By Roy Proctor
So what can audiences expect of a mid-Victorian operetta populated by characters with penny dreadful names such as Dick Deadeye, Ralph Rackstraw and Little Buttercup?
Quite a charming bit, as Virginia Opera proved in the rollicking production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S Pinafore” in the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage.
The scenery was created for the Tri-Cities Opera Company based in Binghampton, N.Y. The costumes got their start at Opera Theatre of St. Louis. The director, Nicola Bowie, was imported by Virginia Opera from England.
Often, in such cases, any claim to directorial vision gets lost in the mix. Happily, that was not the case this time out.
Scenic designer Gary Eckhart’s fanciful shipboard setting, which seems to float in a mass of green curls, couldn’t have been more in sync with those handsome, but uncredited, St. Louis costumes. Adam J. Greene’s magical way with lighting — sunlit in Act 1, moonlit under a canopy of stars echoing the Carpenter Theatre’s own starry night in Act 2 — pulled it beautifully together.
“H.M.S. Pinafore” tells the story of a naval ship captain’s daughter, Josephine, who falls in love with “lowly” sailor Ralph Rackstraw aboard the vessel.
Meanwhile, Little Buttercup, the vendor who boards the vessel, secretly pines away for the captain.
Josephine is beside herself with anguish as she faces an arranged marriage to the much older Sir Joseph Porter, head of the Royal Navy.
Or so the first act would have us believe. Be skeptical. This is one of those exercises in which all the relationships are turned upside down and inside out by the final fade-out.
On the one hand, “H.M.S. Pinafore” lampoons the Royal Navy, the finer points of which may be lost on today’s audiences. On the other hand, this operetta sends England’s rigid social-class pretensions sky-high. That satire hits its mark in Bowie’s knowing — and knowingly witty — direction.
Bowie’s cast — nine featured singers, a terrific 24-member chorus and two athletically inclined male dancers — did her bidding splendidly as actors and singers.
Cullen Gandy and Shannon Jennings had yearning chemistry to spare as Ralph and Josephine. Jack Gardner proved over and over again his mastery of patter songs as Sir Joseph. Christopher Burchett was on the comedic mark as the captain. Margaret Gawrysiak’s Little Buttercup was often a hoot through that final moment that recasts her as Britannia.
Bowie’s finesse reached its height in those segments involving the chorus — male sailors balanced against Sir Joseph’s retinue of female relatives — and Eckhart’s multilevel setting made that easy. Bowie blocked vertically. She blocked horizontally. She sent her cast on merry chases up, down and around the twin staircases on the stage to the skilled promptings of conductor Adam Turner’s large pit orchestra.
Virginia Opera’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” equaled one lovely show.