Gilbert & Sullivan - H.M.S. Pinafore / Trial By Jury - David Hobson, Anthony Warlow, Colette Mann, Tiffany Speight, John Bolton Wood, Richard Alexander, Opera Australia, State Theatre, The Arts Centre Melbourne

Two great Gilbert & Sullivan productions together on one DVD. This is a great package. Both are well performed, energetic and entertaining. Several of the cast appear in both performances, including Anthony Warlow and David Hobson.

Trail By Jury is brought forward to modern times. I am not generally in favour of this treatment of Gilbert & Sullivan, although I understand the need to make them as accessible as possible to new audiences. Fortunately, the transformation did not distract from the great performances on show. Anthony Warlow manages to maintain a Scottish accent even while singing in his most unique portrayal of the Learned Judge, while David Hobson brilliantly captures the arrogant attitude of the defendant, Edwin.

HMS Pinafore is one of the best productions of the show I have seen, very lively and polished. The one disappointment is Colette Mann as Little Buttercup. With all due respect to her acting ability, her vocals do not stand up in the midst of so many great voices. Perhaps she was included to attract a more contemporary audience.

Opera Australia have once again shown they are probably currently the world leaders in producing DVDs of live Gilbert & Sullivan shows. We can only hope for more to come.

What with the demise of the D'Oyly-Carte opera company, we should be grateful for these performances coming from the Australian Opera Company. Unlike so many of their DVD competitors, e.g. the Stratford Canadian productions, they aren't mischievously bent, owing to stage director vanity, on distorting the works in question. True, the Gilbert settings have been updated in each of the works here, but the wit of the librettist and the winning music of Sullivan have been maintained, so the mindless changes in time period may be easily overlooked.

Both productions, by and large, are distinguished by excellent voices and competent acting. Warlow, Hobson, Speight, and Wood all do even more than justice to their roles. But still there is one drawback that's unnerving, the casting of Little Buttercup, the woman who wonders why in the first place she's called "Poor" Little Buttercup. I agree with the judgment of numerous previous reviewers on this point. The poverty of Little Buttercup in this production is no mystery. Collette Mann, unable to sing or act the part, has been mind-bogglingly miscast. What, one has to ask, were the casting directors thinking? She is the ungainly spot of mud that compromises the otherwise elegant swan.

A fitting rendition to two of the greatest musicals of all time. In widescreen. Little Buttercup is a little raspy, but all-in-all, a wondeful production.

For G&S fans, these are terrific productions reasonably priced. The live audience participation makes it seem as if I'm there, too. There is all the joy I recall from attending G & S as a child. Gilbert & Sullivan were not about perfection but good fun.

Where the music dominates the operetta, as in HMS Pinafore, Opera Australia is great. Hobson's reading of "Bright regent of the heavens" is a joy to hear. Everyone has their patter songs down pat. Colette Mann's portrayal of Buttercup was odd, but not offensive.
Where the dialogue dominates the music, as in Trial by Jury, Opera Australia alternates between annoying and incomprehensible. Much of the dialogue cannot be heard through the accents. Matching a gold digging plaintiff with Warlow's senile judge makes the ending more silly than funny. [The libretto seems to suggest the mating a naive plaintiff with a venal judge.]