A production of a rarely performed Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera is a treat for fans of their delightful works. Charmian Smith finds out about the Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust's production of Utopia (Limited).
"Utopia is a relaxed place where no-one does very much or works harder than they need and everyone knows everyone else. But they sense they might be a bit backward and that they should perhaps grow up and join the rest of the world. They decide they want to become civilised by importing English institutions," he said.
Drummond is directing the rarely performed opera, which opens on Saturday at the Mayfair Theatre in Dunedin.
The temptation to set the opera, a satire on colonialism, somewhere not unlike Dunedin - which after all is on a South Pacific island - was irresistible, and the local flavour extends to the set and accents.
"The second act, which is supposed to take place in the king's palace, will be in a setting not entirely dissimilar to the ballroom at Larnach's Castle. The first act is on a beach somewhere near Dunedin with Larnach's Castle in the distance," he said.
In addition the locals have broad Kiwi accents, which contrast with the posh accents of the British consultants.
The opera mines the rich, witty vein of English humour characteristic of Gilbert and Sullivan, which runs on through Monty Python, he said.
"Gilbert's satirical eye is very keen. He can look at English institutions and see the silly side of them, and he can always think of wonderfully topsy-turvy situations."
"With typical Gilbertian wit the Public Exploder is frightened of loud noises. It's a delightful piece of whimsy," he said.
But the "wise men" , a pair of scheming judges, Scaphio and Phantis, really run the place as they are the ones who decide whether or not the king needs blowing up.
In true colonial fashion, British experts are imported.
Lady Sophy, governess to the king's two younger daughters and a model of respectability, teaches them to behave demurely as young English girls should.
Princess Zara, the King's eldest daughter, has been educated at Girton, a Cambridge college for women, and returns with six foreign consultants - the "flowers of progress" - in tow.
"She's had a wonderful education there. She speaks Latin and all kinds of things and uses words that nobody else in Utopia can understand," Drummond says.
Scaphio and Phantis fall in love with her and decide to duel over her, but she prefers one of the "flowers of progress", Captain Fitzbattleaxe, a bluff and not very bright soldier, who is to reform the Utopian army.
The other consultants are Mr Goldbury, a company promoter who turns everything and everyone into limited liability companies; Mr Blushington, who is to introduce county councils and organise the drains and public hygiene; Lord Dramaleigh, the lord chamberlain, who attempts to organise the court along the lines of Queen Victoria's, but it doesn't work quite as it should and ends up rather like a minstrel show; Captain Sir Edward Corcoran, who appeared as Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore and is to oversee the navy; and Sir Bailey Barre, who is to organise the legal system and, in the end, comes up with the solution to the crisis that develops.
"It's actually very witty. One of the main themes in Utopia (Limited) is he's attacking the commercial view of the world, and of course that's not totally irrelevant to the modern day when we've become very commercialised in everything - from the Rugby World Cup to everything," Drummond said.
Utopia (Limited) may not be well known today but was hugely successful in its opening season and Gilbert and Sullivan thought they had another Mikado on their hands.
Drummond says it has some of Sullivan's loveliest music and Gilbert's usual wonderful wit and satirical skills, but it has a large cast of 15 principals as well as a chorus.
He also suspects Gilbert's shafts of wit are aimed too widely for late Victorian audiences.
"He's trying to take on a whole range of English institutions; the armed forces, the lord chamberlain and so on.
"Maybe he aims it in too many directions at the same time, though I don't think that bothers us nowadays." he said.
Utopia (Limited) is the second-to-last production of the Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust's 11-year project to produce all Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas in the order they were written and in the version performed on their first night.
However, that brings a major problem with this opera.
On the first night Princess Zara sang a song Youth's a Boon Avowed, which was subsequently cut because the singer wasn't quite up to it, Drummond said.
"She was a protege of Gilbert's who he insisted should perform this role. I think Sullivan felt she really wasn't quite good enough to sing his songs."
Although the words are available, the music for the song has been lost.
Sullivan put it up for a charity auction and it was bought by someone and has never been seen since.
"So we had a slight problem wondering what to do, and, in the end, after some debate I agreed to compose a song in the style of Sir Arthur Sullivan because this is probably the nearest we can get to that first-night experience.
"We can't do the original song but the audience did hear a song, so I've tried to do a song in the style," he said.
"I can't claim it's as good as what Sullivan himself would have done, but people seem to think it sounds as though it fits.
We are warning people about that so it's not as if we are trying to pull a fast one."
As usual, the cast is mostly local singers, with a couple of guests - Stephen Brown, of the United Kingdom, sings Captain Fitzbattleaxe and Joel Allen, of Wellington, sings King Paramount.
Catch it:
Utopia (Limited) by Gilbert and Sullivan, directed by John Drummond with musical direction by Michael Andrewes, opens at the Mayfair Theatre on Saturday, September 10 at 7.30pm and plays until September 16.
