Life > April 10, 2008

By Carie McElveen | Staff writer

The University Theater debuted its latest production, Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera The Gondoliers, on April 4 and will continue through April 13. With a ridiculous plot, a wonderful cast and music that is both fun and musically challenging, the show is well worth two hours of your time.

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The story begins in Venice, Italy with a group of country girls, or contadine, eagerly awaiting the arrival of their two favorite gondoliers, a pair of brothers named Marco (senior Will Daniel) and Giuseppe Palmieri (senior Dan Applegate) who will choose brides from among them.

The two men select girls named Tessa (senior Johanna Young)and Gianetta (junior Virginia Browne), and all of the remaining contadine and the other gondoliers celebrate the upcoming weddings heartily.

Meanwhile in Spain, the comically pompous Duke of Plaza-Toro (senior Jared Lillyreveals) to his 20-year-old daughter, Casilda (senior Rebecca Henriques) that she was wed to the baby king of Barataria when she was an infant. This is a problem for the beautiful young woman who is secretly in love with her father’s drummer Luiz. Casilda’s dilemma worsens when she learns that her infant-king husband was given to a certain Venetian gondolier named Palmieri to raise along with his own son; however the father is not quite clear on which young man is the royal one.

So Casilda is married to either Giuseppe or Marco — who have meanwhile wed their contadine — and the only person who can ascertain which is the prince is their ancient nurse, Inez, who must be tracked down and brought to Barataria.

The absurdity mounts with every scene as Marco and Giuseppe go to rule Barataria together, republican-style, and clash with the traditional High Inquisitor. Three months later, all of the country girls arrive in Barataria, and Gianetta and Tessa learn about Casilda for the first time.

Giuseppe figures that each woman gets two-thirds of a husband, prompting the line on the cast members’ T-shirts: “You’ve no right to call me a vulgar fraction!” Through an extraordinary coincidence, the story ends happily and neatly but not without plenty of wonderful music first.

Who knew — besides Dr. Gorelick — that the university had so many students skilled at singing opera? Although The Gondoliers originally opened in 1889, certain changes have been made to give the show a more modern feel. At one point, the Duchess says that the Duke is not such a bad husband even though “he was educated at Duke,” and one song about different approaches to ruling a country mentions the Bushes and Clintons.

Some of the characters, especially the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro, are caricatures of stereotypical snobbish figures, and they play their roles to perfection.

The Duchess wears a model of a ship in her hair in the second act, poking fun at the ludicrous silliness of women’s hairstyles during that era. The only legitimate reason to skip out on The Gondoliers is if opera music drives you insane. If you do enjoy opera then you should mark the next show date in your calendar. The singers and the orchestra are both fantastic. There is one scene that takes place at the castle in Barataria in which all of the contadine and gondoliers dance and sing, which prompted two encores on opening night. A good musical needs skilled actors as well as gifted vocalists – talents that do not always come together, but in this case it works. The production is fantastic and everyone should see it at least once. Several of the shows are buy-one-ticket-get-one-free for students, so there is really no excuse to miss out on The Gondoliers.