HMS Pinafore & Trial by Jury

A concert version of any musical lets the audience concentrate wholly upon the singing, and this one was proficiently done,  with an excellent line up of principals and chorus members.  The stage,  with a background  of a ship reminiscent of `Anything Goes`, set the scene.

James Hendry as Ralph Rackstraw, and Alex Saunders as  Josephine,  both possess pleasant singing voices which blended very well.  Stephen Godward as Captain Corcoran was in fine form with his excellent baritone voice and complimented Joan Self as Little Buttercup to great effect.   Keeping up the high standard were Mike Tipler as Dick Deadeye,  and Jean Krzeminski  as Cousin Hebe.   As a guest performer,  Simon Butteriss  gave a top of the range interpretation of Sir Joseph Porter K.C.B.,  a true Gilbert & Sullivan  patter man.

The male and female chorus were on stage throughout, simply dressed in modern  attire, their singing was strong and gave good backing to the main players,  who enacted some movement to enable the story to be told.  The staging was kept very simple and the musical direction and accompaniment were in very capable hands.

Tucked in between the first and second act was ` Trial by Jury`,   starting off as a cocktail party on the deck of H.M.S. Pinafore.   It was presented as a concert by the officers and crew,  a very clever interpretation, again with fine performances from the principals, including Alex Lowe as the Plaintiff.

A most entertaining evening.            

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