THEATER

Gilbert & Sullivan's 'Iolanthe': fairies, politicians and special effects

By Randy Harriman
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-
Friday, June 05, 2009

When Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera "Iolanthe" opened in London on Nov. 25, 1882, it was the first of the team's productions written specifically for the new Savoy Theatre, and the fact that the new house was equipped with electricity permitted some then-novel visual effects.

When "Iolanthe" is presented by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin starting Thursday, electricity will have been around for a long time, but special effects, along with the usual barbed humor and exhilarating music, will still be there.

Artistic director Ralph MacPhail Jr. (faithful to his G&S leanings, he goes by "Rafe") returns for his ninth summer with the society; and Jeffrey-Jones Ragona will conduct his 13th season for the company.

MacPhail says he is excited about breaking some new personal ground: "I have never done 'Iolanthe' before, although I've always loved it, and after directing my seventh 'Pirates of Penzance' last year (in Austin) — which I love, too — it's nice to be working on one that I've never done. It's a lovely score, and there's so much movement and dancing that we're having the time of our life."

"Iolanthe" is subtitled "The Peer and the Peri," "peer" meaning, in this case, a member of Britain's House of Lords, and "peri" being a Persian term for fairy. The plot, then, revolves around various goings on between the lords and a band of fairies, with most of the satire directed at the rather pompous members of Parliament (you can, without much difficulty, substitute "senator" for "peer"), led by the lord chancellor.

Iolanthe, the title character, is the daughter of the queen of the fairies. Twenty-five years ago, she committed the very serious crime (in fairyland) of wedding a mortal. For that crime, her mother banished her. As the opera opens, the queen decides to forgive her, and summons Iolanthe from the depths of the river (shades of Wagner's "Das Rheingold") in which she has lived during her exile.

All is forgiven, but a complication has arisen. While she was married to the mortal, Iolanthe became pregnant, and after her forced separation from her husband she gave birth to a son, Strephon.

Strephon is soon to be married to Phyllis, a shepherdess, but she is (presumably) an orphan, and as such is a ward of the state, a "ward in Chancery"; therefore, the couple must obtain permission from the lord chancellor before they can wed. Since the entire House of Lords, including the lord chancellor, is enamored of Phyllis, permission is emphatically denied, a situation Iolanthe and her fairy band decide to fix.

Strephon is by birth part fairy, part mortal, and that raises some interesting questions. Since fairies are immortal, what happens to his fairy half when his mortal half dies? If he were to become a member of the House of Lords (hint), what would be the effect of his fairy powers?

The subject of Strephon's human-fairy division is of particular concern to his betrothed, Phyllis. When he finally tells her he is "half fairy" she rather urgently asks "which half?!"

As you would expect, by the end of the opera, all the issues are resolved, peers and fairies are reconciled (to say the least), and all the appropriate couples end up together, living happily ever after.

Although "Iolanthe" is one of the less-often performed works in the G&S canon, both its music and its libretto are widely regarded as among the team's finest efforts. It somehow seems "richer" than many of the more famous pieces.

"Sullivan was always aspiring to write (serious) operas," MacPhail says. "His friends kept telling him he was wasting his time, that he should devote his time to opera, oratorio and that sort of thing.

"Because of his aspirations, he was constantly asking for stories in which there was a probability that the music could stand alone, that it could undergird real human emotion, and Gilbert gave him that opportunity in 'Iolanthe.' "