Iolanthe Act I (Complete) Nicholas Wuehrmann - Director/Choreographer

Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Iolanthe" Act II (Complete this time!)
Summer 2013
Nicholas Wuehrmann - Director/Choreographer (He's awesome! One of the best with which I've ever worked!)

[@barbaraulmancomposer]

Beautiful! Back when I was in college, I was a fairy in a production of Iolanthe. Wonderful music and words!

[@beverleymcdowell3327]

First time I have listened to this comic opera in decades, but having played it as a rehearsal pianist many years ago this performance brings back all the sheer joy and life of it all over again. I love it. Now to go searching for Act 2 and, of course, my piano score !

[@1961WILKINSON]

Great performance, loved every moment of it, well done I say.

[@RossiniSoprano]

Nice job, University of Iowa and Nick Wuehrmann! So nice to see traditional G&S at an American university, where most of the students don't know anything older or better than Phantom! I played in the pit for a production of The Mikado at a local university, and it was almost completely unknown to the students. What a joy for me to see them learning, for instance, the 'I am so proud' trio and reveling in it, or saying how much they'd like to learn the other great G&S works!

[@kawaiimeatpie9795]

Absolutely beautiful. Someone named a glass pipe I made Iolanthe and now I've finally got around to watching the opera, truly makes me happy to know it's named after something so great.

[@grayforester]

I always think Iolanthe and Yolanda were once the same name.

[@mickmikado]

This is a wonderfull production,traditional but modern at the same time .Only wish act two was here as well ,thank you

[@michsturge]

Please post the second act!! The director is a genius!!

[@kennethwayne6857]

Not bad as a performer of G&S either!

[@ErnestSDavis1]

Wonderfully well staged and performed. Jessica Pray (Phyllis) has a beautiful voice. Pity there's no complete recording of Act 2.

[@corinthian46]

I'm not sure what happened at the end , when things speeded up somewhat, but well done everyone !

[@andrewdpierce]

That part at 52:33 always reminds me of the Queen of the Night's entrance; so that was a clever little bit they added to show off Phyllis' singing... and dang, can she sing!

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

while I will always prefer a traditional rendition of G & S over to their versions, I do love and appreciate other renditions. There are lots of things to enjoy in this production, just as Joe Pap Pirates on Broadway in the 80's did actually inspire a new reading of a fabulous work. Iolanthe doesn't really lend itself to such an interpretation to such a good result. BUT there are lots of fun n light moments here!

[@markjones6710]

Where is the overture, one of the gems of the piece?

[@Sheilamaizi]

It was nice when the person, who was filing this video, zoomed in. They should have done it more!!!!!

[@regp2008]

Dear George, this video is still Act I. Do you have Act II? Thank you.

[@agravemistake3609]

I was so little when I first saw this opera...on Video cassette of course. I can barely remember what it was about but I do recall being thoroughly bored by it. However, I am seeing some parallels with reality now...

[@alanthomas8836]

Where is Act 2?

[@delroyroberts9244]

+alan thomas Pass!

[@begs54]

The sets, costumes and lighting cues are excellent. What I find very distracting is the over kill of the choreography , especially at the end of Act I. Why must they always treat G&S as a Broadway show??? I guess I am from the D'oyly Carte school where focus was on precision of music and stage direction. I would have liked to have seen Act II. But this was enjoyable to watch....

[@starbug1409]

You have a point... still, nowadays people would demand their money back if the singers just stayed still all the time. People's expectations are different now and theatre needs to adapt in order to remain appealing.

[@begs54]

+starbug1409 Thank you for your comment. I agree with you to a point, yes peoples exceptions are different than they were say, just 20 or 30 years ago, Being from Boston, G&S is taken very seriously here. Sometime I think if it's not broken leave it alone. In some respect it's really to bad that audience's today do not have a chance to see how G&S should preformed. As I said having grown up with the D'Oyly Carte I may have been spoiled. But this was a very good production....

[@martinradford6203]

Was act 2 ever recorded? I would very much like to view it, and this recording seems to stop at the end of act 1 :-(

[@isabellarios4157]

The Homeschool players version will be much, much better.... Check them out at the KZbin channel “Homeschool players”! If you love G&S then you will love this group!

[@delossbrown5804]

Hans: ill luck to you. I am a director and producer and have performed in TRIAL BY JURY and RUDDIGORE at my college, MIT. This production tries to reproduce the brilliant concepts of G&S. Your request for a chorus of 100 has recently been refuted by Handel and Haydn enthusiasts. Please take your dyspeptic and antiquated concepts elsewhere.

[@jalalabad308]

Too much camp. That's my primary issue...can forgive any other weaknesses.

[@rattywoof5259]

Not complete - where's the overture?

[@MrCuddlyable3]

This is unusually choreographed with an intrusive "Andersen's library" prop tome and peers who are more jittery than "dignified and stately". The soprano who plays Phyllis is a standout delight with no match among the male voices, which becomes apparent in "Spurn Not the Nobly Born". In detail, her extemporising of Queen of the Night etc. at 52:39 was over-indulgent and the orchestra should have taken "For Riches and Rank" at 56:53 at a lower tempo. Overall thumbs up and this performance promises well for Act 2 (though the text seems wrong to promise it here).

[@kennethwayne6857]

Yes, where the hell did that cadenza come from and what would Sir Arthur have said to that? Well-executed to be sure, but that is no excuse for the self-indulgence.

[@genaannalee]

14:50

[@johnlok905]

Excellent orchestral playing. Unnecessary yelping in opening dialogue.

[@delossbrown5804]

I will add that this production contributes to the nonsensical theatrical traditions of age. Iolanthe, the text clearly says, should be a ravishing girl of 17. It's like when idiots cast Emilia as a woman of 50, and Olga likewise, despite what the playwrights say. I suggest that you follow Thumper's mother's rule.

[@jeanghika7653]

Have you ever seen the part of Julia played by a 15years old girl, as Shakespeare says she was? It's impossible: the girl as not yet experience and knowledge enough.

[@hansvonlieven1983]

This is by far one of the worst renditions of Iolanthe I've ever seen. The whole performance is thin. Six faeries and six peers is hardly G&S. The faery queen should be a powerful mezzo, not a third class soprano. The costumes are good. Altogether the whole thing is put together by someone who does not understand what G&S was about. This is unadulterated American crap.

[@424Collection]

Hans von Lieven I tend to agree, a G&S chorus should have at least twelve members, additionally Mountararat and Tolloller are so camp that I was left wondering why they are in love with Phyllis instead of each other.

[@ajmason1987]

+424Collection tolloller and mountararat are totally gay for each other. it's all throughout the lib. they have a whole dialogue scene how their friendship for one another prevents them from being with phyllis. right....super straight

[@delroyroberts9244]

+Hans von Lieven Try Wichita!

[@loriwalls419]

+Hans von Lieven - I suppose you’d rather they never attempted this sacred work? New interpretations of old favorites are often painful but they help keep a piece alive. And consider this: Some insanely ambitious college faculty managed to gather enough competent singers, musicians, carpenters, etc. to actually mount this thing! I think it’s not only good, it’s magnificent! Tantara!

[@Mousy677]

also tolloller references places specifically associated with gay men. as a gay man who's played tolloller... that peer isn't straight.

[@johnlok905]

Good on you Hans von Lieven. You are right to criticise the Queen of the Fairies. Alto? Voice low in volume in "Iolanthe, Iolanthe" entrance and lacking in authority in arioso. No depth in "Bearded by these puny mortals". She could sing that line in a choir but contralto she isn't. Pushed down high mezzo? Her dialogue needs work but she's probably obeying the director's genius. In the declamation "grouse and salmon season" she does that damn stupid yelp that blights the delivery of too many G&S contraltos over the last thirty years. It is not traditional. It is not innovative. It is poor. In my never humble opinion the Queen is a female Magnifico from commedia dell'arte not a shrew, not a harpy, and as Evelyn Gardiner would say "not a fishwife".

[@RossiniSoprano]

You do realize this is a college production, and not a professional one?