'Yeomen'
shows off Savoyards’ many talents By Barb Van
Atta
bvanatta@pressconnects.com
Press &
Sun-Bulletin
Over the past few
years, the Summer Savoyards, who began as a vacation
diversion for college students, have been striving to
evolve into a more serious endeavor. They have, it seems,
been doing a yeoman’s job with this aspiration, as
proved by Thursday’s opening night performance of
“The Yeomen of the Guard.”
As producer/costume
designer Stephen M. Dell’Aversano said in his
opening curtain speech, the Savoyards are a combination
of “passionate and dedicated amateurs and young and
seasoned professionals,” who come together every
summer to keep alive the melodic if somewhat illogical
works of Gilbert & Sullivan.
With such a blend, there is
always a range of talent. This year, however, the level
of talent is particularly high, which strengthened what
already is a G&S strong point: duets and small
ensemble numbers such as “I have a song to sing,
O!,” “Hereupon we’re both agree”
(“a tale of cock and bull”), “A man who
would woo a fair maid” and “When a wooer goes
a-wooing.”
“Yeomen,” the
most operatic of the G&S canon, is also the most
bittersweet. In most of the operettas, happy younger
couples are united and reluctant older men finally
succumb to the attentions of amorous battleaxes; only the
truly unworthy are left uncoupled. But in
“Yeomen,” subtitled “The Merryman and His
Maid,” a comedian too hesitant to show the depths of
his feelings loses the love of his life to someone who
may turn out to be a cad.
The role of Jack Point, the
jester, is as perfect a fit for Michael Brooks as his
harlequin costume (one of many sumptuous designs by
Dell’Aversano). Brooks’ baritone may not be the
clearest or strongest—that honor would go to Matthew
Vavalle as Sgt. Meryll—but it is full of meaning and
emotion. His diction was superb and his every body
movement and facial expression conveyed the thoughts of
feelings of his character.
Ably supported by the
chorus and Brian Vlasak’s musical direction,
Brooks’ reprise of “I have a song to sing,
O!” nearly moved me to tears in the second act
finale.
Credit here also goes to Wm. Clark Snyder’s stage
direction, which had Brooks and Suzanne Brigham (as
Point’s lost love, Elsie) also reprise the hand
gestures from their Act I “I have a song—”
duet.
Another excellent touch in
the staging was the recurring appearance of the headsman
(David Schoonover) in amorous clinches with various
women. Apparently, when not occupied by beheading, the
Tower of London’s executioner is preoccupied by
deflowering. His comeuppance during “Hark! What is
that sir?” was a delight although somewhat of a
distraction from the performances of Brooks and Edward
Raube-Wilson (as head jailer and assistant tormentor
Wilfred Shadbolt).
Raube-Wilson, a recent
Binghamton High grad, nearly stole the show from the more
veteran performers. He has a strong voice and a confident
stage presence, easily handling dialogue, lyrics and
physical comedy. It was an excellent decision to revive
“When jealous torments” (an aria for Shadbolt
discarded by G&S prior to the “Yeomen”
premiere) to give this handsome, talented young man an
additional presence.
Raube-Wilson was
well-matched with Emma Thompson look-alike Katie
Ballantyne as Phoebe Meryll. She, too, is a solid singer
with an expressive face and good comic timing. She is
performing tonight; Kathryn Boczar is Phoebe on Sunday.
Brigham, who also is
double-cast (Jana Kucera is Elsie on Sunday), has an
equally expressive face and a soaring soprano. She has a
crisp delivery of dialogue, although some of her lyrics
are lost.
Tenor Steven Nanni as Col.
Fairfax (the aforementioned potential cad) is, as
expected, another vocal pleasure. The happy surprise was
this Savoyard veteran’s increased ease on stage and
the sharp improvement of his comic timing.
The solid Tower of London
set, designed by Gene McAvoy and lit by William Osborne,
was attractive and held a few enjoyable surprises: a
working drawbridge and portcullis, back-lit stained glass
windows and flickering torches.
