By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
What could possibly go wrong when, as an infant, the son of a king is married to the infant daughter of a duke, and then, for fear of capture, the son is sent off to live a life outside the kingdom?
For its 75th anniversary, Houston’s Gilbert and Sullivan Society delivered a lively, engaging love story involving five confused and delirious young people in The Gondoliers.
Young ladies clad in lightweight, brightly colored skirts and short-sleeve peasant blouses, bouquets of roses in hand, sang and danced across an Italian piazza.
Soon they were joined by gentlemen who added their voices and steps to the carefree singing and dancing.
Two young gondoliers appeared and declared they would choose their brides while blindfolded. The crowd spun them around just as children are spun before swinging at a piñata. In their blindness and confusion, they selected two eligible bachelorettes and were thus married.
Then came a twist of fate as the Duke and Duchess of a land across the sea entered with their lovely daughter, who may be wed to one of the gondoliers.
Enter the Inquisitor, played by Richard Paul Fink. Keep an eye on him, as he has a way of bringing charm to an unlikeable character.
The love story grows more tangled, and the young grooms are shipped off to another land across the sea.
The stage then opens on a Spanish royal court scene. When the Duke and Duchess cross the stage, their elaborate costumes and comical strides draw both laughter and applause from the audience.
The five-way love story is eventually sorted out, but not without plenty of comical, lively dialogue, singing, dancing, moments of heartbreak, and moments of absolute glee. The audience witnesses the kiss of the prince, now a king, and his bride, crowned as his queen. As it turns out, there was a sixth young person tangled in the love puzzle all along.
Underscoring every twist was the choreography, which seemed to leap off the stage and into the auditorium, full of swirls, taps, claps, and clicks. At times, it almost seemed the audience was bursting to join the movement. Stage director and choreographer Alysa Weathersby is responsible for the show’s lively movement.
“The cast is a rare combination of energy and so wonderful to work with,” said Weathersby, her eyes conveying the same lively excitement as the show itself.
The Gondoliers is showing in the Cullen Theater at Wortham Theater Center in Houston on Saturday, July 25, and Sunday, July 26. For tickets and information, go to: https://www.gilbertandsullivan.org/tickets/
