CityLife

Princess Ida @ Buxton Opera House

08/08/03

IT was courageous of Ian and Neil Smith's Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company to put on Princess Ida for this year's G&S Festival at Buxton.

Consensus is that it's one of the least successful of the Victorian partnership's efforts, and in the current climate, a new production has little chance of sharing its overheads, either.

But the team which tackled it was the one that made a good job of Iolanthe last year - Andrew Nicklin, director, Fiona Carratu, choreographer, Fraser Goulding, musical director - and the cast included Richard Suart as Gama, surely one of the few who could (and did) make an entertainment of the "most disagreeable man", and Gareth Jones as Hildebrand.

In the event, though, their efforts are not quite enough to give life to the show.

It's probably partly sheer bad luck: who would want to have a dress rehearsal and first performance in heavy, fur-clad costume on a sweltering day and evening like yesterday?

And Princess Ida, let's face it, is Gilbert on an off-day.

Sullivan on an on-day, though, with a score full of tunes, as well as pastiche suitable to the academic storyline. And the musical side last night was good.

The voices of Lady Psyche (Anthea Kempston), Florian (Giles Davies), and Ida herself (Samantha Hay) were outstanding, with fine contributions by Oliver White, Simon Curtis, Andrew Young, and other accomplished singing actors, with a strong chorus.