The Gilbert and Sullivan Newsletter ArchiveGILBERTIAN GOSSIPNo 12 — January 1979 Edited by Michael Walters
CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS ON RUDDIGORE Ruddigore is a lot of people's favourite opera, and they often feel a sense of outrage at any sort of attack on it. The Lamplighters of California did the opera in May 1978, and very kindly sent me some reviews of the production in the local press. As some of these contained some rather controversial remarks on the opera itself, I feel readers may like to see these, and comment on them. OAKLAND TRIBUNE (Paul Hertelendy): "In the supportingrole of Mad Margaret, contralto, Marcia Hunt all but steals the show and resurrects the image of another redhead, soprano Joan Sutherland, playing Lucia's mad scene in opera. Satirizing 'Lucia' was a brilliant stroke, especially since one of the lengthy score's few distinctions is its debt to Donizetti." SAN MATEO TIMES (Jack Russell): "Ruddygore is not the most comic nor the most lyrical of G&S but it is an overall splendid piece of theater." JOSE MERCURY (Janos Green): “Nothing ruins Ruddigore as quickly and decisively as making fun of it. It must be done with a straight face and great seriousness ... Actually, Mad Margaret doesn't have a decent piece of music to do (her entrance aria is one of the weakest in all of G&S) but Marcia Hunt manages to stop the show with it." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (Alfred Frankenstein): “... in fact, the only thing about which one can carp or criticize is the company's insistence on spelling the name of the opera with a "y" in the middle when everybody else uses an “i” ... nobody even comes close to Gilbert in grand opera unless it might be Lorenzo da Ponte.” [What about Boito, or Wagner? Ed.]
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