Customer Reviews

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Sorcerer / Revill, Kernan, Opera World [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Gilbert and Sullivan are most well known for such comic opera gems as 'The Mikado', 'The Pirates of Penzance', and 'H.M.S. Pinafore'. 'The Sorcerer' is not one of their better-known works, presumably because its slow beginning tends to decrease general interest before the fun really begins. This was dealt with rather well by the Ambrosian Opera Company, which used plenty of colour and lots of bright voices to liven things up a bit until the turning point near the end of the first act. Visuals, as is the habit within this series, did tend to be exaggerated a tinge more than necessary, but it's arguable that this holds the interest of the uninitiated. Commendable performances were given by all, especially by Clive Revill (baritone) as the title character and Nuala Willis (contralto) as Lady Sangazure. Their duet in the second act is really quite a lot of fun to watch. I vote we bring this back on the market.

This is one of the 1982 series of G&S productions produced by the BBC. Love, love, love Donald Adams as Sir Marmaduke, and Clive Revill is fun as the Sorcerer (hard to imagine he also played the Emperor in Star Wars Episode 4!).

It does take a long time to get started. The dances are nice. My favorite part is the duet between the Sorcerer and Lady Sangazure--still very funny.

It feels slow at times, but for those of us who may never see a live production it is an invaluable resource.

It is odd how mesmerizing this version of the Sorcerer is. It just delights me each time I watch it. Clive Revell plays the Sorcerer so well I cannot think of anybody else doing it. The rapid fire "My name is John Wellington Wells. I'm a dealer in magic and spells..." with a serious tone but devilish smirk.... I get lost in this like very few films. I find the Television setting adds to the movie feel so I sense more that I am there with them. The sets are all inside but the arrangement makes me feel trees and an English manor and lawns and with marriage tent. I do not find Oliver's age to be a problem. He seems just right for a late 18th century man marrying later with odd ideas about the value of "True Love". Nan Christie's solo (I really love her smile) in the library is beautiful and fun, and so is the nuanced and so very polite minuette between Donald Adams and Nuala Willis. I feel such sympathy for their frustration of wanting rush into each others arms after years but being politely restrained. The story as played almost becomes very suggestive of a wildness that makes me feel it is racy and yet it is not. The minister's reveries of a past of love that might have been.... I just feels like a dream with much cheer and fun and in another time and place, that at the end with a fair ground like dance and whirl, and they the hit the cricket ball into heaven where the Sorcerer sits on a star (nice, touches like this throughout) I am thinking: "I will go back to that world again. That was fun and beautiful."

But, get the Opera World set. I think it is worth it if you like this type of thing. I really disagree with the negative comments from Opera purists who have live memories they compare with. The sets are well done. The players are good enough to please my ears and make me fall into the spell. Clive Revill, Donald Adams, Nan Christie are just a few of the players and most are in more of the series along with Keith Mitchell, Alexander Oliver, Beverly Mills. I would take this series to a desert island. Something in entertainment was perfected here and G&S will never be forgotten.

The first two operas I saw as a child were The Barber of Seville, which is incredibly funny, and this, which, with its catchy patter songs, left my 10-year-old body rolling in the aisle. Gilbert was a brilliant lyricist for the time, and while Sullivan's music is a bit too formulaic, narrow and just "Victorian," the operetta take me back to a simpler, less hectic world...

The DVD arrived promptly. I have other G&S titles in the same series. The staging is one step up from a stage production, but loses a bit of the charm because of it. The payoff is that the music and singing are very high quality, probably done in a studio. There are a few cheesy effects (dissolves, etc.) but mostly, it is very well costumed and staged.

A good way to learn the music if you were actually going to be in a production.

As another reviewer noted, 'The Sorcerer' is not one of G&S's better-known operettas. However, it was wildly popular when first staged in London (1877) despite the fact that It was recognizable to audiences at that time as a recycled a short story, "An Elixir of Love," that Gilbert had published the previous Christmas. The Ambrosian Opera Company does a commendable job with the operetta, but the downside is that it occasionally sounds hurried and nervous, as if all the songs were patter songs. Compare this to the audio CD by D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Martyn Green, and Danny Kaye; that has a mellow richness that builds to the fun rather than blurring it.

Excellent performance of the operetta. Outstanding voices of the performers an direction give a very goor impression of the operetta/Comic opera. Voices are better than any CD avaiable cd-recording and the price is utmost low

Technically OK, but like all the videos in this series, it suffers from its removal from the theatre setting, being apparently made for TV. There is no live audience, and G & S doesn't seem to work without that.

I enjoyed the performance of our local (amateur) Savoyards better than this.