The Yeomen of the Guard contains the very best of Gilbert and Sullivan: a pair of cunningly contrived plots that interweave to perfection, a sublime mix of comedy and pathos, and an earworm-filled score that marries sparkling wit with real emotional and dramatic weight. It’s not easy to pull off – the libretto, written in mock Elizabethan, does not easily trip off the tongue – but in the right hands the situational humour is genuinely funny, while the casual cruelty of its conclusion can reduce an audience to tears.
English National Opera’s new production is a hit and miss affair. Jo Davies’ staging looks good and her 1950s update is a sound idea, although inconsistently carried through. Chris Hopkins leads a shapely account of the score and the singing is pretty decent. The acting, however, sometimes falters. It’s left to Richard McCabe as the broken-hearted jester Jack Point to land the opera’s emotional body blows.
Gilbert set the action in the England of Elizabeth I, hence the...
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