Oh dear, we left at the interval. The last time I saw a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta it was by the D'oyly Carte at the Savoy Theatre and I suppose you can't get much better than that. But you can get a lot worse. G&S must have been turning in their graves as The Opera della Luna company performed the Mikado in the Quays Theatre at The Lowry, Salford.
To start with, the acoustics in The Quays are very poor and any singing was always going to be sucked into the stage flooring, add to that a very poor and thin orchestra and a stage setting that seemed to based on old black boxes and you'll get a taste of this insulting production. Throw in the odd "sh**" word and a mobile phone conversation and you'll get the drift. Before the show started someone came from behind the curtain to announce that Yum Yum had not only fractured her arm in three places but had lost her voice. To get round this problem, Yum Yum would do the dancing but her vocal part would be sung and spoken by someone in the wings. This left Yum Yum miming the words to a voice off stage - if it wasn't so terrible it would have been hillarious. So my letter asking for a refund is in the post. I'll let you know the outcome.
Just btw (as they say on other blogs and forums) The Opera della Luna has a group of supporters officially known as "The Lunatics" - I know why.
Did you go to this production - do you agree or disagree? Or have you been to another theatre production recently? I'd love to know - and so would other readers, to let me know, just click the comment button below (you don't need to fill in the email section or the URL section, just give your name and the comment).
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heather gardner wrote...
I'm going to a production of The Mikado later this month at Crosby Civic Hall - perhaps you should try that.
Posted by: heather gardner | January 18, 2008 1:58 PM