Review: Ages Ago / Mr. Jericho

As I've mentioned before, the German Reed Entertainments are a curious little lot. A series of short "musical entertainments" produced and performed by Thomas German Reed, his wife Priscilla, and assorted others, from about 1855 to 1895. These were, for the most part, not grand spectacles of great significance, and little care was taken to preserve most of them. Today, they are all but forgotten.

All but six, that is. A half-dozen which retain historical interest, because their libretti were created by William Schwenk Gilbert, who has gained enough fame and historical regard that even his less significant works are considered worth preserving, if only for the sake of maintaining a complete archive. It is certainly interesting, years after the fact, to read through these musical entertainments to see how Gilbert began to explore the themes and devices he would later more fully develop. Our Island Home would give way to H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates Of Penzance. Elements of Happy Arcadia Gilbert would revisit in Iolanthe and the infamous lozenge plot.

And aside from historical interest, they are occasionally performed for general audiences. And there are reasons, aside from historical interest, that these shows can be appealing to produce. They are short, they have small casts, and relatively few technical demands, allowing them to be produced more quickly and cheaply than a fully-staged Savoy opera. (I directed a production of Eyes And No Eyes myself last year.) And all that aside, they are fun.

Illustration of a scene from Ages Ago

This weekend, the New York Gilbert And Sullivan Players present a production of Ages Ago, which is perhaps the best-known of Gilbert's German Reed Entertainments, possibly for the simple reason that it is entirely extant, and none of the score (composed by Frederic Clay) needs to be reconstructed. Of Gilbert's more popular works, Ages Ago most clearly predicts Ruddigore, what with the family curse, and the sainted portraits stepping down from their frames. But though the aesthetic is a dead match, the plot perhaps more strongly rests on ideas Gilbert would revisit in Iolanthe and H.M.S. Pinafore. But whatever else it brings to mind, Ages Ago is Gilbert through and through, even following his idiosyncratic dramatic structure to an almost exaggerated T. It is a fun romp through a haunted castle, was a success at its premiere in 1869, and still a good time today.

NYGASP's production, fully staged with gorgeous costumes by Gail J. Wofford, was as good a time as any. NYGASP has set a high standard for itself with its full productions of the standard G&S canon, and NYGASP extended its signature style and adept execution to even this humble one-act, which, I must say, is a lot more riotously seen than read. The one thing I regret is that the accompaniment was solely piano, and did not include the original harmonium that would have lent much to the haunted castle atmosphere.

NYGASP has paired Ages Ago with another one-act offering, the 1893 Savoy curtain-raiser Mr. Jericho, with text by Harry Greenbank, and music by Ernest Ford, a student of Arthur Sullivan. Savoy curtain-raisers are another great place to look for people who want to mount productions of comic operas but lack the resources to pull off a full-scale one. (I directed a production of The Carp myself last year.) Mr. Jericho initially appeared in 1893, as a companion piece to Sullivan and Grundy's Haddon Hall. 

Mr. Jericho is a nice pair with Ages Ago, since they both call for five actors of similar voice and character profiles. They share little else in common (aside from the general comic opera style) but then, that's part of the appeal of these double bills. It's like a Savoy sampler pack. The plot of Mr. Jericho is minimal, especially compared with what Gilbert packs into a similar amount of time, but the dialogue is funny, the music pleasant, and the show,  on the whole, entertaining.

NYGASP continued to spare no expense in presenting Mr. Jericho as thoroughly as they do any full-length opera. If the costumes were what immediately struck me about Ages Ago, with Mr. Jericho, it was the set, which was a complete transformation from the first half. As with Ages Ago, a script which was somewhat entertaining on paper became riotously funny when performed live, and of the two libretti heard today, I think the one the audience laughed at more was not Gilbert's.

Both operas were cast with the same five NYGASP regulars, each highlighted in their own turn. The highlights of Ages Ago were Matthew Wages and Caitlin Burke. Wages played the dual role of Ebeneezer Tare and Lord Carnaby Poppytop, and Burke played Mrs. MacMotherley and Dame Cherry Maybud. Both actors are familiar faces to NYGASP audiences, and both are comic powerhouses. Wages was a particular delight to see playing against type (or at least, against the roles I've seen him in) as the buffoonish-but-domineering father, and Burke was highlighted by virtue of the fact that MacMotherley and Dame Cherry have a good deal more to do in Ages Ago than most of Gilbert's other contralto roles. (Although her solo is far too short.)

It was also a surprise to see James Mills, who got to sustain some notes for once as the Steward. It is a testament to NYGASP's hair and makeup game that after seeing Mills exclusively in roles such as Sir Joseph and the Lord Chancellor, I was legitimately shocked to see him playing a young man who does not perform patter. (Don't worry, he got to flex his comic muscles when he doubled as Brown.)

The two romantic leads, soprano Michelle Seipel, and tenor Cameron Smith, were better served by Mr. Jericho, the libretto of which does not overshadow its innamorati as much as Gilbert habitually does. Both have fine strong voices, and where the material allowed them to shine, they did. Mr. Jericho too is where Mills got his biggest chance to shine, as the titular jam manufacturer, who, yes, sings the patter song. I had the "Jericho's Jams" song stuck in my head all the way home.

If there is any reason Ages Ago and Mr. Jericho should be linked, it because, as NYGASP has proved, the casts of five perfectly complement each other, with actors who take a backseat in one being allowed to bring the house down in the other. The full range of the cast's talent was captured, and that would have made even an unstaged reading of this worth seeing. But staged it was, and so, with the sets and costumes built, I hope NYGASP will keep this production in storage for future revival. I know I would certainly not complain if these sorts of double bills, Savoy sampler packs, became a regular sight.

***

(And I hope that, with renewed interest in the music of Ernest Ford, we might one day see a full-scale revival of Jane Annie.)