Harrow County School for Boys

Iolanthe 1966

This year's comic opera, "Iolanthe", posed more awkward problems than "The Mikado" last year, problems of a kind not easy for a boys' school to solve.  The fairy-opera atmosphere of the opening scenes, and the lamentations of the fairy chorus in the final scene where Iolanthe almost brings a pathetic doom upon herself are particularly difficult to manage.  Even when one has persuaded enough public-spirited boys to martyr themselves in the role of fairies, there is worse to come.  Such a chorus is likely to have a built-in determination not to be too successful as a fairy troupe, of the sake of their own dignity in class.   Thanks to Mrs. Ghaleb, a satisfactory compromise was reached, even if their precision in movement was a shade less than bat-like, and one feared for the occasional fairy collision.  To be congratulated are the three leaders, Boyd, Perkins and Tobin, for the quality of both their singing and their speaking voices.

It was an unexpected double pleasure to welcome back Roy Parnell as a grotesquely imperious Fairy Queen.  The part is pitched inconveniently low for a male alto and one cannot but admire the real beauty of tone that he achieved in his more serious moments.

Mr. R. R. Tyler has proved a rare asset -- a member of the Common Room who is a solo singer, and a tenor at that.  His melodious and stylish scenes with Lord Mountararat (Peter Johnson) were highly entertaining.  We are grateful, too, to Mr. L. W. Elson (a parent) for his amusingly fruity Private Willis.  Nigel Rogers' Lord Chancellor, as long as he restrained an exuberance that was liable to swamp everything, was at its best one of the most amusing performances I have seen on our stage.   He is a very skilful clown, with admirable powers of characterisation.  David Looser, who sang the part of Strephon, has improved since last year, although his voice is still rather thin in the higher range.  His articulation when speaking, however, remains blurred.

Among the female parts Gary Findon was notable as Iolanthe, sounding enchantingly pathetic, and Austin Rowlands was a superb walking china shepherdess as Phyllis, a part in which his ebullient personality delighted as much as some of his beautiful high notes.

Less satisfactory, I feel, was the division of labour between the stage chorus of Peers and the off-stage choir.  In spite of their dignified mien, some of the Peers seemed uncomfortable as they wheeled vaguely around the stage, and the choir singing was occasionally ragged.

Warm congratulations are due to all those responsible for the production, especially of course to Mr. Haley and Malcolm Payne, the accompanists, and to John Porter and David Saunderson, the Producers.

Two years ago I dismally forecast that we had neither the time not the talent to produce Gilbert and Sullivan successfully.  How completely wrong I was!

Reviewed by Mr. K. C. Waller in The Gaytonian 1966
Photograph of Gary Findon supplied by Andrew Findon

Click to hear Nigel Rogers Sing