Ruddigore

Ruddigore is rarely performed anymore, but I don't know why because it's a lot of fun. A spoof on Gothic melodramas, it also contains some wonderful music by Sir Arthur Sullivan.

The story (in case you didn't already know) is about the Bad Baronets of Ruddigore, who because of a witch's curse must commit a crime a day or else perish in agony themselves. To avoid the curse, the current Baronet faked his own death and has lived in hiding for 10 years. Now he wants to marry, but on his wedding-day the truth comes out.

His younger brother (the character played so delightfully by Vincent Price) was left holding the title, so to speak. He has been bad for the past decade, and is relieved to be able to give up his wicked ways and live respectably, while the hitherto blameless Robin must now assume the handlebar mustache and opera cape of the Victorian stage villain.

I thoroughly enjoyed this production--very energetic and lively performances. Vincent Price was a hoot as Sir Despard Murgatroyd, and his performance alone was enough to make this a keeper. The whole cast was great, including Keith Mitchell as Robin/Sir Ruthven, Sandra Dugdale was a charming Rose Maybud, and Donald Adams was terrific, as usual.

Despite some nice singing, especially by Sandra Dugdale as Rose Maybud and Donald Adams as Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, this is a perfectly dreadful production. The girls ham it up, something which Gilbert warned against ever doing in the G&S operettas. Their early scenes, moreover, have suggestions of Lesbianism which could not be more out of place. Most of the singers are fair to middling, with Vincent Price apparently imitating Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady - good actor, no voice at all. Most of all, nobody takes the story seriously - no matter how absurd a G&S plot is today, and most were pretty absurd even while Victoria lived (and loved them), it is essential that they be played straight. As done here, a young person seeing Ruddigore for the first time would have to wonder what all the fuss is about. Better to just listen to it on an old D'Oyly Carte recording.

Usually, Gilbert & Sullivan operettas are supposed to be light, funny, witty, ironic, and entertaining. But this production is none of those things. Even Vincent Price can't save it. There's a lot of bad singing, heavy-footed dancing, and people sort of standing around doing nothing. The costumes are uninteresting. The sets are dull. Characters that should be fun and silly and memorable are flat and tired.

There's a lack of joy and fun. Plodding, that's the word. Plodding. I couldn't wait for it to be over. If you showed this DVD to someone unfamiliar with Gilbert & Sullivan, they would never go see another operetta during the whole rest of their lives.

I gave it a 4 out of 10 on the strength of some of the participants but this is a classic example of a lack of trust in the material. The relentlessly jokey approach undermines our sympathy and the casting of Vincent Price and Keith Michell is beyond belief. Vincent was cast, I suppose, because of his star power and association with horror films.

It's not so much his voice (the George Grossmith parts in G&S do not require wonderful voices.) but his lack of style. Keith is not as bad but this is not a recommendation. There are some much better entries in the series like Princess Ida and Iolanthe and even Patience.

Also on the debit side is the abridged overture and the so-called "improvements" in many of the songs.

Do yourself a favor and give it a miss!

I agree with the post above. This entire series of the "compleat" Gilbert and Sullivan should be shown in opera production grad schools to make sure that NO ONE ever conceives theirs like this. I remember getting very excited at the time these were done, with a partnership between the BBC and Judith DePaul in Boston, WGBH. Someone really got it wrong. Opera in a TV studio never works anyway but these were particularly awful. Casting Price was a brilliant idea but it looked like they tried to video these shows in a day and a half. One of the problems was that they wanted ONE American star in each light opera. In the case of "Ruddigore", Price was a good choice. Some of the others are just terrible. But having really slammed this, I would say, if you have never seen "Ruddigore", you ought to because it has some of Sullivan's very best music. The ghost scene in Act II is one of my personal favorite choruses in all G+S.