Iolanthe--Live stage performance on DVD

Iolanthe was the first Gilbert and Sullivan I performed. It was the summer after my junior year of high school and I went to the National Music Camp at Interlochen to sing and dance my little heart out. I'm sure I had heard of G & S before (my father always talks about being the "Little Midshipman"--a role which doesn't appear in the printed score-- in a production of Pinafore when his sister was Little Buttercup) but I had never seen one of their operettas, been in one of their operettas, and had probably never sung any of their songs. Oh, wait, there was the Linda Ronstadt Pirates (shiver)...

The Interlochen production of Iolanthe featured something like 150 high-schoolers. Over-whelming, yes. A lot of fun, you bet. I've since met many people who spent summers at Interlochen, and the operetta is always mentioned as one of the highlights of their time there. One of my first entries in my Year of Musical Thinking mentions the death of Mel Larimer who was the musical director for the NMC operettas.

Anyway, onto the production at hand. This is a 1984 staging at the Stratford Festival in Ontario Canada. It stars operatic contralto (and Canadian favourite) Maureen Forrester. Ms. Forrester is by far the best singer in the cast, but there is much else to be delighted by. Paul Massel as Strephon is a good singer with a nice hairy chest.

The production is created as a faux Provincial touring show, with stage hands opening crates and unpacking costumes and props. The look of the production is therefore whimsical and two-dimensional. There are tons of Canadian-isms interpolated into the lyrics, and I can't claim to understand most of them, despite being somewhat a Canadi-ophile.

Oh, dear, I just Googled Mr. Massel and it appears he's now a Catholic priest. I could make a very mean joke about Strephon being half a fairy, but I won't.

I need some therapy.

Iolanthe
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Lyrics by WS Gilbert
First performed in 1882
This production from 1984 at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada
Cast: Maureen Forrester, Paul Massel, Eric Donkin, Arvo Kittask, Katharina Megli, Marie Baron

Ghost Light Monday--Tribute to Mel Larimer

My "dark" night this week is indeed dark. I learned this past week that Mel Larimer passed away earlier this Spring. For anyone who spent summers at Interlochen National Music Camp in the 70s or 80s, Mel was a choral conductor and music director for the Camp's Gilbert & Sullivan productions.

I had never heard of Gilbert & Sullivan when I went to Interlochen for the first time in the summer of 1982, but happened to fall into the production of Iolanthe and had a great time being one of somewhere around 150 choristers in the show. Mel and his stage director partner, Dude Stephenson, were the reasons so many campers wanted to be part of the operetta each summer--it wasn't just theater students and singers, but also dancers, instrumentalists, anyone who wanted to be part. The next summer I made a point of being in The Mikado, again with Mel and Dude--somehow keeping all us kids on the same stage and the same page.

Mel always expected the best from everyone and treated each person with the respect to get the best out of everyone. He was positive, encouraging and helpful to kids like me who had a lot of enthusiasm but little experience or training. I remember him being a particularly patient and kind presence during auditions for the principal roles, never showing how tiresome it must have been to listen to all those auditions.

During my senior year of high school, I auditioned for Mel at Albion College in Michigan where he was the choir and vocal music director. I remember thinking it seemed I'd disappointed him when I chose another college.

According to the obituary in the Interlochen newsletter, Mel retired in 1996 after more than 30 years with the camp. I hope Interlochen continues to mount an operetta each summer. And I hope the kids lining up to be maidens, Pirates, peers, or fairies have someone as good as Mel Larimer to get them all on the same page.