the m0vie blog

Myself and the better half had a very… theatrical evening last night. First we stopped by Trinity to check out the up-and-coming talent during their “directors’ debut” season (running for the next three weeks, if you feel like taking a chance with your theatre-going) and then we went on to catch a performance of the HMS Pinafore playing at the National Concert Hall from the Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society (the people behind The Producers at the The Gaiety earlier this year). It’s rare that we get a Gilbert & Sullivan musical performed in full, so was it worth it?

Yes, this is the only photo we have...

The HMS Pinafore is a strange beast. I’m not familiar with the musical works of Gilbert & Sullivan and I wouldn’t consider myself the most cultured person around when it comes to stage performances – but I recognised nearly ever single song in the showbill. So deep has the musical permeated popular culture that I was able to recall most of the musical motifs from Sideshow Bob’s rendition of the music in The Simpsons (Cape Feare – great episode), or Stewie’s fantasies about life at sea, or a Picard-Data duet from the woeful Star Trek: Insurrection. I was humming along, and even miming as supporting actor Michael Clark managed a somewhat awe-inspiring delivery of “He remains an En-en-en-en-en-en-en-en-en-liiiiiiiish Man!”

There’s really not too much to say about the music itself except that it still holds up surprisingly well. I suspect that even were I unfamiliar with the score I’d still be humming I am the Monarch of the Seas today. The musical itself is a rather odd examination – and ultimately justification – of the English class system. Certain aspects may seem dated – in particular the same “pair-everyone-off” final which we saw during The Rivals – but, on the whole it’s a solidly entertaining piece of fluff. It’s probably not best to dwell upon its moral (it’s never okay to marry below your station, unless you find out your lover was adopted) or some of the more obvious examples of fridge logic (that means Josephine is dating someone the same age as her father) or even the more crazy plot elements (promotion and demotion in the Royal navy just don’t work that way) and just sit there nodding your head and miming along. To think too hard upon it would be to risk missing the enjoyment that can be squeezed from it.

The cast give it socks. The leads are as talented as they were earlier in the year in The Producers. Unfortunately some of the chorus lines get a bit confused and mixed up and lost amid the sailors (less so amid his cousins, his sisters and his aunts). Still, for the most part the vocals are fantastic and the cast seem to appreciate that they are playing in a larger-than-life farce.

It’s worth mentioning the set design, which is at once amazing and disappoint. It is an amazing pastiche of art deco with military function, with metal railings and arches and circles clearly intended to call to mind the classic era of Hollywood musicals (rather than the period with selection dates from). What’s odd is that most of it can look so impressive, but minor elements seem to let it down. I appreciate the “not taking it too seriously element” of having Buttercup arrive in a Delboy-style van marked “Buttercup Independent Trading Company”, but it really looks out of place on an otherwise beautiful set (and makes it seem like we’re watching a panto (it comes complete with irritating horn) rather than less-than-serious musical).

All in all, a good night out and one that no fan of musicals or Gilbert & Sullivan (or even of Sideshow Bob’s sampling of Gilbert & Sullivan) should miss.

Filed under: Theatre | Tagged: dublin, gilbert & sullivan, HMS Pinafore, musical, National Concert Hall, pinafore, R & R, Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society, Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society, Theatre |