H.M.S. Pinafore

H.M.S. Pinafore is, in my opinion, the best so far that I've seen of the series. I really didn't mind either Frankie Howerd or Peter Marshall (Yes, that Peter Marshall!) though I agree that Frankie could have sung his part more and that Peter was a bit too goofy. But they both fit in with the style of the production. I liked the dancing and the youthful supporting cast and the singing generally and enjoyed the DVD extras interview with the producer Judith de Paul, Frankie and Peter. I also enjoyed the part following which showed the real sailing ships and their crews in Portsmouth to, in what seems to be the New York City OpSail celebration, the George Washington Bridge(?). I would have liked to know more about the choral vocals and how they were added to the dancing since it seems that the dancers were also the singers. It seems unlikely that they mostly did both at the same time since the dancing and acrobatics looked rather strenuous. 8 out of 10.

As a life long fan of Gilbert & Sullivan, I was appalled at this production which I personally found to be terribly "high camp".

The singers were surely miscast - age wise - and Frankie Howard as Sir Joseph Porter KGB is the biggest piece of miscasting I have ever encountered.

A funny man does not necessarily make a funny part any funnier - and in this case - it fell totally flat as far as I am concerned.

I would not recommend this purchase to anyone who has a true love of G & S - you will be sorely disappointed - as I was.

I bought this to use as a model for a production of this work I will be mounting in Tennessee in March-April 2007, but I will not let my cast look at this production.

I am sorely tempted to throw it in the trash can.... This may sound harsh - but true lovers of G & S will, I believe, find this production unworthy.

I love Gilbert and Sullivan, but the productions in this series are so bad I winced watching them. When Captain Corcoran first appeared on deck, I furrowed by brow and said out loud, "No, it can't be." But sure enough, a check of the credits revealed that the hardy captain of the H.M.S. Pinafore actually was game show icon Peter Marshall. That claim to fame and his constant horse-toothed grin were distracting enough, but his terrible performance made watching this version of Pinafore almost unbearable. Pete should have stuck to the likes of Yahtzee! and Hollywood Squares. Frankie Howerd speaks most of his lines as Sir Joseph. That may have worked fine for Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, but it was a deep disappointment to a die-hard G&S fan waiting to hear some of his favorite songs actually sung. The cast includes a plain-looking Josephine and downright ugly (and aging) Ralph Rackstraw. I focus on Pinafore because it is usually my favorite and was so horribly wrecked here. But the other productions in the series are no better. The choreography is consistently overwrought to the point of being downright silly. The singing, while at times good, is generally uneven. Spoken lines often are poorly delivered. The series was taped in 1982. It shows its age, and not only from the silly looking, big 70s-80s hair on all the men. The camera work is awkward, the sets invariably cheesy. In one scene in Pirates of Penzance, the camera rises from behind a potted plant in an effect reminiscent of early public access cable television. I could go on, and really I'd like to find positive things to say, but I do so love G&S, whose work here is turned into something so bad it's difficult to watch. I was going to sell my boxed set and the extra DVDs I purchased, but I would not inflict them on someone else. Save your money and invest in some of the excellent audio versions that are available.

The dancing was good, the set was perfect, the orchestra was just right.

The cast was also perfect, except, unfortunately, for two individuals who appear only to be cast in an attempt to garner greater views: Peter Marshall as the captain and Frankie Howerd as Sir Joseph.

Peter Marshall overacts far more than necessary for the role, and frankly there are plenty of more than qualified English actors that could have been found, since his accent is distracting. So it's clear that he was chosen simply because he is a name that people would have recognised.

Frankie Howerd clearly didn't learn his lines and can hardly pronounce them. He improvises enough words to get him through the scene, bearing only minor resemblance to what is in the script. He also didn't sing, but rather, a la Rex Harrison (though not half as gracefully) just speaks them generally near to the note, looking annoyed and occasionally sighing in the process. It's also clear that he doesn't care for the lines, and he's not trying to add to Sir Joseph's character by acting like that, as one can see by watching the behind the scenes feature. However, it is rather funny when Sir Joseph cannot remember the Captain's name, a mistake that I could almost believe was unintentional, since Howerd is about as much a buffoon in real life as Sir Joseph was in fiction.

These choices, unfortunately, make this production stick out poorly in the Brent Walker collection, which does have some fairly decent videos, and some fairly decent talent that one wouldn't have otherwise expected. It is also clear that the direction and other aspects of the production did as best as they could, and it is unfortunate to have two stains on what could have otherwise been a good rendition.

Speaking in terms of what could have been, for instance, Keith Mitchell who the series had cast as the Major General, Robin Oakapple, and Don Alhambra del Bolero would have made the perfect Sir Joseph. Likewise, Donald Adams or Derek Hammond-Stroud who played a number of Brent Walker baritone parts would have been suitable captains. If they wanted a household name to bring in the views, at least someone who could sing and memorise the lines, like Clive Revill, would have been more sufficient than Frankie Howerd.

I think that the general mood of criticism about this production of HMS Pinafore and of Frankie Howerd's performance in particular is very unfair indeed. Generally speaking this production is an excellent straight adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan which is beyond reproach with regard to the various leads (I believe the actor playing th Captain was an American game show host but having no reference to this I just think he is a perfectly good singer) and on my DVD version the sound is super. Frankie Howerd in the role of Sir Joseph Porter has come in for a lot of criticism but having heard so many baritones sing the role from Henry Lytton onwards I absolutely loved the performance. I accept that he does not sing (he speaks with a good sense of rhythm) and that he injects his own mannerisms into the role but I personally think it riffs well with the tone and is very funny (watch his reaction when delivering the line about the common sailor being bulwarks of the empire). I think that G & S are treated with such (understandable) reverence that productions can sometimes become rather stilted and encased in aspic and that Howerd's performance whilst not to everyones taste at least constitutes a good attempt to inject a bit of personality into the role.