Iolanthe Stratford Festival part 2

Part 2 of Stratford Festeval, Iolanthe

[@drbob528]

From a Gilbert and Sullivan tragic, these Stratford Festival productions are truly great entertainment, with totally unexpected and successful slants on the original G & S pieces. OK, the tap routine really hooked me as well. Bravo, Brava.

[@hortondlfn1994]

While the entire production was delightful, the tap-dancing parliament pretty much stole the show, in my opinion. Stratford hits another one out of the ballpark! Thank you for uploading!

[@andrewferguson5653]

That was what Brian Macdonald wanted...to emphasize more movement and dancing in his stagings.

[@michaelblanc2912]

I was disappointed that spurn not the nobly born

[@michaelblanc2912]

I was disappointed that spurn not the nobly born was not included

[@rogerbarton1790]

I enjoyed every minute, especially the dancing and especially especially the tap routine.

[@jeffholden2369]

A Brilliant production by a very talented company.

[@heleneabergman]

Love the silliness

[@WillScarlet16]

I'm enjoying this Private Willis particularly;

[@bobashby3106]

Most of the Nightmare Song lyrics were completely rewritten. Cleverly done, but I prefer Gilbert's original.

[@ARCtheCartoonMaster]

Is it me, or does "If you go in/Soon as we may" sound kinda... Sherman Brothers-esque when transliterated into F major? I also love the addition of the dance numbers - they kinda give off Rodgers & Hammerstein vibes. :)

[@tomshea8382]

How do you like it when it's "O Foolish Fay?"

[@Scotdod24]

Great production but such a shame to remove Gilberts words, changing the entire words of Oh Foolish Fay was disappointing.

[@MrZviswerd]

Though I enjoyed this production very much, I was disappointed that in updating the song "When Britain Really Ruled the Waves," they eliminated my favorite verse: When Wellington thrash'd Bonaparte, As ev'ry Child can tell, The House of Peers, throughout the war, Did nothing in particular, And did it very well. Yet Britain set the world ablaze In good King George's glorious days!

[@adambrannon8934]

There are quite a few current event Canadian jokes thrown in there. as is tradition when anyone does G&S.

[@MrZviswerd]

@@adambrannon8934 Yes, of course. Gilbert uses many contemporary references in his comic songs, and only G&S fanatics (like me) are likely to understand them more than a century later. Thus, updating some of the lyrics of these songs can be an excellent way to make them more entertaining today. But this particular song doesn't contain specific Victorian referrences, so it doesn't really age for that reason. So changing most of the lyrics (rather than adding several contemporary stanzas and leaving Gilbert's original lines) was a pity.

[@queenmedesa]

@@MrZviswerd but it's supposed to be Victorian

[@michaelblanc2912]

I can see in other g and s productions you might need to change the lyrics but not this one all the lyrics are understandable l believe one generally should leave Gilbert's lyrics alone l was also disappointed that spurn not the only born was left out but basically the production was marvelous

[@dottiedavis355]

OMG! The tap dancing!! 35:23

[@OvidéBoily]

What year was this production?????

[@adambrannon8934]

Canada 1984

[@Sueb18631]

There's also a video on KZbin on the making of the Stratford's productions of this show, The Gondoliers and The Mikado: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoXTe6tneM56kK8 There are several live performance clips and you can see that the actual performances of "Iolanthe" are a lot less jokey and forced than this recorded version.

[@queenmedesa]

This is beautiful, but I don't like the modern references shoehorned in a Victorian play

[@jooheelee3893]

❤❤❤

[@FuzzyFace73]

I've always wondered - if the new rule is that a fairy will die if she doesn't marry a mortal - doesn't making all the men into fairies doom them all?

[@deni-ABell-ity]

I've always thought this too, but it just occurred to me that, except the Queen, they all *married* a mortal (the mortals just got turned into fairies thereafter)

[@johnsarkissian5519]

It really plays with the concept of whether an aristocrat should marry a commoner, and whether the commoner should also be given the title after marrying the aristocrat, etc!

[@davemguru12]

It is a shame that the cast is incapable of singing live. Even productions with an audience; such as The Mikado the producer insisted on the cast miming to their own (quite capable) voices. In the days of D´oyle Carte and the Savoy - directors had more faith in their ensemble.

[@adambrannon8934]

well it was made for TV. I'm sure they were more than capable of singing live because these casts performed night after night. I'm sure they wanted maximum control of sound quality for the television screen so they prerecorded for the song portions

[@davemguru12]

@@adambrannon8934 rather depletes the concept of a musical/operetta in my opinion. Many artistes have head / radio mikes. The boom and suspended Mike is still used in TV studios. If the singers are miming (aka lip syncing) then the orchestra must be miming also. Or is it a stop/start affair and not really a live theatrical production at all? In which case, why pretend with the stage and procenium. Why not just use vocoloid5 and a bunch of Sony aibo's?

[@adambrannon8934]

@@davemguru12 there is a special behind the scenes for these 80s recorded productions. I haven't watched it myself but have been meaning to. kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoXTe6tneM56kK8