No 13 — July 1979 Edited by Michael Walters
THE CHIEFTAIN, Sawston L. O. G., 4 November 1978.
We have waited a long time to hear one of Sullivan's most maligned operas performed with his own orchestration. Performances by Kingsbury AOS, and earlier of excerpts by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, both with piano accompaniment and both with Victor Golding giving his all as Peter Grigg, suggested that there was a worthwhile work there; and a tape which I received not long ago of an American production confirmed this view. Is the opera worth the effort of putting it on? Musically, yes. Dramatically ? well? Burnand's text poses problems, and David Eden, who had revised it for this production, was keenly aware of them. His solution was to ditch the original dialogue completely, re?write the plot from the bottom up, and revise many of the lyrics to bring them into line with the retailored plot. The result was certainly of great interest, but it seemed to me that David Eden's text created as many problems as it solved. As most people will know, the opera began life as The Contrabandista, a short work first performed in 1867 (not 1862 as stated in the programme). The two acts of this were telescoped into the first act of The Chieftain, and a new act was added, thus giving the extended work a "cobbled" effect, in that the main plot came to an end at the end of act 1 and a new one had to be devised to carry on the action. However, this cobbled effect is part of the work's historical interest for the G&S student. Burnand's improbable plot is not so much of an obstacle as might seem ? it is no worse than many operatic plots, and one can live with it. To completely rewrite Burnand's puerile lyrics is hardly possible; his mediocre dialogue can be pruned and cut. David Eden, hamstrung by what he was forced to keep of Burnand, has substituted one not completely satisfactory plot for another. It has its good points and its bad. The most serious weakness seemed to me to be the building up of Ferdinand de Roxas into a major character. Dramatically, his appearance wandering aimlessly round his own band of brigands, thinly disguised as a peddler, for most of the action of the play, totally unrecognized by them and even by his wife, is unconvincing. His strength in the original version of the story was his sudden appearance late in the piece which had a dramatic impact comparable to that of Sir Roderic or The Mikado. Mr. Eden was probably thinking of the weakness of the entrance of the Prince of Monte Carlo. The Grand Duke (Julia) was presumably also behind the idea of the English heroine speaking with a Spanish accent among the Spaniards, but the joke misfired because Mr. & Mrs. Grigg, also English, did not speak with accents. The staging of Act 2 in the mountains, not at the Posada, resulted in Vasquez's opening song being given to Grigg, for whom it was impossibly high ? how can a patter baritone be expected to sing music written for a tenor? It must be admitted, though, that having "The Legend of the River" sung by a member of the band rather than the English heroine was considerably more acceptable. The weakest aspects of Burnand's text are the tortuous machinations in Act 2, and these were all swept away by Eden who provided a smooth?running plot which on the whole was dramatically viable ? this was the strength of the Eden plot. However, in the process of transformation, Sancho & José the two rival bandits lost much of their individuality. But the character most to be pitied was Count Vasquez who lost most of his best music, to say nothing of his virility. The resulting emasculated figure was convincing neither as a lover nor as a Spanish gentleman; and the character of the "silly twit" into which he was transformed seemed to be at odds with the rather powerful music which Sullivan had written for Burnand's character. The turning of Dolly Grigg into Penelope Ann, proprietor of bathing machines at Margate and Ramsgate, was a nice "in" joke, but in questionable taste, incomprehensible to the G. P. and inaccurate (for Grigg should have become Mr. Knox). Making Mrs. Grigg into a rolling?pin wielding battle?axe was interesting (she was a soubrette in the original) and the possibility of having Grigg caught between two predatory contraltos was a potentially fine situation. Unfortunately it did not come off. The opening of Eden's version is weak. The Prelude was dispensed with (? not in the orchestra score) and instead of the conspiratorial duet which opened the original version, and gave the feeling of danger and mystery, we had a jolly old Pirates of Penzance type rousing chorus which signified nothing. After this, the narrative was unfolded in a long and rather sterile section of recitative which dragged horribly. When "Let others seek the Peaceful plain" (which is no 2 in the original, and one of my favourite numbers) finally did arrive, it was with a feeling that one had at last got to the first good tune. In the second act, Ferdinand's fine song "La Criada" as it was replaced had nothing to do with the text, and was dramatically redundant. He merely walked on, sang it, and then began a scene to which the song was unrelated. Sawston's performance said little, except that there was a good opera there trying to get out. The MD (David Adams) kept the music bubbling, and the orchestra which sounded very ragged in the opening chorus, soon settled down and gave a very competent account of themselves. Producer Gareth Hawkesworth had some good ideas, but on the whole I was indifferent to most of the production. The spectacle of Grigg chasing fake butterflies held on sticks by Sancho & José was good, and the slapping of midges on his neck in time to the chords in the intro to "From rock to rock" was a stroke of genius. (At last, a logical reason for that extended intro, and an indication of how it could be intelligently used. Of the performers, Alan Bullwinkle (Grigg) was the best, and he would have been excellent had he been able to sing all the music allotted to him. Jennifer Brandon (Nancy, i.e. Rita of the original ? now what was the purpose of changing the name?) sang well, but tinnily, and portrayed the part in an anaemic way. Ren Edney (Vasquez) sang powerfully and seemed to be trying to escape from the straightjacket of the absurd and unsympathetic character he was forced to portray. Doreen Bithell (Inez) had a good voice but was far too young and charming ? Inez should be attractive, but it should be a rugged, powerful, buxom, beauty. This Inez was too reticent; she was never the self appointed leader of a band of lawless men. Faced with this Inez, who would have hesitated ? certainly not Grigg! John Alexander (Ferdinand) was embarrassingly bad. Joyce Benfield (Penelope Ann) had neither the voice nor the personality to give more than a suggestion of her part. Since writing these notes, a very erudite article on the opera itself, by David Eden, has appeared in the Journal of the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society ? to which I refer readers. MICHAEL WALTERS
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