Iolanthe

I read scathing reviews of this Stratford production, and on the strength of these, didn't buy it for a while. Then I saw on Youtube a clip of the fairies tripping hither and thither in the opening chorus, and immediately rushed to order the dvd. In this production, the fairies and peers actually know how to dance, and it adds so much to the performance. There are some slight liberties taken with lyrics (eg the mother of a man of five and twenty becomes the mother of a man of 25, sir) but nothing to really upset a normal person. The singers' diction is very clear throughout, which I found to be a very large plus. There is a bit of unexpected, thoroughly enjoyable dancing thrown in, with a great bit of tap following the "If you go in" trio, which purists apparently disapprove of, but I loved it There is a bit of nonsense with stage hands, but so what. This sort of thing happens in other productions, too.The deviations from original libretto are few, and didn't detract from the spirit of the thing in the slightest. I totally recommend this version-it is my favourite out of my six Iolanthe dvds