San Marino

For their 30th Anniversary production Tettenhall OS decided to perform a little known, in fact one could almost say unknown, operetta, San Marino. First performed in 1932 and rarely performed since, although producer Julian Souter has discovered that it was performed by St Margaret’s Operatic Group of Great Barr over 50 years ago. Ian Stephenson, a highly accomplished musician, was engaged to orchestrate the music for a reduced orchestra from the one available vocal score. He must have worked extremely hard on this difficult task and with Terry Green at the helm the orchestra produced some tuneful melodies.

The show has a fairly large cast and does seem to follow the traditions of G & S in situations and storyline. The cast were enthusiastic and entered into the spirit of deception and exchanging of identities, kidnap and arrests and ending of course with betrothals and celebrations.

The cast and chorus were kept busy with 14 songs and dances in Act I and 11 songs including repeats in Act II. Most of the music I am afraid was instantly forgettable with the exception of the title song. It was obvious that the company had worked very hard on this production and it was good to see and hear something unknown but I can’t see this show being performed by other societies.   

Tettenhall OS are a talented company and work hard to keep operetta alive in District 7. I wish that for their 30th anniversary they had chosen a more popular show from their repertoire.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.