Gilbert & Sullivan - Iolanthe (1988)

Gilbert & Sullivan's hilarious take on 'Iolanthe'. Stratford Festival 1988.
Maureen Forrester (Queen of the Fairies)

[@MrTrackman100]

Wow, wonderful acting and singing by Maureen Forrester.

[@VanWaffle]

I saw this performance live in 1988. I was 24. Maureen Forrester was then chair of Canada Council for the Arts. The whole production contained political satire appropriate to the time and context. In another song Forrester's lyrics made fun of her own role as the "Arts Council Head". Like the original lyrics, this humour and its appropriateness are harder to appreciate now. The Stratford Festival's string of G&S productions in the '80s all did the same, but as I remember the satire was most trenchant and over the top in Iolanthe. They were able to pull it off well partly because of Forrester, her artistic excellence, clout, magnanimity and sense of humour.

[@Huaimek861]

This was indeed a wonderful performance , both beautifully sung and humourously acted . I loved too the most unlikely chorus of fairies .

[@zaygezunt]

The music of Arhtur Sullivan and the words of WS Gilbert will always live through proiductions such as these, which capture the spirit of the original production. As an English girl, I am just so pleased that performers and audiences around the world still love these operettas.

[@byronarnason6006]

zaygezunt "For she IS an English Girl"

[@andrewvincenti2664]

Delightful; she's a treat

[@Huaimek861]

A great contralto , so good to hear !

[@MrSwifts31]

Amazing to think that Maureen was one of the greatest(serious) operatic contraltos of the 20thC.

[@dandanod]

I loved playing Strephon in my school produuction over 20 years ago, still know all the words and lyrics. Wish I could play him again.

[@Bfdidc]

After 20 years, maybe your top half could still play him. :)

[@racehorse87]

Oh Stratford! I love their interpretation of G&S! :D

[@mjwemdee]

I love the 1882 original, but I don't have any problem with these new lyrics. They seem to me to be well-crafted, and in the spirit of the original words, which now - it has to be said - are almost incomprehensible to modern audiences. 'Captain Shaw' is now a mere footnote in British history, and so Gilbert's lyrics have lost some of their erstwhile satirical punch. Probably 'Iolanthe' in general is more outdated than most of the Savoy operas (British politics having changed a little!), and therefore needs a re-think. But there is still the glorious music (some of Sullivan's finest) to save it. I think this clip shows the affection that the director and creative team had for the piece. Some witty touches - I loved the Queen Victoria look for Maureen Forrester. Well done, Stratford.

[@mrurc]

Gilbert and Sullivan intended that the lyrics be modernized and localized at points in their works that referenced things of their time. This is well documented. If you have a problem with people updating those areas, take it up with the original authors.

[@Huaimek861]

Actingcat To me it doesn't matter whether anyone laughs during this aria , it shouldn't be sung for laughs . This is one of the most beautiful contralto arias that I know and should just be sung beautifully . The humour is in a an aging fairy falling in love with a young and handsome guardsman . G&S operas should be played straight , with an inflection here or there to emphasise the words , updating or localising the words is quite acceptible . The comedy is in the situation and words .

[@aliciamoss7264]

This is good ☺

[@aliciamoss7264]

I like this x😀

[@HalifaxsummeroperafestivalNS]

I love the Knowlton Nash lyrics :)

[@MusicByAllonaMayost]

Does anyone know where I can get the entire show?

[@pixietrix68]

This is good satire as meant in the original. I know the whole play is about politics, but this was one of the few songs I loved as the original. Not to put a downer on the updated lyrics- thats what G&S were all about but we still miss: "This heart of mine id soft as thine, although I dare not say so" and "could thy brigade with cold cascade, drown my sweet love- I wonder". Some of the only soft sides shown of the Queen.

[@MopsusHears]

@BetterthanyouIknow Gilbert would have loved to make fun of a humorous pedant like you. This production was trying to make this production appealing to the Canadian audience who attended this production, and they did an excellent job of it.

[@urielstud]

She must watch the CBC LOL

[@thejameslehman]

@Teatroliceo Perhaps 'dig' isn't quite the right word, but your point is a salient one, anyway.

[@MrCuddlyable3]

Such a great singer with such a great song shouldn't need to extemporize to get cheap (canned) laughs that are meaningless outside Canada.

[@canajaneh]

@BetterthanyouIknow The rewritten lyrics are inspired - they bring a song that is otherwise lack lustre. Of course it's dated - but I used to watch the news read by Knowlton Nash on the CBC... zzzzzz.... which is why this is so funny.

[@pyglett]

Well, just think what could be done with Iolanthe since the expenses scandal! G&S loved for their operettas to keep up to date with events, so why spoil the 'Parties' any more than they've spolied themselves?

[@AndySandbergSM]

@thejameslehman haha, okay agreed, and cheers :)

[@aliciamoss7264]

🐕

[@Huaimek861]

I cannot see the point in doing a take off of G&S , the operas are already comedies . By any standards , this is a superb contralto aria and the musical beauty of it should not be lost , by hamming it up with excess of farcical comedy .

[@Salamon2]

Because comedy doesn't age well--especially when the original lyric references a firefighter that most people would need a brief history lesson to understand the context as to why they should laugh. Updating the cultural reference in that case makes sense because you were supposed to laugh at whomever she names, thus by updating the reference you preserve the intention and spirit of the writing.

[@Bfdidc]

I'm not a G&S purist and have no problem with modernizing bits (it's almost expected), but lyrically this version went a bit too far off the beam for my tastes. No reflection on the performers though. Maureen Forrester does a very nice job here and, from what I've seen of the other clips, this appears to be an above average performance.

[@MrSwifts31]

I must say that(like others here) I DO object to re~written lyrics.It insults Gilbert,just as Sullivan's music rewritten for synthesizer(in some productions) does.

[@HalifaxsummeroperafestivalNS]

The original lyrics are extremely obscure. The audiences need footnotes and a concordance to work them out. Oh Foolish Fay is a pretty weak song (one of the weakest in the canon for the comic contralto) and it can use a little gingering up. I like my G and S to be alive, rather than a period piece preserved in amber :) Knowlton Nash wouldn't work as a reference today, but it was fabulous when (and where) this production was presented.

[@AndySandbergSM]

I mean honestly, the "Captain Shaw" line that the Stratford Company has replaced here was a dig at a chap that G&S knew would be in the audience opening night. Do you know anything about him, or why it was funny to include him? Because I guarantee that 99% of the audience won't, and won't think it's funny, and G&S wrote the show To Be Funny. Keep the original words and you will fail to do G&S justice.

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

drawn out and totally NOT funny

[@BetterthanyouIknow]

It is impossible to say enough bad things about Brian MacDonald the villain who misdirected this horrid pile of dung.

[@AndySandbergSM]

Modernising G&S lyrics is perfectly normal, don't be a twit. What's wrong is that they were topical commentary and in-jokes for West End London c. 1880. Putting on Iolanthe isn't about doing a historical reenactment, it's about doing a Show, and if you use all of the jokes that were written to be plainly obvious to the original audiences, you'll only be entertaining scholars of G&S esoterica, which wasn't G&S's target audience either.

[@rwexelblat]

Just awful! Terrible! Pray tell, what's wrong with Gilbert's words?

[@BetterthanyouIknow]

This production is not fabulous! Though it has excellant elements taken on their own, there are others that are simply awful. Low, vulgar humor, total lake of wit, complete lack of acting skill.

[@BetterthanyouIknow]

The rewritten lyrics are very very bad. The mention of the Chief of the London Fire brigade in the original was not a "dig" at a man, it was an emotional plea, a rhetorical question-the Fairy Queen though that her heart was so afire with loving emotion she doubted that every fireman in London could pour enough water on it to quench it.