Ralph Gardner Jr. sees a need for the Blue Hill Troupe’s coming performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s ‘Iolanthe’
I think we’d all agree that what the country could use at the moment is a little more Gilbert & Sullivan. Something this campaign season to break the cycle of pomposity, to expose the powers that want-to-be to the sweet light of sarcasm.
I came upon this realization last week as I watched the Blue Hill Troupe, an all-volunteer theater group that’s been around since 1924, rehearsing for their coming performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Iolanthe” in the basement of Immanuel Lutheran Church on the Upper East Side.
The shows will be at El Teatro of El Museo del Barrio April 8-16, with the net proceeds going this 92nd season to the Children’s Cancer and Blood Foundation.
I’m embarrassed to say that the last time I attended a Gilbert & Sullivan production—perhaps “The Pirates of Penzance” or “H.M.S. Pinafore”—may have been in childhood. And while I got the gist of what was going on, the lyrics mostly went over my head.
I wasn’t much better informed Tuesday night, since I had no context for the scene the Blue Hill Troupe was rehearsing. But it was highly amusing nonetheless. I suspect that was due in roughly equal measure to the talent of the actors—they range from lawyers and bankers, to retirees and a professional ringer or three—and the sublime silliness of the scene.
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No explanation is required when buffoonish members of Britain’s House of Peers in short wigs—though the wigs were only implied Tuesday evening, the players not in costume but street clothes ranging from T-shirts to the button-down shirt and tie worn by trusts-and-estates lawyer Richard Miller—parade back and forth while singing, “In each heart proud are we innately, Let’s depart Dignified and state-ly.”
The plot to “Iolanthe,” some subsequent research revealed, involves a romantic hero, half-mortal, half-fairy, who is competing against the entire House of Lords for the affection of Phyllis, the ward of the Lord Chancellor. In this scene, the peers’ stiff upper lips desert them in the face of amorous desire.
Perhaps most impressive was the quality of the voices in a New York City church basement on a weeknight, under the guidance of director Gary Slavin. It makes you realize that this town is sick with talent.
Jane Brogan, the chair of Blue Hill’s membership committee and an assistant stage manager whose day job is working as the policy director for the New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, told me that approximately 75% of those who audition as performers are accepted. The rate is closer to 100% for those willing to work behind the scenes.
But the bar seems pretty high, current members including such talented singers as Victoria Cannizzo, who performs with Tri-Cities Opera. And soprano Alexis Cregger, who performs with Brooklyn’s Regina Opera.
“If you want to sing opera, you have a chance to sing with a full orchestra and a conductor in a real theater,” Mr. Slavin explained. “That’s sometimes difficult for young opera singers.”
I was told that 98 couples have met and married after joining the troupe. And some families have three generations of active members.
ENLARGEA passion for volunteerism also seems a prerequisite. “Rich does a wonderful job selling ads in the program,” Ms. Brogan explained, of Mr. Miller.
He and another so-to-speak amateur, Winthrop Rutherfurd, a partner at the law firm of White & Case, played the principal roles of Lord Tolloller and Lord Mountararat during the rehearsal, though it is safe to say that every chorus member got a chance to mug in his own special way.
Mr. Rutherfurd has performed with the Blue Hill Troupe since 1969. “This is my 38th principal role,” he told me during a break. “I’m on my fourth ‘Iolanthe.’”
“I started with the romantic leads and moved into character parts,” he added bittersweetly. “It’s a wonderful release and a terrific stimulant. It purges you of whatever tension you had during the day.”
Mr. Miller, performing in his third “Iolanthe,” was introduced to the company by Mr. Rutherfurd in 1992. “This is sort of your game of golf,” he explained.
It was soon time to resume rehearsals. The troupe had been working on “March of Peers.” It includes these priceless lyrics: “As upon its lordly way, this unique procession passes/Bow, bow ye lower middle classes! Bow ye tradesmen, bow ye masses, blow the trumpets, bang the brasses.”
Imagine if Gilbert & Sullivan were around to provide a counterpoint to today’s political bloviating. They’d be trending on Twitter, instant YouTube sensations. While putting social media under the scalpel, too.
Write to Ralph Gardner Jr. at ralph.gardner@wsj.com