H.M.S. Pinafore Stratford Festival

Gilbert and Sullivan
Hard to find DVD. Don't want these performances to be lost to time
Recorded Proshot for CBC television in 1981

[@urmorph]

Amazing. The singers could sing, the dancers could dance, the dialogue was intelligible--just what G&S deserve and seldom get. Many, many thanks.

[@markholup2944]

Pp

[@urmorph]

@@markholup2944 ??

[@cmontague7333]

I applaud that somewhere between this show and the 1982 Mikado, a decision was (I guess) made to stop trying to imitate the British accenting, wh sounds so inexpert in the mouth of a North American. The actors manage perfectly well to get the matter across in their trained but natural diction.

[@sacreddreamalchemy]

Glorious!! I am so grateful for having this on KZbin for us to enjoy.

[@christinabridgeman3859]

This is awesome! I played Dick Deadeye in our 8th grade performance of HMS Pinnafore. I loved every moment of playing that character! What a wonderful performance by this cast!

[@kennethgriffin7921]

saw sideshow bob sing this stuff on the simpsons hundreds of times as a kid back in the 90s and now i'm almost 40 years old and just now randomly thought about looking up the original. it all comes full circle eventually i guess

[@adambrannon8934]

Saw that episode recently it's funny that most of the songs he sings in his montage are in the first 15 minutes of the actual show.

[@kasabo12]

Next you could see the play, "Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play" which references that Simpsons episode.

[@ergonautilus]

Indiana Jones too! And Star Trek!

[@erracht]

Was a treat to see the late Michael Burgess as Captain Corcoran. I've been a fan of his since I saw him as Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" in Toronto in late 1989.

[@MrRosenleaf406]

Well cast throughout, especially Eric Donkin as the Lord of the Sea. I wish he would have had more professional success before his death, because he was such a talent. His turn as Ko-ko in the Stratford Mikado was amazing, as was his Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe.

[@adambrannon8934]

Yes, there is a reason for the big applause whenever he stepped into the stage for every production.

[@williamyoung6601]

First performed in G and S in Pirates of Penzance when I was 16 at school. Have loved their music ever since.

[@Styder111]

Best rendition of this masterpiece is from Sir Robert Terwillger. #TheBartThe

[@VIKTORTRAPPSTEG]

Wonderful and superb - thanks for showing this lovely performance!!

[@alanfischer1948]

Thank you for posting all these!!

[@AmandathePandaBooks]

Nothing like a well ordered ship and crew!!

[@krobson4849]

I live in SW Ontario, and go to several shows a season at Stratford, when possible. The quality and value for ticket-price is unbelievable. And the city of Stratford is beautiful and has many great restaurants.

[@jellyfishattack]

Do they still do G &S? I've loved G & S since the late 80s. I'm hoping to find a production that is pretty close to the D'Oyly Carte style, basically nothing crazy, e.g. the Mikado in space.

[@antigonemerlin]

The Stratford theatre festival is one of the things that make me proud to be Canadian. It dawned on me the other day that the name is a reference to Stratford-upon-Avon, the famous birth place of the Shakespeare.

[@Finn-de9ue]

Little did they know Loreena Mckennitt was part of the female chorus in this play

[@mrs.g.9816]

This is my first time seeing HMS Pinafore, and I absolutely loved it! I'm viewing The Mikado, next.

[@illygah]

Victorian thinking via Stratford, through you to here, to me. I am grateful and bewildered.

[@MrCuddlyable3]

I'm not happy about the cuts but since the energy level is high, and there are original ideas here especially in the dance choreography, I grant my approbation "officially" to the entire ample cast. Plus a thumb up to the best Dead-eye Dick that ever walked a poop deck.

[@Chill1332]

Well, that was fun! A delightful version! Thanks for sharing!

[@toryblackhall5503]

this one has my favourite version of 'When I Was a Lad'

[@andrewferguson5653]

I didn't see this one live, but I was disappointed with the cuts. HMS Pinafore is a short enough work without cuts.

[@MrSwifts31]

Such a shame that they had to cut it.All the G&S productions from Stratford that I have seen(On KZbin) have been excellent.

[@AndrewGriffiths]

The cut in Josephine's Scena is criminal.

[@andrewferguson5653]

@@AndrewGriffiths I agree, it is. 😓

[@edinburghgilbertandsulliva6742]

How fantastic to see! We have many similar videos on our KZbin of our previous G&S performances too.

[@robertd.carver6240]

Delightfully silly, but G&S would attain their greatest, most cohesive success with "The Mikado!"

[@shtonker8]

I think I'm right in saying what a delight that the Monarch of the Sea is the same fine actor, singer, and wit that was the Lord High Executioner in the Mikado...am I right?...Oh, I have had many a night that the songs from the Mikado have whizzed around my head; it was a fine how-dee-do to sleep!!

[@adambrannon8934]

he's also the lord high chancellor in iolanthe which I uploaded, and the duke of plaza Toro in the gondoliers also on my channel

[@shtonker8]

@@adambrannon8934 Thank you and Aloha from Hawai'i.

[@andrewferguson5653]

It's Eric Donkin.

[@willym9836]

Patrrica Kern was one of the finest singers of Rossini and belcanto of the period. She also sang Angelica in La Cenerentola at the Festival.

[@Tenortalker]

Yes there is not much of Patricia Kern's work on film. I can only think of Mrs Herring in Albert Herring at Glyndebourne. She recorded quite a lot during her UK years including several operettas - The Arcadians , Merrie England and also the role of Hansel on the Sadlers Wells recording of Hansel and Gretel. What a pity the 'Things are seldom' duet with Corcoran was cut in this performance.

[@alisonrhodes7312]

Buttercup is supposed to be a distinctly lower class character but her costume puts her on a level with the sister’s , cousins and aunts. The theme of HMS Pinafore is how difference in rank has little to do with merit or intelligence. It is pure chance. Yet notice how the couples each end up with a partner of similar status to their own.

[@Derna1804]

I think it's considerably more cynical than that. The Lord of the Admiralty despises hierarchy because he's a self-made man, but he made himself through corruption. So he's happy to wield both equality and rank as weapons when it suits him.

[@susanficek1245]

great production.. talented cast.. !!!

[@AnthonySheldon-v3f]

Sublime. Flawless.

[@nateridgewaymusic]

Such Great rendition of Pinafore

[@dougbarker3019]

There's so much to admire about this excellent production except the ridiculously fast tempi throughout. Poor Sir Joseph Porter struggles to get out his words in "When I Was a Lad" and so does the chorus.

[@ianoliver3879]

Brilliant stuff. Thank you very much. But I can't decide if they were miming or not. Even the Mikado was a toss-up; sometimes it was obviously live, other times the sound quality changed on a switch from recitative to song that I was confused. Anybody involved care to elucidate?

[@stephenromance9866]

That was amazing!!!

[@josephcollins6033]

Enjoying very much! Thanks! But, is this pre-recorded?

[@jintsfan]

Glorious. Would’ve preferred to have seen an unfurling or 2 of a Union Flag.

[@CathyKitson]

Beautifully sung. And the humour is kept deliberately unsmutty; many of the more recent versions seem to take delight in double entendres, "bulwarks" and "queer" - along with Buttercup with being a nympho! Refreshing change. The humour is rather puerile and subject to puns - but that was what G and S intended and was part of the Victorian package. But most of all, the heavenly music. And they can SING!!!

[@colinheatherington7902]

Where was the duet between Buttercup and the Captain Things are seldom what they seem?

[@wolliveryoutube]

They cut many parts out of this performance in order for it to fit on television. A lot of good songs were lost as a result, unfortunately. HMS Pinafore is short enough as it is, even without the cuts.

[@tobyhush]

how many copies did you have to piece together? The differences are clear and I admire your commitment

[@adambrannon8934]

Copies? I know this was shortened for tv but I have the DVDs for hms, pirates, mikado, gondoliers, and iolanthe

[@tobyhush]

@@adambrannon8934 interesting. It looks like it was reconstructed the way old photos are.

[@Seals-ky6dj]

@@adambrannon8934 will you ever post mikado? youve done all the others

[@adambrannon8934]

@@Seals-ky6dj we already have the Mikado on KZbin and I didn't wany to be redundant kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJPThq15e6islZo

[@claireabow2009]

Parts Sideshow bob sings 3:59 5:34 12:38 1:22:46

[@martind349]

Do I detect a nod to Oxford beneath a draping British flag?

[@mjwemdee]

Enjoyable...Some of the physical comedy here is smartly executed, and Patricia Kern sings Buttercup beautifully, but the choreography is awful and not well done. IMHO Opera Australia's version, with Anthony Warlow, David Hobson and Tiffany Speight is superior.

[@MrRraoulof]

I agree totally.

[@charlesajones77]

I never understood the significance of the sisters and cousin and aunts. I mean, other than as an excuse to get the female chorus members on stage. Somebody once told me that Joseph surrounded himself with women because this made him less likely to be assassinated, but I have my doubts about that. Anyone have any idea?

[@adambrannon8934]

And if they are his sister's his cousins and his aunt's, what relation to him is the one that wants to marry him?

[@thomasw.eggers4303]

You are asking for significance? In a G&S production? Sometimes yes, many times no. Enjoy w/o asking too many questions.

[@opalhearst4227]

@@adambrannon8934She’s his cousin, listed in the score as Cousin Hebe

[@rodneyscull8124]

Charles. I have always thought that the large entourage was to demonstrate that wealthy or famous persons attract a number of “ Hangers On “ who hope take advantage by association with the famous person . It’s just a thought. I really enjoyed the show . As one writer suggests “ It’s not real “ Best wishes . Rodney from Haworth, West Yorkshire .

[@Sueb18631]

It's an excuse to get the female chorus members on stage.

[@zelalife2559]

need subtitles

[@adambrannon8934]

I did it for the gondolier's and it was a nightmare!🤣

[@DeltaZetaHouse]

18:45 the original script is "Impossible" (not F*ck)

[@richardhirsh4954]

That’s “oh, fie!״

[@Seals-ky6dj]

@@richardhirsh4954 which honsetly fie and fuck are pretty much mean the same thing and people are more likely to get the word fuck than fie

[@MrTonyHeath]

But i was all mimed. In the Royal Navy, decks a swabbed in bare feet.

[@owengette8089]

11:41 23:58 45:24 59:17 1:07:14/1:08:44

[@andrewandcubes]

Why so many lines cut?

[@connorsearcy3848]

@andrewandcubes I'm not sure if this is it, but the whole show is just under 1 hour 30 minutes so maybe at the festival the show had to be under 90 minutes.

[@MixerTWS]

Although I wasn't there in 1981, I'm pretty sure the ticket-buying audience at the Festival saw the complete Pinafore but the CBC in its wisdom (or lack of same) only made a 90-minute time slot available, resulting in the cuts we see here. Even the venerable D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was known to cut its G&S videos for the same reason.

[@LloydBates-t6x]

Johnson Jason Young Linda Davis Nancy

[@Xerxes2005]

I wonder if Dick Deadeye is ugly because he says the ugly truth, and everyone hates him for it...

[@adambrannon8934]

"you are rather triangular"

[@Bivolari]

Did the fellow doing Ralph do any other show that I might be able to watch?

[@adambrannon8934]

not in any of the shows I uploaded from the 80s Stratford festival. he probably stuck to stage performances that didn't get the TV recorded treatment. Bill, dick deadeye and sir Joseph appear in Iolanthe on my channel.