Following a series of successful hits which have cemented English National Opera’s place as a major home for Gilbert & Sullivan’s works, Cal McCrystal (the man who helped to make One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre such a big hit) - returns to St Martin’s Lane with his well-loved 2018 production of Iolanthe for its first revival superbly conducted by Christopher Hopkins who also excelled in the pit for the Coli’s outstanding productions of The Yeomen of the Guard, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado.

Although Iolanthe satirises many aspects of the British government to everyone’s amusement this revival was, surprisingly, a bit low key in this respect considering the political state of the country at present. However, there was a dig or two aimed at members the Establishment while a bloke with wild and unkempt blonde hair wobbled across the stage on a bike. Guess who?

Incidentally, Iolanthe was the first G&S work to première at London’s Savoy Theatre (25th November 1882) but the first G&S opera to be seen at this theatre was a transfer of Patience in 1881. A well-designed art-deco theatre, the Savoy became the first theatre in the world to be illuminated entirely by electric light thereby permitting some special stage effects that had not been possible before such as the employment of sparkling fairy wands while the principal fairies’ heads were highlighted by wreaths of small-illuminated stars attached to a battery. Pioneering stuff!

Stage effects today, of course, outdo anything that existed in the halcyon days of the Savoy and Tim Mitchell came up trumps with a detailed and fascinating lighting scenario (revival: Ian Jackson-French) that was soft and tranquil in respect of the Arcadian landscape hilariously interrupted by a Pantomime-style cow and a flock of sheep and bold and overstated on the other hand witnessing the geezers from the Upper House, grandly adorned in their traditional scarlet-and-ermine robes, arriving by train holed up in first class pulled by a puffing billy seemingly ‘puffed out’ as some of its most noble passengers. A great scene, it certainly stamped McCrystal’s credentials on his distinctive and wacky style of humour in which a packed house wanted more!

And they got more! It came with an abundance of crazy and satisfying stuff in act two at the Palace of Westminster featuring British bass-baritone, John Savournin, as Lord Chancellor, seen charging all over the show with fairies falling head over heels in love with their elders and peers while Private Willis (played so dryly by Keel Watson) put in a nice performance as the duty guard musing on life, love and all that old palaver.

However, what keeps this production tight and looking an idyllic stage picture was the deployment of a fake classical-style, gilded-proscenium arch designed by Paul Brown, who died well before his time in 2017 aged just 57 therefore not seeing the fruits of his labour. His sets overall were brilliantly executed while he came up trumps with a ravishing wardrobe with each costume fitting so well their respective characters.

Lizzi Gee’s fast-paced choreography more than hit the mark, too, and kept the production moving along in a forceful and pleasant manner especially when the fairies of all shapes and sizes flooded the stage ‘tripping hither, tripping thither’ in their own special, distinctive and dainty way.

Inventive as ever, McCrystal harks back to the days of Music Hall, too, with warm-up curtain acts by courtesy of Clive Mantle as Captain Shaw, chief of the London Fire Brigade. He rattles on and on as befitting his station gearing up the audience in which to enjoy the show.
In fact, the audience who attended the opera’s opening night included Captain Eyre Massey Shaw, head of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, whom the Fairy Queen apostrophises in the second act (‘Oh, Captain Shaw / Type of true love kept under / Could thy brigade with cold cascade / Quench my great love, I wonder?’). On the first night Alice Barnett, Queen of the Fairies, sang the verses directly to Captain Shaw who was sitting in the centre of the stalls.

The Queen of the Fairies in this fine production is none other than Catherine Wyn-Rogers, making her role début, often seen in full flight thus adding weight and drama to her part while the star fairy, Iolanthe, Welsh mezzo-soprano, Samantha Price, sung, acted and fitted the role perfectly. Looking so precious and delicate, she could have sprung from one of Richard Dadd’s Victorian fairy-books.

The cast was further strengthened by the excellent pairing of Ellie Laugharne as Phyllis and Marcus Farnsworth as Strephon, Arcadian shepherds, working extremely well together with their costumes delightfully reflecting the colour and pattern of a Wedgwood blue china set.

Northern Ireland baritone, Ben McAteer, revives his acclaimed role of Earl of Mountararat and Welsh soprano, Llio Evans, is Celia. And returning to the fold, British mezzo-soprano, Bethan Langford, makes her role début as Leila and British tenor, Ruairi Bowen, Earl Tolloller, with Petra Massey and Adam Brown taking the acting parts of Fleta and Page respectively.

But one scene I dearly take from this outstanding production is when the Page tries to muscle in on the Lord Chancellor delivering that enterprising and well-loved number ‘Faint heart never won fair lady’ with Lords Mountararat and Tolloller. Cavorting about the stage as if there’s no tomorrow, this fine trio of performers are seen in full swing but not so for poor old Page. He misses out every time and sent packing in a knock-about comedy routine thereby offering the production physical theatre at its best.

In fact, the scene’s not too dissimilar to that well-loved Music Hall act ‘The Fox Has Left Its Lair’ that Denny Willis and the Quorn Quartet regularly toured. Sporting red hunting jackets they rush towards the footlights to the traditional huntsman cry of Tally-ho! while the fourth (and smallest) member of the team is incessantly knocked about, more often than not off his feet, to incessant laughter. ‘Carry on’ before Carry On!

Therefore, I think that McCrystal should be hailed as the ‘king of slapstick and comedy’ as his take on Iolanthe amplifies and utilises the art of comedy and improvisation in a most calculated and timely fashion taking this fine production (performed, by the way, in a new edition prepared by Timothy Henty and Dr David Russell Hulme) to fairyland and beyond!

As an aside, when Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister, the press joked and highlighted the line from the opera: ‘This comes of women interfering in politics!’ And Lord Falconer, serving as Tony Blair’s second Chancellor, was reportedly influenced by Iolanthe in his moves to reform or disband the office.

And on an historical note, Iolanthe (one of the most popular of the Gibert & Sullivan canon) was the first G&S opera to be performed professionally in Britain by a non-D’Oyly Carte company produced by Sadler’s Wells Opera (now English National Opera) in January 1962 immediately after the Gilbert copyrights expired. It was well received and was successfully revived for many seasons by Sadler’s Wells until 1978. Michael Heyland also restaged Iolanthe for D’Oyly Carte in 1977 in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee