Stephen O’Brien as the Lord Chancellor. Photo by Michael A. Nemeth.

The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP) opened their 30^th anniversary season at City Center with “Iolanthe” on January 9 and an agreeable cast, under Albert Bergeret’s experienced baton, delightfully realized the operetta’s dignified and merrily absurd aspects alike.

We have long known, thanks to literature and folklore, that the British Isles are populated not only by such apparently staid personages as Royals and Members of Parliament, but also by rather more whimsical fairies, hobbits and wee people. Leave it to Gilbert and Sullivan to have limned a collision between stodgy and airy worlds in their “Iolanthe,” and brought to the stage a host of fairies, MPs, and a shepherd, Strephon--“half a fairy”--whose immortal mother, Iolanthe, married the Lord Chancellor in defiance of fairy law.

There were several welcome new faces, including Kelly Ebsary, who brought extravagant delivery and presence to the Fairy Queen’s dramatic Verdian and grandly Wagnerian pronouncements, but anchoring the revival absolutely were veteran baritones Stephen O’Brien as the Lord Chancellor and Richard Alan Holmes as Lord Mountararat. Buffo O’Brien stopped the show with his Rossini-like crescendo, pattering “Nightmare Song” —and its many encores—and Holmes’ mock patriotic anthem, “When Britain really ruled the waves” was the very model of bel canto lyricism. Erika Person (Iolanthe), David Wannen (Strephon), Jennifer LynAnn Rose (his love, Phyllis), Jay Schneider (Lord Tolloller), Ross David Crutchlow (Private Willis), and Julie Price and Kimberly Deana Bennett (fairies Celia and Leila) completed the cast and made noteworthy contributions. The big ensembles concluding Act One, reminiscent of those in Rossini and Donizetti comedies, were particular highlights.

There were several (im)pertinent updatings. The Queen compelled such changes in Parliamentary custom as “sit[ting] through Lincoln Center season” (in lieu of “grouse and salmon season”) and “awarding defense contracts without fair bidding” and devoted a verse of “Oh, foolish fay” to Prince William and Prince Charles’ foibles (“chasing tarts”). Lamenting new MP Strephon’s ability to win support for all of his proposed legislation, Mountararat commented, “He’s a Parliamentary Kmart—he carries everything.” Per directors Bergeret and Jan Holland, ribald winks and nudges, to underscore Strephon’s half-fairy nature, were kept to a minimum.

NYGASP’s winter season continues with “H.M.S. Pinafore” (January 16-18) and “The Mikado” (23-25).

City Center 55^th Street between 6 ^th & 7^th Avenues

Iolanthe January 9-11

H.M.S. Pinafore January 16-18

The Mikado January 23-25

Friday & Saturday evenings at 8 pm, Saturday & Sunday matinees at 3 pm