I know from the likes of The Sorcerer and Iolanthe that D'Oyly Carte are capable of producing good Gilbert and Sullivan productions. It's just that they've also produced some disappointments like this, Pirates of Penzanze and Yeomen of the Guard. I love all of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas, finding them witty and delightful with catchy tunes and appealing characters, so naturally I want productions of them to be just as much. Other than the musical values and a couple of good performances, I just didn't care at all for this HMS Pinafore. The orchestra apart from being too loud in places still played with a lively intent and the conducting was generally well-judged. Of the performances, I found the Buttercup of Della Jones to be the best. She does lack breath support but does show signs of a vocal ability and she is very funny and quite saucy in I'm Called Little Buttercup. Other standouts are the wickedly funny Deadeye of Alan Watt and Gordon Sandison like he did in The Mikado makes the role of the Bosun more interesting than it actually is. I did have mixed feelings on the chorus though, they sing well(especially the ladies) but they just lack energy, due to mediocre choreography mainly, having seen productions where the men literally don't stop moving. The production values seem lacking to me too, the sound is so muffled at times I was wondering whether my video recorder was broken and the picture quality gives the costumes and sets, which are not as amateurish as Pirates but even Yeomen had more handsome production values than here, a dated feel. The dialogue lacks wit often, and I think a lack of energy and the feeling(like Pirates) that the production was over-stretched or something had a lot to do with it. The rest of the cast disappoint also. Michael Bulman as Ralph and Meryl Drowser's Josephine are good singers, but together and in stage presence they are rather dull for my liking. Even more disappointing were the big names. Peter Marshall as the Captain doesn't have too bad a voice, however the whole performance just felt rather contrived. But my biggest problem was the Sir Joseph of Frankie Howerd, who for me is the biggest miscasting of the D'Oyly Carte G&S productions, even worse than Peter Allen in Pirates or Joel Grey in Yeomen(some may also say Vincent Price in Ruddigore, I thought despite his less-than-great singing he was delightful). Howerd just talks his way through the songs, and most of his performance consists of unfunny ad-libbing and mugging, which also slow the production down in my opinion. All in all, very disappointing, of a hit and miss series, this is a contender for the worst. 4/10 Bethany Cox
