REVIEWOF THE NZ PREMIERE OF 'THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD'
Of the large number of operas collaborated by Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan 'The Yeomen of the Guard', which was last night performed at the Princess Theatre, for the first time in the colony, by Messrs Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove's opera company, is the only one that has been produced in New Zealand with in anything like reasonable time from its first night in London. Our experience has hitherto been that of being introduced to the operas years after the date they were first played - after, perchance, the incidents in which their origin was found had ceased to interest or amuse the public mind. In the present case, however, Messers Williamson, Garner and Musgrove have laid the people of New Zealand under an obligation by presenting to them within 18 months from the occasion of its first production at the Savoy Theatre, this, the most recent but two of Gilbert and Sullivan's operas.
In more than one respect 'The Yeomen of the Guard' differs materially from any of the previous productions of the authors. So far as Mr. Gilbert's share is concerned, there is the noteworthy departure that the opera has more than the semblance of a plot. It is not, like most of its predecessors, a baseless fabric, but it is based on quite a possible story.
The dialogue is clever and amusing, but the music is very fine. It is distinctly of a higher class than Sir Arthur Sullivan has put into any opera of his composition that we have previously seen, and there are some gems in it which are entitled to rank with some of the work of our classical composers. It is never heavy and always enjoyable to the listener, although it taxes the skill of the orchestra, and will, we believe, be better liked the more one hears it. The way in which the opera is mounted is most admirable, nothing being left undone to give the best effect to the production. The dresses are appropriate and archaeologically correct, and the scenery, painted by Mr. Brunton, is capital. When we say that the principal performers were in full sympathy with the audience from the start - the number of encores was large for a first night, when the music is unusually unfamiliar to the bulk of those present - it may be gathered that the performance was a success, and so it was - a great success. Mr. Elton bore off the chief honours of the evening. He enacted the part of the jester - quite a Shakespearian jester - with wonderful fidelity, and proved that, whether as a jester 'merry, wise, quaint, grim, and sardonic, one by one, or all at once', or as ' the merryman, moping mum, whose soul was sad and whose glance was glum', he is an actor of great ability. The duet with Elsie, 'The Merryman and his maid' was one of the best numbers of the evening, and a couple of verses of it had to be repeated. Mr. Elton has also two richly comic duets with Mr. Vernon, which will be among the favourites of the opera. Mr. Leumane, as Colonel Fairfax, was in excellent voice and pleased his audience throughout. His principal solo, 'Is life a boon', is set to lovely music and Mr. Leumane, who sang it with feeling and taste, might have had an encore had he felt so inclined. Mr. Imano had not, in the character of Sergeant Meryll, anything like the scope that was offered in preceding pieces for the display of his vocal powers, but what he had to do was well done. His memory, however, played him false in the course of the dialogue in the first act. Mr. Vernon's disguise as Wilfred, the head jailor and 'assistant tormentor', was so complete that he was absolutely unrecognised on his first entering the stage. The character is a very different one from most of those in which Mr. Vernon has before played here, but he has a knack of suiting himself to any costume. He shared with Mr. Elton the honours of the two duets already mentioned while his comicality during Phoebe's ballad, "Were I thy love," was in part responsible for the recall, though Miss Liddiard, it is true, sang it in capital style. Miss Merivale appeared to good advantage as Elsie as she has done during the season, and, while acting in an unconstrained way, sang very effectively. The recitative and ballard "Tis done-I am a bride" deserves to be specially mentioned, and in the trio "A man who would who a fair maid" and quartette "When a wooer" lent able assistance. Miss Liddiard's Phoebe was a consistently good performance, regarded from every point of view. Her acting is always most credible, and her singing of the ballad, "When maiden loves," with which the opera opens, of "Were I thy bride" (encored), and of her share of the concerted music, was much appreciated. The audience was a large one, the downstairs part of the house being crammed full, and the opera went without a hitch from first to last. 'The Yeomen of the Guard' will be repeated tonight, and until further notice.
