commanding baritone, they not only shone every time they sang but also when they spoke, grasping both the comedy and pathos of their roles. These two are among the finest operatic actors I’ve seen recently, and I predict very bright futures for them both.
As usual, the Master Voices chorus, who played various fairies and government officials, sounded strong and impressive. And without speaking a word, famed ballerina Tiler Peck – cast here as the frequently-seen Dancing Fairy – spoke volumes just through her movements.
I can’t promise that every production of Iolanthe you may get the chance to see will be this smart, but I urge you to take the chance to see it the next time it gets performed.
Photos: Toby Tenenbaum
