Iolanthe - Opening Chorus

Tripping hither tripping thither - Nobody knows why or wither - we must dance and we must sing - Round about our fairy ring. (from the Stratford Festival)

[@JanetteHeffernan]

A superb example of the British sense of humour! Gilbert excelled at irony and this is brilliantly captured here.Wish I could see the rest.

[@singerdude1234]

great preformance!!! that alto line is so important and they did it!!

[@hansvonlieven1983]

Brilliant! If G&S were alive today they would have been delighted by this performance. Well done.

[@susandrn]

I love this show!! SO much talent, brilliant choreography... Wish there were more scenes available from the Stratford Festival Production!!!

[@megbailey3562]

I've seen Iolanthe many times! Never get tired of it!

[@rossdave]

Iolanthe is one of the most underappreciated Gilbert and Sullivan musicals. Wonderful for posting it here. yay. I'm a big fan.

[@corlyssd]

Actually, Gilbert's directions for the casting of the fairies is that they are to be precisely what you saw: overweight. He wrote them as a parody of Wagner's Walkyries. Check out the Martyn Green's Treasury of Gilbert and Sullivan.

[@BethDiane]

But they're not overweight, by any reasonable standard. And they're far more nimble then the usual opera chorus. Victorian women were supposed to be curvy. I have a VHS tape of the whole production, and there's some amazing dancing in it--occasionally to the detriment of the singing. But the whole chorus and most of the leads appear to be trained dancers.

[@iswhade]

I saw this last night with my sister, and we were the youngest in the audience! (I'm 15 and she's 12).

[@babyfishgirlbondz5628]

I performed iolanthe today and enjoyed it very much

[@Olwethu100]

This takes me straight back to high school ... I was a fairy ... and we had a great Strephan

[@yitz28]

love this play

[@begs54]

One of my memories was seeing the great D'Oyly Carte Opera Company on thier many, many stays in Boston. No one, but no one could touch thier Iolanthe. They had class, and preformed the opera as it should have been preformed. You can thank the London Arts Council for company's slow death. It was a loss to us all.....

[@Bfdidc]

That group dance that starts around 3:32 cracks me up. It's weirdly graceful and clumsy at the same time.

[@elektra9474]

I remember doing Iolanthe when at school. I was about 13/14 at the time and was given the part of Lord Tololler. I loved strutting around in ermine and coronet. It was an all girl's school so all the male parts were taken by other girls too. I've still got a picture of me somewhere all dressed and made up, and looking very snooty - very much in character. I love G & S. Iolanthe is rather topical now I come to think of it - the scenes in Parliament aren't so far removed from those in the real Parliament - except we're paying them £300 per day in the Lords to sit and snooze. We badly need another Strephon to shake them all up - Commons and Lords.

[@Artoveli]

This is the best version of Iolanthe I've ever seen, and the same goes for the Stratford Mikado. I haven't been able to find their Pirates of Penzance yet though!

[@lisamerson5727]

wow does this bring back memories, i was in this play at my old school Grenville Christian College, which is now under a very big investigation of abuse towards us the students.

[@CaledonianCelt]

Very entertaining and amusing.

[@Roseburg93]

The bit from 2:41 is outstanding.

[@jillhorne3467]

First time I saw Iolanthe. I want to see the rest. I have dolls that look like them. So real.......

[@bhaskardancer]

My once husband liked to portray the fairies as AFLCIO Chapter - Dock workers Local 1....

[@woafmann]

The "laughing" is simply a laugh track...You can hear the same chortle repeating itself...

[@dick107s]

Hello John...do you know if this (full) version is available on-line? DVD? Do you have any further info on the edition (it looks hilarious)

[@sarahkoester8007]

Yes you can get this ...I did a few years ago .and the rest of it fully lives up to this opening chorus! srsly it is wonderful ! from Canadian Broadcasting ...find it on ebay or Amazon ....( try ebay first ! no sense giving bezos more money .....you will not be sorry !

[@dandanod]

is this an actual video i ca buy?

[@akarpowicz]

Actually that sounds like an interesting take depending on the singing talent.

[@pixietrix68]

@Kevin90028 sounds pretty much how Gilbert & Sullivan intended it to me! Much of the fairy queen humour is based on her being overweight and the house of peers (Lords) today still consists of what were once effeminate, gay high school boys.

[@megbailey3562]

Corlyssed - no I never knew that! I will check out Martyn Green Treasury....... I am keenly interested in G&S, and everything to do with them! Incidentally it sounds as though they would have agreed with me that today's ultra skinny model girls look terrible!

[@Steinbach1984]

I still have great trouble with operetta and similar styles. Today, it's such dated effeminate kitsch. And yes, some of it (like this) is well-written, but I can't feel anything beyond musicological interest for it. I really wish I could enjoy this stuff.

[@sarahkoester8007]

IN the original notes about casting ,,,,G & S wanted middle aged women for the fairy roles .....and this is by Canadian Broadcasting .....several years ago I saw this and wanted to see the rest .....if you think this is great, you should see the rest of it ! ....as far as I am concerned ...Iolanthe is far and away their best work anyway ...beats out all the rest including the big 3 ( Mikado, Pirates and Penzance) ...the songs are wonderful without a draggy one in the lot .....this production has a great cast ...and I highly recommend it ....try ebay first , they should have copies ....Amazong as a last resort, Jeff Bezo has plenty of $$$ ....you won't regret getting this for your library of geat musicals 5 stars out of 5 stars....

[@megbailey3562]

Why is the audience laughing? Perhaps because its funny!

[@richardlucas8209]

Apologies for the ignorant question - but why is the audience laughing? Is it because there is a reference expectation of how this should be performed that they are challenging.. ? I saw Iolanthe about 35 years ago,- the melody came back to me out of the blue, and this was the first link via Google - I loved this performance, but I was smiling not laughing.. confused from Krakow Poland

[@annedavis3340]

I'm 99% sure they're ripping off Swan Lake, you see

[@richardlucas8209]

+Anne Davis Thanks... can you post a link to the part of Swan Lake you suspect.. (I think I saw Swan Lake in 1976..)

[@annedavis3340]

+Richard Lucas it's from all over the place :/

[@EllensLaughter]

Or perhaps The Nutcracker. :-)

[@KENACT1]

Laughter is often an expression of surprise, and this number has a lot of surprises.

[@richardposner8526]

To Richard Lucas-the laughter is because the chorus ladies are spoofing ballet dancers.

[@megbailey3562]

I hate the modern skinny look! These performers looked like the human beings they are and I think it's great! It sounds as though Gilbert and Sullivan shared my view! Anyhow, I'll get off me soapbox now, I've said me piece!

[@bigred8432]

Skinny?! That's muscular and toned

[@megbailey3562]

+Ian Smith no, skinny

[@megbailey3562]

+Ian Smith young girls sometimes starve theirselves to get that look

[@redluv79]

Isn't it DAHncing? and entrAHncing? They aren't keeping up with the british very well...

[@caronovellezealandes]

The fairies were what we would consider to be overweight by todays standards. They also wore long garments though the hair and top parts of the costumes are 19th century. They were certainly not ballet dancers. In G & S's day this would have been considered vulgar. They are supposed to be 'Tripping Hither', not dispalying a lot of leg!

[@bigred8432]

You can't make an audience of today have the same experience as one of yesteryear by doing the same thing.

[@BethDiane]

I was in the chorus of this in college, and IIRC, the words "We are dainty little fairies" is marked "fortissimo."

[@elizabethainslie3561]

More enjoyable, much, without the laugh track