REDCLIFFE
Musical Theatre rendered the Gilbert & Sullivan musical ThePirates
of Penzance as if it were carried on an invigorating ocean breeze.
The
large cast of many ages was obviously having fun and it was contagious for the audience.
Pirates,
along with The Mikado and H.M.S. Pinafore, is the most popular of
the 14 collaborations of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Although
the play is often called a comic opera, it is far more accessible to a general
audience than continental opera which Gilbert and Sullivan sent up.
Gilbert
and Sullivan were English and their Shakespearean heritage shines through
plentiful plays on words, accompanied by musical spoofs.
Directing
duo Madeleine Johns and Gordon Ball work seamlessly with choreographer Meredith
Johns and musical director Sheree Drummond to create a delightful musical
comedy.
Each
act was rendered virtually without set changes with actors hiding behind parts
of the set and, to much amusement, plant foliage.
Female
lead Annika Hinricks as Mabel was in fine voice and readily accepted the
challenge of the occasional musical trick in the play.
Her
love interest Frederic was played by Jonathon Sweeper whose clear vocals and
expressive visage carried the part well.
Thomas
Armstong-Robley stole the show with his Deppesque movements as the sometimes ruthless,
sometimes befuddled Pirate King.
Barry
Haworth brought out the full humour embedded in his character Major General, of
the much parodied song which is a highlight of the play.
Johnathan
Johnson as the Sergeant of Police led his officers around the stage with
beguiling walks and puppet-like head popping.
Young costume
designer/ producer Kara Fisher has done a fabulous job with the clobber. It all
looked wonderful with colourful pirates, pristine maidens and quintessential
bobbies. Fisher aims to design for stage and screen and this play is a big early tick in her portfolio.
Sullivan once described
his music for Pirates as 'tunier' than that of H.M.S. Pinafore.
Tuny is a good a word
as any for a score that ranges from the sprightly to the boisterous.
The RMT orchestra, assuredly
conducted by Sheree Drummond, who seemed to be enjoying the exercise
immensely, was always buoyant but never over-bearing.
The
Redcliffe Musical Theatre version of the Pirates
of Penzance is based on the award-winning New York Public Theater adaptation.
All
in all, The Pirates of Penzance is a joyous musical.
Olympic Rant #12 Fast men are gone in well under 10
THE
power of words is more than a casual contribution to the living mythology that
is Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. He might not go Gaga on Twitter but he is the biggest
name in Ol’ London Town as he defends his 100m Olympic title.
Usain Bolt sets the fastest 100m time ever
in Berlin on August 16 , 2009
Bolt is no good thing to win. It is three years since he set
the extant world record of 9.58s. The field includes the second, third, fourth and
seventh fastest men alive – Tyson Gay, U.S. 9.69s; Asafa Powell, Jamaica,
9.72s; Yohan Blake, Jamaica, 9.75s and Justin Gatlin, U.S, 9.80s.
Gatlin is a remarkable athlete who recovered from a
four-year doping ban (2006-10) – innocent he says – to run his 9.80s on June 24
this year. Jamaican Blake also set his best time in June, while Gay ran his in
2009 and Powell set his PB in 2008.
Asafa Powell is a mellifluous name befitting the world’s
fastest man from 2005-2008.
Asafa Powell: 3rd fastest time and 2nd best name
Then along came Usain St Leo Bolt. On May 31, 2008, fellow
Jamaican Usain Bolyran a time of 9.72s at the Reebok
Grand Prix in New York City. Bolt not only had a better time but also a better
name.
Usain Bolt sounds like it burst from the pages of a private-detective
thriller, but it is his real moniker. I believe the name has added zest to his
performance in the track. Coupled with his playful warm-up antics, the name
Usain Bolt, the Thor of our times, is revered around the world.
The concept of the fastest man alive helps, as well. It is
something of a misnomer in that Bolt would have to be faster than all the dead
man, too.
I achieved my only gold medal at the final Goodwill Games in
Brisbane in 2001. It was through the then Fastest Man Alive, Maurice Greene.
Injury prevented star attraction Greene from competing but he was an
ambassador.
He gave a media conference and I asked a question which led
to my gold medal. I maintain to this day it was a good question. Before me was
the fastest man alive, a man with an English surname and a French first name.
I knew Kansas had French settlers before and after the
United States acquired most of the territory through the Louisiana Purchase.
One Frenchman Ernest
Valeton de Boissière was a fascinating homme who came to
the U. S. in 1852.
Although he was a former French army engineer, he was of an idealistic bent
and, in 1870, set up what he hoped would be a utopian commune in Kansas. He called
it Silkville, planted mulberry trees and produced high quality silk.
The enterprise hummed along sweetly and Silkville soon had a school, winery, silk factory and a three-story 60-room housing complex.
Cheap overseas silk imports and community members re-joining
the rat-race took its toll financially Sticking resolutely to his dream, de
Boissiere and his communards diversified into dairy cattle and livestock , but
with little success. In 1892, de Boissiere, gave the property to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he sailed back to France, where he died in 1894.
Some might say he wasted the last had 25 years of his life
but the utopian commune survived for 22 years. By most comparisons with similar ventures, the Frenchman did well.
Why Maurice Greene
was given a French name might not be as fascinating as the saga of Silkville.
But we would never know unless someone asked. So, at an international media
conference, I asked the fastest man
alive how he got the name Maurice. ‘My mother gave me that name,’ Maurice
Greene replied. It was not the answer I was looking for, though it seemed to
please my media colleagues who laughed heartily.
Six months later, an anniversary of the Games was held in the
swank Brisbane Polo Club, a place no one had thought to invite me to, before.
I was presented with a gold medal. I do not remember what the
event I won was officially called but it was little doubt it was meant to be
for the dumbest question of the final Goodwill Games anywhere in the world. I
still maintain it was a good question and a lot better than Greene’s answer
which sank my credibility.
After all my years in journalism I have only two small pieces
of advice for novices: it is not a popularity contest and never be afraid to
ask what you think could be a dumb question; you might win a gold medal from
it.
So who will win the gold in the 100m.? Like most of the
world, I would like to see Usain Bolt win. But I think the gold will go to Yohan
Blake. As soon as I post this rant, I will contact my internet bookie to have a
modest wager on Blake.
Yohan Blakei looks for gold
If I am wrong, that’s alright. You have to back your
judgement in life, or wait for others to tell you what you think.
Back
and forth across the Olympic the pool, the accusations fly like shuttlecocks;
it is water badminton.
The latest design in shuttlecocks for water badminton
expected to be an Olympic sport in 2020
Chinese
swimmer Shiwen Ye was the catalyst for the first of a barrage of snide remarks when she
won the 400m individual medley. It should have been a fairy tale result as Ye
easily swam her personal best and snatched a world record. But it turned into a
fairy tale directed by Tim Burton as the dark news unfolded that the Chinese
schoolgirl had swum a faster final 50m than Ryan Lochte who had won the men’s
equivalent and relegated super swimmer Michael Phelps to a medal-less fourth in the process.
At first no
one quite yelled out Ye was a drug cheat: that would be against the Olympic spirit of these carping back-biting Games.
Lochte
served up just a hint of suspicion as he told journos the American camp
discussed it over dinner. ‘She’s fast,’ he told reporters, just in case any of
the scribes had not noticed.
It
was wise to help out the world’s media with an indisputable piece of copy. It
was not only the swim which had the world’s media declaring there were two Shiwen.
Yes. I am not sure about the exact proportion
but let’s say half the world’s media believe her name is Ye Shiwen. I am with
the “Shiwen Ye” half because that is all she writes in the official Games
website. For those wishing to argue the toss at your own dinner party, Ye is the family name.
Australian
swimming commentator and former Olympic medallist Susie O’Neill was known as
Madam Butterfly in her heyday. She was more Madam Math as she gave her opinion
of the swim of Mademoiselle Ye. ‘Every time we see a good Chinese swimmer….there’s
just that .0001 per cent at the back of mind.’
It
might have been at the back of Madam Butterfly’s mind but it butterflew to the front
of her lips.
The
coyness of such remarks failed to impress a former Chinese swimming official
who did not confucius with maths or dinner-party banter in returning the water
shuttlecock.
Shanghai Chen was the head of the Chinese Olympic medical
team in Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona. ‘America’s (Michael) Phelps broke
seven world records! Is he normal?’ Dr Chen asked.
Before a journo could ask the sensible question ‘what’s your
definition of normal’, Chen made it clear drug cheating was abnormal.
‘I suspect Phelps, but without
evidence,’ he said. This sounded like the distillation of a conversation at a tea,
rather than dinner, party. ‘I have to recognise that we should be grounded in
facts,’
Dr Chen said.
That is how you engage in war of drug cheating without
either side making an outright accusation against the other.
‘The Americans are very bad; they do a lot of evil,’ Dr Chen
said
Swimming pools are central to geopolitics: with the medico’s
unsophisticated diagnosis, all became clear.
Congratulations Azerbaijan
Valentin Hristov,
18, won OlympicbronzeforAzerbaijanin theclean and jerk56-kg
weight class) event.
In another upset, North
Korea'sOm Yun Cholwon the gold ahead of Chinese world championJingbiao Wu (or Wu Jingbiao, take your pick).
Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliyev, watched the success of
Bulgarian-born Hristov.
The Republic of Azerbaijan is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north,
Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to
the west, and Iran to the south.
All may not be forgiven but this journalist
is glad to see a nation which is not a household name in the West take home a
medal. We applaud you in the traditional manner.
Olympic Rant
#7 More surprises than at a Tea Party Geography Quiz
UPSETS are
the order of the first daze of the 2012 Games.
Super swimmer Michael Phelps set
the tone when he was unplaced in his first final, the 400m individual motley.
Some thought Michael Phelps swam in a dinner suit
Phelps made amends, of sorts when he able to rub his 17th
Olympic medal, but it was only a silver when
the Americans were swum down by the French
in the freestyle relay. The
French? Sure we know they can speak incomprehensible philosophy under water but
who knew they could move so fast on top of it. The favourites, the Aussies,
came an unimpressive fourth.
In the sabre version of poking-holes-in-people, Hungarian Aron Szilagyi, ranked only sixth in the world,won the gold.
The victory took those of us with long memories or fertile imaginations
back to the glorious 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.
The 1912 Hungarian poking-holes-in-people team.
The final eight in the sabre poking-holes-in-people were seven
Hungarians and one Italian.
Nedo Nadi really took it to the Hungarians and the plucky Italian
finished sixth. Jeno Fuchs overcame ridicule, in primary school because of his
name, to take the gold.
Jeno and his fellow six finalists as well as Aron, we salute you, although
we leave our sabres in their scabbard.
If these upsets keep up, they will feed the families of sundry academics
for generations. Psychologists, social scientists, sports medicos, politico
types and economists will argue whether the
upsets mean the decline of the West.
The Tea Party will blame Barack Obama who fixed the Games to support an African nation. Most Tea Party members
know where the country is because they saw a doco on Hungary Africa.
IT was
a weird start to Games e competition with American super-swimmer Michael Phelps
missing a medal in the 400m men’s individual medley won by teammate Ryan
Lochte.
Lochte one, Phelps nil
Phelps
described it as a “crappy race’’, presumably reflecting on his own performance
rather than the collective effort of the finalists. Still, Phelps missed a
medal in eloquence as well as in the pool.
It was hard
to know what to make of the performance of senior sports scribe Barney Ronay
after the first gold medal of the Games went to China’s Siling Yi in the sport of shooting-at-things. The sub-category was the 10m air rifle. Thank
Mao; the 10m was not the calibre of the rifle but the distance from which you
shoot at things.
On behalf of the guardian .co.uk,
journo Ronay wrote, ‘China’s parpingly jaunty anthem
was the first to be heard in triumph at London 2012.’ Parpingly? Really,
Barney.
The obscure word “parping” seems to
mean the sound made by a car horn.
Whether parpingly can be used
successfully to modify “jaunty”, I just do not know. What I do know is the word
appeared in the online guardian in Andrew Sparrow’s blog on June 16, 2012.
‘
Boris Johnson has arrived in Cape Town to fly the flag for
England's 2018 World Cup bid (and) did give his views on the controversial
vuvuzela, the horn blasted deafeningly by fans during every game of the South
African World Cup.
Johnson said: ’Certainly the vuvuzela is a very very
interesting device…..It's a great way of expressing yourself in a loud,
vehement, parping kind of way. … I think maybe that's not the effect we're
going to want to see in 2012 [at the London Olympics].’
’
Was it coincidence that Barney Ronay revived the word parping(ly) or
was it some sort of tribute to the barkingly mad Boris Johnson? BTW, Johnson brought little to the lingual
table in stating a horn had the sound of a horn and that sound is rarely
jaunty.
Enough of this nonsense bring on that jaunty sound.
That
anthem could have been written for a Chinese victory in the international sport
of shooting at things. The lyric about China facing its greatest danger is a
bit dodgy though. This anthem is likely
to be around for centuries so the message for the generations is be on a
constant war footing. Grab your air rifle and be prepared.
I am not sure tourists will flock to that new
Great Wall if it is made of flesh and blood; could be a bit slippery. Perhaps I
am being too literal.
It
is heartening to see the Chinese lyrics pay homage to the French anthem La Marseillaise. The
Chinese version has the good taste to ditch that French stuff about fearsome soldiers coming into our midst to cut the throats of your sons and consorts. It is
something of a surprise France does not do better in shooting-at-things. I
believe the reason is the French athletes try to sell their arms during the
competition, leaving them at a distinct disadvantage during the shoot-offs for
medals.
During
shooting-at-things, athletes are encouraged to only fire at inert objects. Live
pigeon shooting had its only appearance at the 1900 Paris Games. It did not
take off.
Neither
did the 21 pigeons Belgian Leon de Linden shot to win the gold. They do not
call them pigeons for nothing, but even the IOC could see the ineffable killing
the unflappable was a trifle off.
Crap is the word
CRAP is quick off the blocks in the competition for
the golden word of the 2012 London Olympics.
Swim champ Michael Phelps missed a medal in the
400m men’s individual medley and described his performance as a crappy race.
Tory MP Aidan Burley took to Twitter to describe the Opening ceremony as
“leftie multicultural crap”.
You would have thought that phrase has few shades of meaning,
far fewer than 50, but Burley said he was misunderstood. Unfortunately for
public figures, the nature of Twitter makes it difficult to bleat the old
stand-by of being taken out of context.
The MP then went on to make the bizarre claim the rappers did his head
in.
‘We had all these rappers – that is what got me to the point
about multiculturalism.’
Burley received little support from his Conservative colleagues.
The Mad Mayor of London said it was nonsense, a subject on which Boris Johnson
is an authority.
‘People say it was all leftie stuff. That is nonsense. I'm a
Conservative and I had hot tears of patriotic pride from the beginning. I was
blubbing like Andy Murray,’ Johnson said. Why he had to tie-in Murray’s tears
after losing the Wimbledon tennis final was anybody’s guess, if anybody wants
to bother interpreting thoughts from the addled Mayoral mind.
Burley was right.
This was not an opening ceremony but an excuse by the liberal elite to pour
more of their absurd and defeatist multi-cultural propaganda into the Olympics.
Why Danny Boyle, for crying out loud.
Look, next time, why not just have an opening ceremony
full of addicts and ravers at a disco and cut the attempts to present the
distorted history lessons. Why bother with the athletes at all? This country
has lost it.
Hilarious! An opening ceremony for an event featuring
athletes from more than 200 nations, hosted by one of the most culturally and
ethnically diverse cities on the planet branded “leftie multicultural crap”!
Where does the Tory party get such prize turnips from? I know they don't like
their MPs to be too clever, but he really takes the gold for ignorance and
boorish stupidity. Cameron should promote him to the Cabinet immediately- at
least he's honest about his racism, xenophobia and fascistic tendencies!
Bernie Dowling July 29, 2912
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