The Grand Duke

I have to admit to never having seen The Grand Duke previously but after having seen it I will be very pleased to see this one again. True, it is not one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s finest achievements, Arthur Sullivan’s music is excellent as always, however the same cannot be said of W S Gilbert’s words in this piece, to start of with a whole song about sausage rolls leads the way to what is to come in the progressing scenes.

The Savoynet was formed in 1994 as a discussion group on the then new-fangled Internet.  Its Performing Group comprises members from around the world who come together to perform in the annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival which takes place in Harrogate. The company first performed in the festival in 1997 with Cox and Box, and between 1999 and 2019 it had performed a full-length opera each year, rehearsing for one week prior to a single performance. This production was due to have been performed in 2020, however because of the pandemic this had to be postponed until this year.

In the title role of Grand Duke Rudolf was Martin Everall who thrilled the audiences with his fine singing and acting, Martin was also able to show off his comedic skills too much to everyone’s delight.

Following fast on the footsteps of The Grand Duke himself was Chazmond J Peacock playing the role of Ernest Dummkopf, a Theatrical Manager, again Chazmond dazzled the audience giving an excellent performance.

There was some great comedy from William Remmers who played the character of leading comedian Ludwig, you could almost guarantee that each time he had any lines to deliver they would be met by a great deal of laughter and enjoyment; even his rendition of the song about sausage rolls with the chorus was greeted with a great applause.

One of the few actors to come from the UK was Alexander Conway playing the role of Dr. Tannhauser, A Notary, this was another actor who oozed comedy each time he entered the stage, his song “About a Century Since” went down a storm with the audience and he had them in the palm of his hands for the rest of the production.

Two more UK members were Paul Ensell who played The Grand Duke’s Butler and Robert Hall, aged 13, who played Ben Hashbaz, a Costumier, both adding greatly to the enjoyment of the production.

Another character caught up in the intrigue of this piece was The Prince of Monte Carlo played to perfection by Tyler Parker, he entered the stage with his daughter, The Princess of Monte Carlo.

You will have noticed all the above have been male actors and it may seem there are no females in this operetta, this of course is not true, there are a number of female characters, namely The Princess of Monte Carlo who as a child had been promised in matrimony to The Grand Duke himself. Her song with The Prince of Monte Carlo and others, “We’re Rigged Out in Magnificent Array” was superb.

A superb performance was delivered by Christina Krawec who played Lisa, in the programme she is simply named as a soubrette, I would have thought judging by her performance Christina should have had a bigger billing, maybe it is just how she is named in the score and libretto. Her singing was flawless and quite simply out of this world, never putting a foot, or in her case a note wrong, she certainly had some very high notes which were crystal clear.

Another of the female characters is that of The Baroness von Krakenfeldt played with ease by Julia May, she was able to make the stage her own and give a very commanding performance.

Another UK actor in this piece was Rachel Middle taking on the role of Julia Jellico, billed as an English Comedienne, and she certainly was able to put her skills to the test in this and I am pleased to say she won hands down.

One thing I noticed about all the principals in this production was the distinct lack of mics except for a small number of few boom mics along the front of the stage; however, this did not infringe on the enjoyment of the whole piece as with the exception of a couple of times everything could be heard perfectly.

I mentioned earlier some of the actors, as well as many of the chorus, were from the UK and this really was an international cast with members hailing from the USA, Canada and Europe; however, to say they had only been together for one week did not show in the least. All the principals and chorus were able to jell together to produce a superb performance.

The production team of Gary Slavin as Director and Marisa Green as MD, both hailing from the USA, must be extremely pleased with the final production.

After watching this performance I was very pleased and honoured to be able to present two long service awards, one being to John Penn who is the Chairman of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, has been involved for over 50 years and has been involved in over 20 shows with Savoynet in fact this was the first production he has not been on stage.

The second award, again one for 50 years’ service, was to Philip Barton who not only appeared on stage as The Stage Manager in this production but is also The Production Manager and Treasurer for the company; congratulations to both John and Philip.

I mentioned after rehearsing for only one week and giving one performance, following this the company then perform a cabaret for anyone who has been to see the show, that surely is dedication, again I was very pleased to be able to see some of the cabaret which was out of this world, something which many would not tackle after performing on stage for almost three hours.

Congratulations to everyone involved and thank you for your kind invitation, I look forward to seeing many more of your productions.

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