| . | 01/09/2008
Princess Ida
By: Victor Gluck
William Whitefield, Colm Fitzmaurice, and Patrick Hogan
surround Kimilee Bryant as Princess Ida (on swing)
(photo credit: Pien Nagy)
This year, the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players are offering both a winter and summer season as part of “G&S Fest 2008.” During January, NYGASP is presenting a two-week run of Princess Ida, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, and a one-night only pairing of Trial by Jury and a new revue, G&S à la Carte, on January 10. In June, NYGASP returns to City Center with The Gondoliers, H.M.S. Pinafore and encore engagements of The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance, for an additional two weeks.
Opening night of the January engagement brought Princess Ida, one of the more unfamiliar works in the G & S canon. Princess Ida is unique in that it is the only G & S operetta in three acts and its dialogue is in blank verse. It is also the only G & S operetta to parody a specific literary work, in this case Tennyson’s epic poem, The Princess. Its combination of low comedy and cross dressing with grand opera also makes it rather unusual. Originally not as big a success as its predecessors, the 1884 Princess Ida’s investigation of feminism made it a work ahead of its time. Set for two-thirds of its length in a women’s university and including erudite though satiric discussions of philosophy, Princess Ida is for the G&S cognoscenti, rather than the novice. However, it has its special pleasures, witty patter songs, lilting melodies and eccentric supporting characters, like all of the G & S operettas.
Princess Ida or, Castle Adamant begins at King Hildebrand’s Palace where his son Prince Hilarion awaits his betrothed, Princess Ida whom he has not seen in twenty years – since he was two, and she was one. However, her father King Gama arrives without her to announce that she has founded a women’s university, and with her followers, has renounced the company of men. King Hildebrand immediately takes Gama and his three sons hostage until Hilarion can win the hand of Ida.
In the second act, Hilarion and his friends Cyril and Florian climb over the wall of Princess Ida’s Castle Adamant and disguise themselves in women’s clothing. They are soon discovered by first, Florian’s sister Lady Psyche, the Professor of Humanities, then, Melissa, a girl graduate who has never seen a man, and finally, her mother Lady Blanche, the Professor of Abstract Science. Each ultimately agrees to keep their secret for their personal reasons. Princess Ida falls for their ruse and accepts them into the college. However, at luncheon when Princess Ida accidentally falls into the river and is rescued by Prince Hilarion, all is discovered. The three men are arrested just as an armed band along with King Hildebrand arrives demanding that Ida fulfill her childhood vow or he will hang her three brothers.
In the concluding act, Princess Ida discovers that her ladies are unprepared to take on the invaders, but her warrior brothers appear to fight for her instead. Pitted against Prince Hilarion and his two friends, Ida’s brothers find they are not up to the job. The Princess agrees to marry Hilarion, Cyril and Florian find their mates, and Lady Blanche gains her heart’s desire to become principal of the university. The feminist point of view is upheld at the end with the proviso that if the marriages fail to work out, Princess Ida, Psyche and Melissa may return to their former positions.
As a director, Albert Bergeret’s productions tend to be rather conservative and traditional and this proves to be no exception. This means that the characterizations are much less humorous than the material warrants, such as Cyril’s drunken scene for the famous “Kiss Me” song. What passes for imagination are such things as the tap dancing soldiers in the third act, which seem vaguely out of character from the rest of the evening. Nevertheless, the cast is uniformly sturdy and the operetta well sung, though without too many memorably comic performances. As a conductor, Bergeret keeps the music sprightly, martial or lilting as the musical numbers warrant.
Best is long time G&S veteran Stephen Quint as the curmudgeonly King Gama who makes it quite clear just how disagreeable he is in his clever patter songs, “If you give me your attention, I will tell you what I am,” and his third act solo in which he tells us, “Oh, don’t the days seem lank and long,/ When all goes right and nothing goes wrong.” Dianna Dollman as the overbearing Lady Blanche lends her admirable alto to this strong character. In the small role of Princess Ida’s brother Arac, David Wannen brings a fine baritone and an excellent comic timing to his third act number, “This helmet, I suppose,/ (Was meant to ward off blows).”
As often happens in comic works, the leading characters are not half as interesting as the supporting ones. Soprano Kimilee Bryant’s Princess Ida is lovely to look at and acquits herself well with her two operatic arias, “Oh, goddess wise” and “I built upon a rock.” However, she seems a rather humorless royal. As her loyal swain and royal lover, Colm Fitzmaurice has a reliable tenor as Prince Hilarion but his characterization is basically colorless. In the bass-baritone role of King Hildebrand, popular NYGASP veteran Keith Jurosko brings authority to both his role and his musical numbers.
Although the medieval castle settings by Albere are merely suitable, the costumes credited to Gail Wofford and Stivanello Costume Company, originally designed by Jean Brookman, are both colorful and attractive. Gilbert and Sullivan’s Princess Ida is a sophisticated blend of cross dressing and philosophy, feminism and hijinks, and grand opera and low comedy. The Gilbert & Sullivan Players offer a chance to experience a fully staged production of this rarely staged entertainment.
Princess Ida (performed in repertory through January 12)
NY City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-581-1212 or http://www.nycitycenter.org
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