Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Princess Ida” - Morpheus Theatre
Photo credit: Andre Goulet. With Alicia, Tamara, Sydney, Jess, Michelle, Ginette and Linda.
I recently just finished a production run with Morpheus Theatre of the Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera, Princess Ida, in which I was a part of the female ensemble. Princess Ida is the fourth Gilbert & Sullivan show that I have been a part of with Morpheus Theatre, the other three being the more well-known, Pirates of Penzance, The Gondoliers and HMS Pinafore. I also did The Gondoliers with the Savoy Society of Ottawa in 2002, which was my first taste of Gilbert & Sullivan, however, a lot of the music is familiar from childhood as it is such an integral part of our culture. Who can ever forget the “Cape Feare” episode of The Simpsons where Bart requests that Side Show Bob sing the entire score of HMS Pinafore in order to stall him from killing Bart?
Photo credit: Andre Goulet. With Amber, Dave, Ed and Christine.
Princess Ida is a lesser known comic opera. In its entirety it is a long three act musical and groups that produce it, as we did, cut it down to be a more manageable two act show. Some of the dialogue was also changed to be more relevant to today as well. This was the first time that Morpheus Theatre has produced Princess Ida and it was possibly the first time it had been produced in Alberta as well.
Photo credit: Andre Goulet. With Christine, Jess, Sydney, Linda and Michelle (Sacharissa).
It was a great experience to be a part of this show as I find the music challenging, particularly singing the alto harmony. I must admit that I was perhaps not always singing the alto line, though I tried my best. I’m sure there were soprano and tenor notes in there too! Thanks to relative pitch, I will always be in the chord. Due to the cuts in the show, we eliminated the intermission between Act One and Act Two resulting in a quick change for the women, which was worked out successfully during tech week. There was a time when these types of issues were stressful to me as a performer but Spamalot helped ease that! Our tech week ran very smoothly. Move in was easy and there were not any really late nights. Strike was also not horrendous. Audience attendance was good, and we had positive feedback to the show itself.
Photo credit: Andre Goulet. With Michelle (Sacharissa) and Tamara.
Most importantly during this production I reconnected with a lot of old friends from previous shows and also made some new ones.
Photo credit: Andre Goulet. Cast and crew of Princess Ida.
