Princess Ida or, Castle Adamant

Princess Ida or, Castle Adamant, is quite a lengthy Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, but Rochdale Phoenix Opera Society tackled it with gusto. We entered the auditorium to a closed stage with the 13 piece orchestra very ably led by Musical Director Jon Gibson to the audience's left side.  No microphones are used in this venue and so we have to rely on the cast projecting.  The lighting by Danny Groves and John Millward was sympathetic to the scenes, there were a couple of very brief occasions when the lights seemed to have a little unnecessary swivel, but for the main they were centred.

The set was quite simple, but the painted backdrops by Abigail Rhodes and Kathryn Rennie were beautiful, very detailed and eyecatching.  Costumes from The Boyz were very fitting, but I do have to mention the three gentlemen in armour, their costumes were quite revealing .  As I mentioned earlier, the Musical Director is  Jon Gibson, Jon is no stranger to the works of Gilbert & Sullivan and he bravely led us through the three acts of Princess Ida with some good pace, the balance between the orchestra and the vocals was good . All the soloists came in on time with good pace and attack as they carefully followed Jon`s baton. Anita Stuttard as Director had chosen a stellar cast and they all looked to be enjoying themselves on stage. Christopher Mark Hall as Hilarion was brought in with approximately two weeks notice, but you wouldn`t have known. He delivered his dialogue with a beautiful, gentle elegance and a twinkle as he played with the words. Oliver Hingson as Florian and Lawrence Shoebridge as Cyril shared some superb comedy moments and displayed a good confident use of their stage space and comedic timing. Steven Miller was a very regal King Hildebrand and delivered a strong performance. Peter Fitton as King Gama delivered a very physical performance with his stick and his limp, unfortunately something must have thrown Peter as he needed quite a few prompts from prompter Lynn Lee – I must point out that this is very unusual for Peter and did not detract from the audience`s enjoyment of his portrayal as a cantankerous and rude man. Mike Nash -Whitmore as Arac, Andrew Sutcliffe as Guron and Paul Lydiate as Scynthius were very committed to their characterisations, they kept time together nicely and had some good projection and diction. Susan Fletcher as Princess Ida was strong, her vocals were on point and her characterisation well thought out. She gave some good facial expressions to the audience and made a good connection. Jane Hyde as Lady Blanche was the stand out performance for me, it was very obvious that she was enjoying the role, she was confident and composed, her vocals were solid and clear. Stella Whitehouse as Lady Psyche and Julie Sutcliffe as Melissa also gave some strong performances with lovely very visible solid characterisations .  

This show requires a lot of people and so both the male and female chorus`s had a lot to do, they filled the stage well without it looking overcrowded, the vocals were pleasant, projection was good .

Thank you for inviting me. Myself and my guest enjoyed your performance of Princess Ida. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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