Wellington G&S Light Opera (WGSLO) brings its annual touring production to Whanganui on Saturday, July 1, presenting Gilbert & Sullivan's comic opera Iolanthe in a five-venue tour of the lower North Island.
This will be the 11th time WGSLO has toured to Whanganui since first presenting The Tales of Hoffmann in 2007. The Royal Wanganui Opera House with its fine acoustics is a favourite venue of the tour. Patrons will remember previous recent productions of The Gypsy Baron, The Mikado and The Gondoliers.
Iolanthe is one of the four most popular of Gilbert and Sullivan's works, when librettist and composer were at the height of their powers. This late work shows them at their best, with droll wit and enchanting music ranging from the tender to the heights of pretentious exuberance. Memorable music includes the Nightmare Song, the March of the Peers and When Britain Really Ruled the Waves.
WGSLO presents the work fully staged and costumed, and this production of Iolanthe, with a cast of 32 singers and dancers accompanied by a 24-piece orchestra to Sullivan's full original orchestration, sets out to provide the full spectacle of this operatic work as intended. Experienced MD Hugh McMillan conducts the ensemble.
Director John Goddard delivers Gilbert's humour with fast-paced and telling action. Choreographer Lia Purcell, who set last year's striking Merry Widow dance sequences, has nicely characterised the feminine moves with grace, and the Peers with pomposity undermined by Pythonesque awkwardness.
