"Utopia, Ltd., or The Flowers of Progress"

[pameladean]

David and Lydy and I went out last night to see the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company do what's certainly the most obscure G&S production I've ever seen. The program was very amusing, explaining that Gilbert and Sullivan had written the thing while they weren't exactly speaking to one another, so that Gilbert kept putting in the entire kitchen sinkful of gimmicks and long passages of dialogue, and then Sullivan would "retaliate" with long orchestral pieces, songs, and dance scenes. The current company had spent two years revising the thing to be playable.

We enjoyed it very much, although I liked the words more than the music, as a rule. The operetta is set in the near future for G&S, the 1920's, so the characters from England were all wearing real twenties fashions. The chorus was a batch of barefoot women in sarongs and barefoot men in sarongs and Hawaiian shirts, with one or two brightly-colored but not Hawaiian shirts as ballast. Utopia is ruled by an absolute monarch, but he can't actually do much because his two chief counselors have at their beck and call the Royal Exploder, who is charged with blowing up the king if he becomes too despotic. "Despotism with Dynamite." I liked the character of the King a great deal. His counselors were making him write scurrilous stories about his own conduct to print in the local gossip rag.

The King has sent his three daughters to be educated in England, and they come home again complete with their very proper governess, who is in love with the King, who returns the favor. However, so long as he does nothing about the author of the scurrilous stories, she won't marry him. The eldest daughter, Zara, is in love with one of the four members of the army that she's brought back with her as part of a project to bring examples of all the kinds of people who have made England great. This fellow was played by the same actor who played the wandering minstrel/lost prince in "The Mikado." I found this curiously distracting. Captain Corcoran from "H.M.S. Pinafore" made an appearance; we haven't done the research to discover whether this was the fault of Gilbert and Sullivan or of the revisers. It was nicely done and well received; the Captain made a "never" statement and was obliged, in the time-honored fashion, to qualify it.

Princess Zara and her entourage proceed to Anglicize the island. I wondered, during the intermission, whether all the sarong-wearers would turn up in twenties costumes too, but they retained their sarongs, only adding to them such objects as a pair of yellow galoshes, a pair of elbow-length white gloves, an umbrella, various plaids, a bowler hat, and a tennis racket, croquet mallet, and another sporting implement that I can't recall the game of, with which they pushed about a small wooden football. Although it would have been easy enough to play this so that the natives looked stupid, in fact they looked quite competent and made the various accoutrements of civilized English life look silly, instead.

The grand finale before the intermission was a rousing chorus celebrating the Joint Stock Company Act of 1862, as Utopia is incorporated into a limited-liability corporation. In the second act, it's revealed that every citizen of Utopia is also now a limited-liability corporation, and not a baby is born but gets its little prospectus. This situation frees the King of any obligation to heed his counselors, because, as he explains to them, a limited-liability corporation may be wound up, but it cannot be blown up.

While various romantic situations develop, the counselors raise the populace against the King by pointing out how many people are suffering from the Anglicization of Utopia: all neighboring islands have given up warfare because the army and navy of Utopia are so well regarded; doctors have no business because of the improvements in sanitation; and so on. In a scene that I strongly suspect was added, but one can never be at all sure with Gilbert and Sullivan, Princess Zara says that she has forgotten one important element of Anglicization: the two-party system. She distributes large numbers of red and blue ribbon rosettes, and explains that now the army and navy will be in disarray, doctors will have plenty of business, and all will be prosperity. Hurrahs and dancing.

There was the usual misogynistic bit where a couple of gentlemen from England muse on the properties of the proper English girl and talk the two younger princesses out of displaying them, but it wasn't as awful as some G&S can be. The King's dilemma regarding the scurrilous stories, and the huge tribute to the Joint Stock Company Act of 1862, were my favorite parts.

The second act was rather disjointed, but it was all great fun.

P.

Comments

[sovay]

I liked the character of the King a great deal. His counselors were making him write scurrilous stories about his own conduct to print in the local gossip rag.

He and Lady Sophy make for one of the more awesome couples in G & S.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Captain Corcoran from "H.M.S. Pinafore" made an appearance

That's as written in the original, complete with the "What, never?" bit -- to my knowledge, it's the only time G&S ever had a character from one operetta appear in another one.

I do wish our local company would quit doing the better-known operettas so often (they've done The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance twice each in the last ten years, plus HMS Pinafore once) and do Utopia Limited or The Grand Duke, neither of which I know nearly as well as any of the others.

[tamago.livejournal.com]

If you want to torture yourself, the original libretto can be found linked off here (http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/utopia/html/index.html).

Despite the mishmash of tropes (and what appears to be a double complement of your "traditional" G&S stock characters) Utopia, Ltd. has one of my favorite pieces of choral music, the number starting "Eagle High" in the second act.

[tamago.livejournal.com]

There's a reason for that. The "big three" make money. Our local company compromised. For a three-show season, they used to do one of the big three (Mikado, Pinafore or Pirates) to make money, one of the middle tier (Yeoman, Gondoliers, Iolanthe, etc...) hoping to break even, and then one total experiment, expecting to bomb, but hoping to "educate" the audience a little so that the next time it comes around, more people will want to see it. Then they branched out into more "light opera" and less "G&S" and I think that formula went out the window.

[calimac.livejournal.com]

There's one other case of an internal refeence, though not the same as having a character re-appear. Major-General Stanley in Pirates "can whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore" ("can whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore, can whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore, can whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pina-Pinafore")

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know it's for monetary reasons -- the fans will go see anything, but the big three pull in the folks who don't usually go see G&S. It's boring for the fans who have seen the big three over and over (and I didn't even like their last production of The Mikado), but I'd have to agree that it's certainly better than the company going out of business.

Our local company used to do only one show a season. Recently, they've started doing two, but the second one so far has been non-G&S light opera; last year they did The Merry Widow, can't remember what they did this year. Maybe if the second show turns out a success, they could consider expanding to a third and add back the lesser-known G&S. I can hope, I guess!

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

The party system solution's original to the text; I remember reading it in The First-Night Gilbert and Sullivan as a child.

I saw U, L a couple of years back courtesy of the Stanford Savoyards, but found it utterly unmemorable. Now if I can only see The Grand Duke and Thespis...

[todfox.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing, this sounds like it was entertaining.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

There's a second cross-reference in Utopia Limited: the king is in touch with the Mikado of Japan, an expert on suitable punishments for crimes.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, of course, the Major-General!

I went to look in my copy of The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan, and there's one more: the Mikado of Japan is mentioned in Utopia Limited (thus bringing us back where we started from). I had to look that up, too, because I don't know Utopia very well, but it's a rather amusing reference. The King is trying to decide what punishment will exactly fit a particular case and says that he is "in constant communication with the Mikado of Japan, who is a leading authority on such points."

Ah, the wonderful world of G&S trivia. :)

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

We have the complete libretto's as published a couple of decades ago, but I haven't read this one. I thought of getting ahead enough to do that, but never actually did it.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Whereas I wish our local amateur very good company would do the good ones more often, and not waste so many of their once-a-year performance slots on ones I could easily do without seeing. There's a reason the "big three" are what they are. I've also gone to see whatever other professional and semi-pro productions have been available, mostly of members of the big three, but still.

I do go to see the others they do, and I was pleasantly surprised at Utopia Limited -- I had been expecting it to be rather dire, and it was actually fairly amusing (and would no doubt have been more amusing if I'd been able to follow all the lyrics or had at least read the libretto first; not a criticism of the performance, my 50+-year-old ears don't do wonderfully at following complex lyrics sung by an all-female chorus, which is what the first number is, even if they're singing clearly which I think they were). I do like having seen each one (I don't think I have yet), and they just did Mikado last year.

I got a second email a couple of weeks after tickets went on sale, saying they were *still available!*, and there were in fact a dozen or some such empty seats at the back of the hall last night. Depending on their seat assignment, we might even have been the last tickets sold. I gave them a donation in addition to buy three tickets; which is to say I'm not really opposed to their having done Utopia Limited.

[tamago.livejournal.com]

The Stanford Savoyards did Grand Duke not too long ago, so I don't know when it'll come around again. (I missed seeing it, too.)

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Much appreciated. I wish I could have seen it. I wonder if all they're all available on video? I do enjoy taking out G&S collections and playing through for a while (and reading the libretti, which contain lots of great lines -- I'd love to see Iolanthe some time).

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Oh, and for that matter, I'd like to see "The Mountebanks," which is Gilbert sans Sullivan. Was it Celliers? (looks up) Cellier, no ess. I like the clockwork Hamlet. Having seen Topsy Turvy, I welcomed our old friend, the deus ex machina that compels a sort of truth.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Sullivan: Would you repeat a character from one opera in another?
Gilbert: Never! No, Never!
Sullival: What? Never?
Gilbert: Well, hardly ever.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

I do like having seen each one (I don't think I have yet)

This is exactly my reason for wanting ours (http://www.pattersong.org/) to concentrate less on the big three -- I'd like to have seen all of them on stage, and they're my only way to do that. (There are a couple of other companies around who occasionally do G&S, but they rarely venture outside of the triumvirate.) Some of the others -- Patience, Iolanthe, The Gondoliers, at least -- are nearly as good (or just as good, especially Iolanthe), and it would be nice to see them done more often.

It's hard to fault companies for concentrating on the moneymakers, though, and I'll willingly admit that I'm just being selfish to want them to do the others more often. We went to Princess Ida last year (which my husband had a tough time with, because he hadn't read the libretto and had a hard time following the lyrics), and it was far, far from being sold out. They are fairly good about alternating the big three with the lesser ones, which is nice (The Mikado this year after last year's Ida, for instance).

[darcydodo]

Ah, Utopia, the only G&S operetta that I've never performed (for varying values of "perform"). It does have a couple of excellent numbers, though.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I've seen P, I, and TG a couple of times each, I think, and I don't think any of them belong on the same tier as the big three, personally. They certainly have their good bits, but the things they lampoon are less things that matter now, and they don't have as good music I don't think. Actually I'd put The Yeoman of the Guard on a second tier but for me, ahead of the other candidates.

But yeah, much of this is really about wishing people would do what *we* want instead of what other people (or they themselves) want.

[calimac.livejournal.com]

I saw Stanford's Grand Duke. It was astonishingly entertaining, astonishing because I've heard recordings which make it sound dull. I think they videotaped it, but I haven't had a chance to ask if copies are available.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Although it would have been easy enough to play this so that the natives looked stupid, in fact they looked quite competent and made the various accoutrements of civilized English life look silly, instead.

Hee, that sounds lovely.

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

Ooh. A G&S I've never heard of. I know someone must be doing G&S in New York, but haven't come across it yet. And if it's one of the Big Three, I'm likely not to go. My heart is given to Ruddigore and Iolanthe. One has only to say "Basingstoke, Margaret!" to me to have me dissolve in giggles.

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

(On second thought, why should it be a surprise that there's already a comment from someone who seems to have seen the same Stanford University production I saw in . . . '94, I'm pretty sure.)
Naturally, I have a soft spot in my heart for Utopia, Ltd., for its subject matter.
It was most unsettling, at the after-show party at Stanford, to have to explain to the cast members that the Royal Exploder was very edgy topical humor for its time. It was completely news to them that a crowned head or president was being blown up almost every year around then.

Wonderful "limited government" concept, though.

[lcohen]

n and i had discussed seeing this and then didn't--i wish we had!

[pameladean]

Yes indeed. No girlish nonsense THERE.

This Lady Sophy could perhaps have been a bit snarkier, but their scenes together were pretty good anyway.

P.