Hilariously Funny

Life's a pudding full of plums,
Care's a canker that benumbs.
Wherefore waste our elocution
On impossible solution?
Life's a pleasant institution,
Let us take it as it comes!

Wonderful words, innit? Here’s more!

And O my darling, O my pet,
Whatever else you may forget,
In yonder isle beyond the sea,
Do not forget you've married me!

And what about this utterly profound observation?

In short, whoever you may be,
To this conclusion you'll agree,
When every one is somebody,
Then no one's anybody!

I was at a performance of The Gondoliers by the English National Opera at the London Coliseum, barely three minutes away from Trafalgar Square and the centre of the city. I was last there in the autumn catching a production of Verdi’s La Traviata, and had since signed up to be a student member of the ENO. That entitled me to generously discounted tickets, even at the dress circle, where we were at this evening.

Gilbert and Sullivan are widely known for their collaboration on a range of comic operas in Victorian England, including masterworks such as The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and The Mikado. Gilbert, the librettist, joined forces with Sullivan, the composer, to create fanciful worlds where the social order is turned on its head, where absurdities loom large, and where everything – just everything - could be put to song.

With the backing of noted impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte, the partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan, though often tempestuous, managed successfully to stage many of their works at the Savoy Theatre in London, from where their fame around the English-speaking world spread. Their form of comic opera also served as an antecedent to the music theatre genre of later years, and to the musicals which we’re familiar with today.

I had grown up with a vague inkling of what their offerings were like, but never had I the chance to see a Gilbert and Sullivan production live on stage! So it was opportune that the ENO was presenting The Gondoliers, the last successful work that sprang from their fruitful collaboration.

The plot is complicated, so I won’t even try to recount it here in detail. It’s a two-act work set in Venice and in the imaginary Mediterranean kingdom of Barataria, but in the current ENO production, the time has been transformed into the 1950s, it would appear, with the use of bright primary colours and loud designs. In short, it’s the story of how two handsome gondoliers, desired by all the ladies, end up becoming the King of Barataria. But then again, perhaps not. Because the King is actually the lowly drummer boy who works at the court of the Duke of Plaza Toro, also known as Count Matadoro and Baron Piccadoro.

The Duke has a young daughter, the beautiful Casilda, who, when she was just an infant, was married off to the young son of the King of Barataria. But he had been given up for adoption, and it was thought that he could be one of the two gondoliers, Marco and Giuseppe. But which one? Whom could the real King? Isn’t it a worry that they were both Republicans? And what about the fact that they were both already married?

It’s already getting pretty silly, especially when you add in elements like how the original King of Barataria converted to Methodism, how the old nurse maid who’s the only one aware of the identity of the new king should be put to a torture chamber, or how the Duke of Plaza Toro, down on his luck, proceeded to register himself as a limited liability company.

With a respectful nod to the music of Sullivan, I think what I really enjoyed of the performance was the silly libretto of Gilbert – which raised many audience smiles. Nothing sublime or serious. Just simple words in clear English which engendered much mirth and merriment. When you hear Luiz, the lowly drummer boy and also the new King of Barataria, singing this ostensibly sad piece, can you not but smile?

There was a time--
A time for ever gone--ah, woe is me!
It was no crime
To love but thee alone--ah, woe is me!
One heart, one life, one soul,One aim, one goal--
Each in the other's thrall,
Each all in all, ah, woe is me!

Before my lovely companion and I walked over to the London Coliseum, we went for dinner at Portraits, the classy restaurant located on the top floor of the National Portrait Gallery. It affords diners a charming view of London, with the Houses of Parliament and Nelson’s Column on Trafalgar Square visible in the dying sun, and the red illuminations of the London Eye visible further away as well. A very lovely sight indeed.

We settled on the pre-theatre three course set menu – with a starter of a mozzarella and olive salad, followed by a grilled trout on top of a potato base, and finished with a delightful crème brulee. It was perfect. Portraits has a split personality, however, functioning both as a drinks bar and as a sit-down restaurant. The noise from the revelers wafted over to where we were seated, and created quite a bit of a din. At times, it was difficult hearing what the other person had to say.

But that was probably the only not-too-nice bit of a very enjoyable, enchanting evening.