No 5 -- June 1976 Edited by Michael Walters
KINGSBURY OPERATIC SOCIETY, The Sorcerer, 1 May 1976.
This was an exceedingly interesting production, brainchild of Victor Golding who had done some revisions to the text so as to incorporate both the original and revised openings to Act 2, and Lady Sangazure's Song, for which special music had been composed by Peter Ward & John Coombs. The amendments were as follows:
1. The Minuet which accompanies Dr. Daly's "May fortune bless you" was omitted and transferred to Act 2.
2. Lady Sangazure's song was restored and immediately followed by "Welcome Joy" with the two alone on stage.
3. Then followed "With heart & with voice" and then "All is prepared"
4. Act 2 was split into two scenes, the first one being at night, and beginning with the usual Act 2 opening. This then proceeded as written till Aline's recit with the phial of love philtre. There was then a break, to get over the time error in Gilbert's lib. that the potion takes 12 hours to work on the rest of the village but about 10 seconds to work on Aline.
5. Act 2 Scene 2, was the following morning and began with "Happy are we in our loving frivolity" followed by the omitted Minuet from Act l, during which Dr. Daly appealed silently to each of the girls. This was followed by "Though my voice is sad and low".
The production by Victor Golding (who also sneaked himself into the chorus) was very good and he worked visual wonders on that rather grotty little school hall stage, making full use of the sizeable apron. The Invocation was great fun, with hags and fiends cavorting round the stage in brave array - including three witches flinging all sorts of horrible items into the teapot. There were good lighting effects, spot-lighting and (? magnesium) flashes for "No.1, No.2, No.3". Regrettably the performance did not measure up to the excellence of the conception. One missed Victor's presence on stage in a leading role. Geoffrey Hewlett (Marmaduke) had a rather dry voice and a tendency to overact and to throw his hands around too much. Malcolm Hadfield (Alexis) had a good voice but was a bit strident. He was very stiff and watched the conductor incessantly while singing. He delivered most of his dialogue straight out to the front. He also had a annoying habit of bobbing his head like one of those nodding china figurines. John Coombs (Dr. Daly) sang his opening song very well, but was less happy in the faster sections of the Act 1 finale, where he tended to grab at his notes. Michael Stevens made a very good Mr. Wells though even he tended sometimes to lapse into unnecessary gestures. His diction was excellent. Wendy Williams sang and acted beautifully as Aline. MICHAEL WALTERS
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