Gilbert & Sullivan - Master Collection (Opera World)

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The Master Collection includes 10 Gilbert and Sullivan operettas produced for British television. The Opera World series (1982) is the only comprehensive Gilbert and Sullivan series on video. It comprises 12 G&S works (if you cheat and count Cox and Box, written by Sullivan without Gilbert), including, for some titles, the only available version. (Cox and Box and the one-act farce Trial by Jury, their first collaboration, are not part of this set.) In terms of quality, the series is uneven. There are some treasures, but some productions have a disconsolate penny-pinching look, and a few need more rehearsal. The casts are a blend of Broadway singers, British and American comedians, and D'Oyly Carte veterans, with stars including Vincent Price (Ruddigore), Joel Grey (The Yeomen of the Guard), and singer-songwriter Peter Allen (The Pirates of Penzance). Frequent standout performers include Keith Michell, Clive Revill, Kate Flowers, and Anne Collins, who shines as a procession of unloved older women.

Of the series, the standouts are Ruddigore, a trifle of a ghost story set to gorgeous music, and The Sorcerer, a buoyant tale of a magic potion that causes a whole village to fall in love with the wrong people; Iolanthe (a House of Lords satire mixed with ethereal fantasy), The Gondoliers (with Sullivan's Italianate, most radiant score), and Princess Ida (a satire of higher education for women set in an Arthurian kingdom) are also well worth seeing. The others--The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, Patience, and The Yeomen of the Guard--are less satisfying. --David Olivenbaum

Customer Reviews:

Delight from the past.......2007-09-03

The 25 years that have passed since these productions were first aired may not seem much, but in the eyes of the eternity, so don't the 125 years that separate us from the original G&S productions. The effect is pretty much the same - watching these productions, you get a gilmpse right into the past, get to see what was considered funny and well done at the time. And who cares? The people we see seem to be enjoying themselves mostly, both in front of and behind the camera, and that's the main thing. Tastes change anyway.

Sure, some of the productions are rather terrible (Pinafore), but then there are those which are absolutely delightful, with beautiful singers and lovely sets. The cheesy studio feeling is rather a bonus to my eyes, giving the productions a strangely authentic Victorian atmosphere. On some occasions I'm irritated that the "chorus" is too obviously compiled of dancers, who only mime to the pre-recorded music. Also, in some operas the pre-recorded soundtrack has too much echo, whereas the principals who are singing live, have a totally different, dry sound. Other operas don't have that problem.

One has to remember, that in some cases the productions suffer from the fact that they were produced mainly for the audiences in the US. This has influenced the choise of actors, as well as some liberties with the costumes and sets. There are things that would never be done in a real proper D'Oyly Carte production.

But I can't help myself enjoying this set totally. I even enjoy those productions I hate. Thanks Judith de Paul and everyone involved!

Trial by Jury and Cox and Box can be acquired separately, and are heartily recommended.

The Master Collection of Gilbert & Sullivan.......2007-03-09

I have been looking for this for years. I'm glad I found it.

A flawed resource..........2006-12-09

This is a rather comprehensive collection of G & S operettas, and (perhaps unfortunately) one of the best resources currently available. The benefits of this collection are that most of the operettas are presented in the traditional style that was intended by the composer and the librettist: Gilbert's stage directions and scenary are generally followed, and costumes are in the authentic D'Oyly Carte tradition. And, these are the only DVD's available for some of these operettas. One can certainly get learn much about the G & S "flavor" by watching these DVD's.

There are some significant downsides, however: several operas, like Trial by Jury, Utopia Limited, and The Grand Duke are missing. The sound quality is also quite poor, and unless one already knows the lyrics or is following along with a vocal score or libretto, most of the sung text is so mushy that it is impossible to decipher. (The chorus numbers are especially bad.) Perhaps most annoying are the fact that many musical numbers are cut altogether, and in some of the productions (such as Yeomen of the Guard), dialogue is unnecessarily modernized, rewriting many of the more brilliant moments of Gilbert's libretti.

But, until a better source is released, this is perhaps the best we have to work with... Tentatively recommended.

A Great Disappointment.......2006-04-06

I purchased the Favorites Collection from the same series, which contains most of the DVDs included in the Master Collection. Let me start by saying I love Gilbert and Sullivan, but the productions in this series are so bad I winced watching them. When Captain Corcoran first appeared on deck, I furrowed by brow and said out loud, "No, it can't be." But sure enough, a check of the credits revealed that the hardy captain of the H.M.S. Pinafore actually was game show icon Peter Marshall. That claim to fame and his constant horse-toothed grin were distracting enough, but his terrible performance made watching this version of Pinafore almost unbearable. Pete should have stuck to the likes of Yahtzee! and Hollywood Squares. Frankie Howerd speaks most of his lines as Sir Joseph. That may have worked fine for Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, but it was a deep disappointment to a diehard G&S fan waiting to hear some of his favorite songs actually sung. The cast includes a plain-looking Josephine and downright ugly (and aging) Ralph Rackstraw. I focus here on Pinafore because it is usually my favorite and was so horribly wrecked here. But the other productions in the series are no better. The choreography is consistently overwrought to the point of being downright silly. The singing, while at times good, is generally uneven. Spoken lines often are poorly delivered. The series was taped in 1982. It shows its age, and not only from the silly looking, big 70s-80s hair on all the men. The camera work is awkward, the sets invariably cheesy. In one scene in Pirates of Penzance, the camera rises from behind a potted plant in an effect reminiscent of early public access cable television. I could go on, and really I'd like to find something positive to say, but I do so love G&S, whose work here is turned into something so bad it's difficult to watch. I was going to sell my boxed set and the extra DVDs I purchased, but I would not inflict them on someone else. Save your money and invest in some of the excellent audio versions that are out there.

Revisiting after twenty years.......2004-12-01

The medium of film allows the director the freedom to move in and out of fairyland, inside the Tower of London, from a Japanese Market Place into a Japanese Garden, around the village of Rederring and along the waterways of Venice.

This set of films is a remarkable achievement in many ways. The Brent Walker Organisation announced these recordings back in the early 80's and for a time it was intended to film the stage presentations of the old D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. However, with yet another refusal by the British Arts Council to inject funds into that organisation, (they never did provide any funds although many labour under the misconception that they did), the company had to disband and George Walker had to re-think.

10 operas are presented in this magnificent boxed set (12 in the recent UK release), the 10 Gilbert and Sullivan works from THE SORCERER (1877) to GONDOLIERS (1889) sadly UTOPIA and GRAND DUKE were missed out and of course THESPIS still eludes re-discovery. At the heart of these films is Alexander Faris (himself a guest conductor at D'Oyly Carte from time to time) and he undoubtedly draws some magnificent performances from the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus. These performances are all the more enjoyable now as the digital re-mastering (at lease in the UK release) has not only enhanced the magnificent picture quality, but has provided the soundtracks in three different stereo formats.

The one real sadness of the series is the production of YEOMEN. Not only do the producers advance the action to the time of Charles I (making the costumes for the Yeomen themselves rather less spectacular and somewhat dowdy), but there are numerous cuts; Phoebe loses the 1st verse of her opening number, the act one trio and Fairfax's ballad are both missing, Fairfax's act two ballad, "Strange Adventure", "When a wooer goes a-wooing" and "Rapture, rapture" are absent. The excuse for this was that the piece needed to run no longer than two hours for the purposes of television broadcast, and yet when it was first broadcast in the UK on the BBC, much of the missing material was present. Strange too that, although not the longest of the works, none of the other operas in the series suffer cuts of a similar magnitude.

Some of the productions that seemed so unacceptable in 1982, now are quite charming, once you get past some of the so-called "star" performers. Frankie Howerd is dreadful as Sir Joseph (PINAFORE) but quite charming as the Learned Judge (TRIAL)(one of the works not present in the US release). He is not helped by Peter Marshall who is particularly weak as Captain Corcoran. The production of PRINCESS IDA seems now quite delightful as a play within a play and even Frank Gorshin as King Gama is really quite acceptable, whilst the quality of the musical production, now fully revealed, is stunning. Keith Michell, more associated with the musical comedy repertoire, makes a very good job of Major-General Stanley, Robin Oakapple and Don Alhambra. Joel Gray's American accent grates somewhat on the UK ear in the role of Jack Point but it cannot be denied that he does give an excellent performance.

The gems of this series have to be COX AND BOX (not present in the US set but presented in its full-length 1866/7 version), THE SORCERER and PATIENCE (the latter taken almost entirely from the English National Opera production. Ex-D'Oyly Carte performer Donald Adams makes an invaluable contribution to SORCERER, PATIENCE and RUDDIGORE. It is a pity that his MIKADO was not preserved, but William Conrad (Cannon) gives a surprisingly good performance in the role.

Sadly, no attempt has been made to credit singers who were missed in the credits on the sleeves of the original tapes. For example, I still don't know who plays the Notary in SORCERER or Tolloller in IOLANTHE, they may be named in the end credits, but I never seem to get to watch them.

Each DVD (in the UK release) comes with a copy of the 'production' libretto, missing out the dialogue but giving all the lyrics. One is able to skip the dreadful (and frequently inaccurate and patronising) introductions by Douglas Fairbanks Jnr, there are bonus features about the making of some of the films, picture galleries, and the ability on each DVD to play the musical numbers as if they were a CD (UK, don't know about US release), allowing you to hear the music in the new glorious stereo without the dialogue or the picture.

All in all, twenty years on, this series comes into its own. Anyone who owns the original VHS/NTSC tapes, I would urge you to ditch them and buy this set as a replacement . After all, it is currently the only way to own 10 Gilbert and Sullivan Operas on film.

The UK release is available from www.amazon.co.uk in Region 2 format, so is playable on multiregion DVD players. The cost (depends on the exchange rate) and the catalouge number in the UK is DVD 8228651-11.

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Conrad, Stewart, Revill, Opera World

Average customer rating:

Overlook the flaws and enjoy this movie.
Full of Fresh Surprises! Buy It!
Fast Service.
Good DVD - Even William Conrad
Tsk-tsk to the naysayers

Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado / Conrad, Stewart, Revill, Opera World
Starring: William Conrad , Clive Revill , Kate Flowers , John Stewart (II) , and Anne Collins (II)
Director: Rodney Greenberg
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006JU6B
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Amazon.com

An uneasy cross between a movie and a theater production, this version of Gilbert and Sullivan's masterpiece The Mikado is on the clumsy side. Obviously taped on a stage (there are just two settings, a town square and a landscape) but without an audience, it lacks the spark of live performance and the versatility of film. The action is weighed down by jejune attempts at comedy. When Nanki-Poo (disguised as a musician) receives the devastating news that the woman he loves is promised to another man, he doesn't react at all, but instead plays trombone accompaniment. And after he describes his catalog of musical offerings, the court gentlemen--for no reason except that the song's final word is "lullaby"--drop to the ground and fall asleep. Besides not being funny, these gags are unconnected to anything in the story.

A couple of performances partly redeem things. Kate Flowers sings very well and, even better, actually creates a character. Her Yum-Yum is mischievous, blunt, sarcastic--just the kind of person who would compare herself to the sun and the moon. And as Ko-Ko, Clive Revill is a terrific combination of wily and sympathetic. Slightly hunched and wearing a jester's costume, Revill is a nervous little schemer who's vividly believable. William Conrad's bland Mikado doesn't have much impact. This is one of the less distinguished entries in the Opera World series of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. --David Olivenbaum

Customer Reviews:

Overlook the flaws and enjoy this movie........2007-06-20

This 1982, BBC/PBS, made-for-TV production is somewhat dated. The technical aspects, including sound work would be done better today. It is easy to hear and to understand the play, but there is very little stereo effect, and today's 5.1 sound would make it even better.

One feature I appreciated was the included libretto, which follows the one from Bradley's book closely. There are no captions of any kind.

I was surprised to see Joseph Conrad cast as the Mikado; I didn't know he could sing. As it turns out, he will never be known for it, but he acquitted himself well in the few solos he had. John Stewart, as Nanki-Poo, was excellent, but the best singing was from the two female leads, Kate Flowers and Anne Collins, who played Yum-Yum and Katisha respectively.

In spite of the truly poor choreography and cheap-looking sets and costumes, this is the best production of The Mikado that I have seen to date, but I would very much like to see the complete play done by the actors from the movie, Topsy-Turvy (another recommended movie, but not for children). (It's at: Topsy-Turvy)

If you are inclined to be picky about your Gilbert & Sullivan, you may find this DVD to deliver less than you desire, but I am happy to enjoy the lighthearted show in a lighthearted manner and forgive the few flaws.

Recommended.

Full of Fresh Surprises! Buy It!.......2007-04-09

My roommate and I have seen the Mikado in person in January and the old Kenny Baker DVD in March, and we've seen The Mikado last year in person at the City Center, and many times in NYC and even the Hot Mikado in Pittsburgh. This DVD is worth buying for many good reasons. Some lyrics were heard for the very first time by us because we could hear the words and even read their lips on those wonderful close-ups. The sets and costumes were good and the direction was fine. CLIVE REVILL was kind of ugly and unsuited to the role as KOKO but we laughed anyway. His costume was the worst. The Lord High Executioner had a rich bass voice and THE CHORUS was the best we have ever heard!!!!!! Katisha was great! William Cannon as the Mikado does not have a good voice, but he put in a decent performance. The young leads were fine.
The City Center guys were a lot better as Pooh-bah and Koko, but their Wandering Minstrel is bald and homely and waaaay too old, so this DVD has given us a younger and cuter [and taller] HERO with a delightful voice. The film quality is great. Light years better than the old old Kenny Baker one which we also enjoyed because it was funnier. The chorus alone is worth your time, and it isn't expensive.
This version comes with a complete libretto which I had to pay a lot of money for separately elsewhere because I didn't know it came with the DVD.

Fast Service........2007-03-25

I received the product in a matter of a few days. Very fast, efficient service.

Good DVD - Even William Conrad.......2007-02-02

This is my third attempt to purchase a quality dvd of the mikado. The first attempt was from a stage performance which gave me decent voices and video quality, poor sets and what sounded like a chamber ensamble playing the music. With a score like that of the mikado, you need a great orchestra, which you get with this version. My second attempt was also from a stage version with a good orchestra, voices, sets and costumes. Unfortunately, video quality was terrible and you couldn't understand the words. This is good quality, good voices and sets, and a great orchestra.Wm. Conrad was good - remember - The Mikado has a small part.
If you are really demanding, this is probably not for you, but this is, in my estimation, enjoyable and the best I could find after purchasing what I could find.
P.S. both this and HMS Pinnafore are public television productions, have an interesting intro and intermission by Errol Flynn, and a full libreto.

Tsk-tsk to the naysayers.......2006-08-19

If you like the music and lyrics of The Mikado, this version is excellent. All of the main characters are brilliantly portrayed, including Ko-ko, Nanki-Poo, Poo-bah and Yum yum. William Conrad's voice is borderline, but his acting is fine. This DVD would be a bargain at twice the price.

Gilbert & Sullivan - Favorites Collection (Opera World)

Average customer rating:

Is This All the G&S There Is?
Awful. Awful. Awful.

Gilbert & Sullivan - Favorites Collection (Opera World)
Starring: Keith Michell , Alexander Oliver , Janis Kelly , Peter Allen , and Gillian Knight
Director: Rodney Greenberg
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00006JU6J
Release Date: 2002-10-22

Amazon.com

The Favorites Collection includes five Gilbert and Sullivan operettas produced for British television: The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Gondoliers, and Patience. The Opera World series (1982) is the only comprehensive Gilbert and Sullivan series on video. It comprises 12 G&S works (if you cheat and count Cox and Box, written by Sullivan without Gilbert), including, for some titles, the only available version. In terms of quality, the series is uneven. There are some treasures, but some productions have a disconsolate penny-pinching look, and a few need more rehearsal. The casts are a blend of Broadway singers, British and American comedians, and D'Oyly Carte veterans, with stars including William Conrad (The Mikado) and singer-songwriter Peter Allen (The Pirates of Penzance). Frequent standout performers include Keith Michell, Clive Revill, Kate Flowers, and Anne Collins, who shines as a procession of unloved older women.

Of this set, the highlight is The Gondoliers, in which Sullivan's Italianate score--his most radiant--sets the tone, though there's a fair helping of Gilbert's trademark wit. H.M.S. Pinafore is erratic though of generally high musical quality, The Mikado has good performers but lacks spark, Patience (a favorite of many aficionados) has some casting flaws, and the pleasures of Pirates are sporadic at best. A better choice is the 10-disc Master Collection, which includes four of the series' standouts, Ruddigore, The Sorcerer, Iolanthe, and Princess Ida, as well as The Yeomen of the Guard. --David Olivenbaum

Customer Reviews:

Is This All the G&S There Is?.......2007-02-02

I have been a huge Gilbert & Sullivan fan since early childhood, and I am sure there is a market out there for good video productions of their operettas. This TV series ain't even close. (I only bought one of the two boxed sets.) Someday, maybe some brave producer and/or director will mount these shows in a way that will bring out their wealth of potential. We all saw how the Kevin Kline/Linda Ronstadt movie of "Pirates of Penzance" launched that show permanently into the G&S top three. I give this series two stars only because I don't think there is any other version of all the operettas out there (I doubt that the old Martyn Green Doyle-Carte Company movie of "Mikado" is available), and at least I have something to look at while listening to the music and dialogue. But I wince at Keith Michell's and Vincent Price's feeble vocalizations -- to name only two of the producers' many lame attempts to use "big names" to attract audiences, which is rather more likely to scare them away.

Awful. Awful. Awful........2006-04-06

I love Gilbert and Sullivan, but the productions in this series are so bad I winced watching them. When Captain Corcoran first appeared on deck, I furrowed by brow and said out loud, "No, it can't be." But sure enough, a check of the credits revealed that the hardy captain of the H.M.S. Pinafore actually was game show icon Peter Marshall. That claim to fame and his constant horse-toothed grin were distracting enough, but his terrible performance made watching this version of Pinafore almost unbearable. Pete should have stuck to the likes of Yahtzee! and Hollywood Squares. Frankie Howerd speaks most of his lines as Sir Joseph. That may have worked fine for Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, but it was a deep disappointment to a diehard G&S fan waiting to hear some of his favorite songs actually sung. The cast includes a plain-looking Josephine and downright ugly (and aging) Ralph Rackstraw. I focus here on Pinafore because it is usually my favorite and was so horribly wrecked here. But the other productions in the series are no better. The choreography is consistently overwrought to the point of being downright silly. The singing, while at times good, is generally uneven. Spoken lines often are poorly delivered. The series was taped in 1982. It shows its age, and not only from the silly looking, big 70s-80s hair on all the men. The camera work is awkward, the sets invariably cheesy. In one scene in Pirates of Penzance, the camera rises from behind a potted plant in an effect reminiscent of early public access cable television. I could go on, and really I'd like to find something positive to say, but I do so love G&S, whose work here is turned into something so bad it's difficult to watch. I was going to sell my boxed set and the extra DVDs I purchased, but I would not inflict them on someone else. Save your money and invest in some of the excellent audio versions that are out there.

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