The Principal Sorcerers

Auditions have been held, tears of joy shed. congratulations (sincere and insincere) given and received, and the line up is announced:

Aline: Sally Ann Gretton
Alexis: Tony Gummow
Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre: Max Braga
Lady Sangazure: Sally Collett
John Wellington Wells: Alan Russell
Dr Daly: Hugh Slater
Mrs Partlett: Rosslyn Vincent (standing in for Tricia Cartwright who is unwell)
Constance Partlett: Anna Scutt
Notary: Steve Burstow (singing his first principal role with the Society)

The chorus has already mastered much of the work and has surprised itself at the delights of the music, ranging from Sullivan's versions of hymn tunes to a spooky incantation; all washed down by plenty of tea, jam and buns.

The Sorcerer

Our work for the coming 2017/18 season is The Sorcerer, a lesser-known operetta but one for full of jolly tunes and Gilbertian silliness. It was actually Gilbert and Sullivan’s earliest full length operetta and therefore lacks some of the hallmarks that we usually expect but introduces the first great patter song My name is John Wellington Wells.

The Sorcerer explores young love, the perils of meddling in others’ relationships (Emma Wodehouse take note) and the unpredictability of love potions applied indiscriminately (Oberon take note). As always, with Gilbert’s plots, there are plenty of problems across class boundaries, misunderstandings and unresolved dilemmas.

There are three leading couples: 

Alexis and Aline are in love and about to be betrothed. Like any young couple in love - or 'loved up' - they cannot understand why others are not as happy as they are and wish that everyone else should fall in love to achieve happiness.

Unknown to them, their respective parents - Lady Sangazure and Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre - were once in love themselves but, constrained by the rigid manners of their time, never married each other.

Meanwhile, the teenage Constance Partlet is in love with the elderly confirmed bachelor Dr Daly, the village vicar, her social and intellectual superior.

To these we can add Constance's mother, Mrs Partlet, an honest pew keeper in the local church and a Notary. Gilbert enjoys poking fun at lawyers but he was not alone: think Cosi fan Tutti, The Barber of Seville, Gianni Schichhi. In each case the lawyer is presented as a doddery idiot, usually in disguise.

  

Act 1 establishes the various characters. Constance cannot express her love for Dr Daly, despite her mother’s attempts to smooth the path. Like any parents, Sir Marmaduke and Lady Sangazure, deprecate the manners of the young and remind each other of the formality of their courtship (the date of the piece suggests that they were courting just after the Jane Austen/Regency period). Alexis and Aline are betrothed.

To achieve his aim of making everyone fall in love, Alexis has recruited John Wellington Wells, an eminent London Sorcerer, to provide a love philtre. At Alexis’ bidding and despite Aline’s doubts, Wells creates a love potion which is added to the tea at the betrothal feast. (Gilbert has a dig at the temperance movement by only allowing tea at the betrothal feast). 

Almost all fall senseless to the floor.

Act 2 opens with the villagers asleep on the floor. As midnight strikes, they awake and, under the influence of the potion, each falls in love with the first person of the opposite sex that they set eyes on. Needless to say, this results in lots of unsuitable and comical mismatches (of course - it is opera).

Alexis is initially delighted with the results and insists that he and Aline should drink the potion to reinforce their bond. Aline is hurt by his lack of trust and initially refuses, but then relents. Doubts begin to emerge when he realizes that all the principals, and particularly his adored Aline, are now in love with the 'wrong’ people. Even the Sorcerer has become the object of a female’s attention.

Together, he and the Sorcerer agree that the magic must be reversed. But how can this be done? 

Well, I wasn't going to give away the ending was I?

If you want it in a nutshell then:

Good intentions, great commotions,

But best avoid those magic potions.

The front row

The front row of this year's productions have been selected.

Trial by Jury

• Judge - Philip Feather 
• Counsel - Tricia Cartwright (new to the Society)
• Defendant - Hugh Slater 
• Plaintiff - June Stevenson 
• Usher - Max Braga 
• Foreman - Danny Batten

HMS Pinafore

• Sir Joseph Porter - Danny Batten
• Captain Corcoran - Alan Russell 
• Ralph Rackstraw - Tony Gummow (new to the Society)
• Dick Deadeye - Sandy Tyndale-Biscoe
• Boatswain  - Hugh Slater
• Josephine - Sally Ann Gretton
• Mrs Cripps (Buttercup) - Tricia Cartwright