Her Majesty’s comedy sets sail at Touhill

For anyone who likes off-the-wall and downright silly humor, “H.M.S. Pinafore” is the play to see. The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players performed a spectacular rendition of the Victorian Era British Opera at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on February 20 and 21.

In 1878, playwright W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan wrote the opera as a satire to Victorian Britain and the British Navy. The operetta is set on Her Majesty’s Ship Pinafore’s deck in an interesting world where it seems as if the British did not lose the 1776 American Revolution.

Nearly 130 years later, a New York repertory company would specialize in Gilbert and Sullivan and bring their hilarious portrayal to UM-St. Louis.

The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players have been exclusive performers of such works as Pinafore, “The Pirates of Penzance” and “The Mikado” for 35 years. Nevertheless, these actors and actresses know their parts and perform them well.

The cast of over 20 were accompanied by St. Louis area symphonic musicians just below a masterfully crafted ship deck set. Stephen Quint’s performance of the incompetent and upstart Sir Joseph Porter offered an insightful and hilarious insight into the inner-working of Gilbert and Sullivan’s silliness and off the wall humor.

Porter is to be wed to the much younger Josephine, the daughter of Captain Corcoran. Porter is the equivalent to Secretary of the Navy by contemporary American standards. He is clumsy, stupid and above all under qualified when he jumps from law-office doorknob shiner to, “commander of the Queen’s Navy.”

Colm Fitzmaurice plays Able Seaman Ralph Rackstraw, the forbidden love interest of Josephine, played by Laurelyn Watson Chase. Chase and Fitzmaurice’s performances of the protagonists do not coincide with other British literary characters and archetypes. The obvious parody of two proverbial blind lovers offers another silly and hilarious part of the opera.

Dick Deadeye, another alliteration by Gilbert and Sullivan, played by Louis Dall’ Ava, offer through his dialogue the only sane mind on the entire ship. But because of his name and grotesque physical features, Dall’Ava explains through a great limp and eye patch that he is the antagonist who is going to ruin all the rip-roaring good fun aboard the H.M.S. Pinafore.

Broken up into two acts, the opera has 25 well-done and flowing musical numbers that captivated the sometimes singing along, near sell out crowd.

“We Sail the Ocean Blue,” to “When I Was a Lad,” to the famous finale lines of “he is an English man,” sung by the entire cast was not only a worthwhile experience but also recommended to anyone who enjoys theater.

And for those who enjoy television and film, “H.M.S. Pinafore” is an entertaining way to see the roots of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Marx Brothers.

Grade: A+