Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘The Yeomen of the Guard’

Play review


J.S. PILLSBURY/Special to the Acorn NOW PLAYING–Gary  Saxer portrays Jack Point, the jester, in “The Yeomen of the Guard.”

J.S. PILLSBURY/Special to the Acorn NOW PLAYING–Gary Saxer portrays Jack Point, the jester, in “The Yeomen of the Guard.”

“The Yeomen of the Guard,” presented by Ventura County Gilbert and Sullivan Repertoire Company, is another in a series of outstanding musical presentations of the classic works of English librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan.

When Gilbert and Sullivan wrote the opera in 1888, the team was about to dissolve. Sullivan had become disaffected by the lightweight, albeit hugely successful, stories the team had been writing. For their 11th collaboration, Sullivan wanted something more realistic, rejecting the formulaic, so-called “magic lozenge” plots, in which a character’s personality changes instantaneously, as if he or she had swallowed a pill.

The result was “The Yeomen of the Guard,” a masterpiece that would become the pair’s favorite of the 14 works they wrote together and which contains one of Sullivan’s most melodious scores.

At the time, England was busy commemorating the golden anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria, so the country was undergoing a frenzied passion for British history.

One day Gilbert saw a poster advertising a furniture company that used the image of a guard at the Tower of London, one of the notorious “beefeaters.” He quickly worked out a plot concerning a prisoner about to be executed at the infamous Tower. This pleased Sullivan, and they set to work.

“The Yeomen of the Guard” shares several hallmarks with its predecessors: a thwarted execution, one character masquerading as another and a last-minute pairing up of couples—except in this show most do not live happily ever after. Two of the three couples marry reluctantly, with one partner consenting to wed just to keep the other from revealing a secret. In fact, in the complex plot, all the major characters are involved in one deception or another.

Unlike other G&S operas, “Yeomen” has a tragic figure, the jester Jack Point. As a result of his own cleverness, Jack loses his true love, Elsie, and eventually succumbs at the final curtain.

In a cast of many fine performers, Gary Saxer’s jester is a superb mixture of whimsy and pathos, much like Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci.” Point is given the obligatory patter songs in the show, and his solo “Oh! A private buffoon is a light-hearted loon” is an absolute delight.

Patricia Lathrop-MacPherson adds a glorious soprano voice to the company, playing the pivotal role of Elsie Maynard, the jester’s love interest. Lathrop-MacPherson and Saxer sing the bestknown song from the opera, the duet “I have a song to sing, O!” which is constructed like an incrementally repetitive folk song. (“The Green Grass Grows All Around” and “The House That Jack Built” are examples.) Their charming rendition of this lovely number is the highlight of a show loaded with highlights.

Also outstanding in the cast are perennial Repertoire players Steve Perren as the uncouth jailer, Wilfrid; Holly O’Hair as the winsome but featherbrained maiden, Phoebe; John Pillsbury as her stiff-upper-lipped father, Sgt. Meryll; and Kenny Larsen as the imprisoned Col. Fairfax.

The costume/wardrobe team of Erin Heulitt, Joyce Smith and Tricia Barr do a magnificent job in re-creating the look of Elizabethan-era dress, while Sullivan’s sumptuous score is performed splendidly by Zach Spencer, heading an “orchestra” of three accompanists.

Enough cannot be said in praise of the triumvirate who serve as the creative brains behind these shows: executive producer John Pillsbury, director Rebecca Pillsbury and producer Michael Jordan.

If you haven’t seen a Gilbert and Sullivan opera by this company, you’ve missed some of the finest performers this city has to offer. “Now give three cheers” for the VCGSRC!

“The Yeomen of the Guard” plays at the Theatre on the Hill, 403 W. Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks through Sun., Oct. 18.

For more information, visit www.vcgsrc.org.

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