The Gondoliers

The sets looked lovely and had been nicely painted for both Act 1 and 2. The orchestra were just off to stage left. There were nice props and gorgeous costumes which suited the characters well.

The Orchestra sounded great and the harmonies from the whole company were wonderful. Jon Gibson had clearly worked hard with the principals and Chorus as vocally there were no weak links.

The sound and lighting complimented the show and this is a society who do not use individual microphones. It is a nice intimate theatre and not being miked was not a problem for these experienced performers.

Peter Shellard was wonderful as The Duke with clear diction and great comic timing. Greta Shellard played the Duchess opposite him with fabulous vocals and super acting.

Lawrence Shoebridge was great as Luiz never overplaying his part which is exactly how it should be played. He played opposite Anne Butterworth who had beautiful vocals. Austin McKenna was very good as The Grand Inquisitor but more comedy could have been extracted from this role.

John Jackson and Steven Miller played really well together as Marco and Guiseppe the two Gondoliers who played the eligible bachelors. Individually they had lovely vocals but together they complemented each other and sounded tremendous. Add into the equation the female voices of Susan Fletcher and Charlotte Exley as their brides to be (Gianetta and Tessa respectively) and the quartet sounded beautiful. Susan and Charlotte worked well together and again the voices blended beautifully together and the harmonies with John and Steven were wonderful.                                                                      

The whole evening was a lovely piece of theatre and played to an appreciative audience.

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