G. Schirmer Edition of Ruddigore: Or the Witch's Curse (Vocal Score Series)
Barnes & Noble
A plot summary of Ruddigore can be found at http://hcs.harvard.edu/~hrgsp/productions/rud94/rud94arg.htm
The text of Ruddigore can be found at http://www.karadar.it/Librettos/sullivan_RUDDIGORE.html
Links to some available recordigs can be found at http://www.johnrpierce.com/rud.html
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RUDDIGORE, or the Witch's Curse. Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Lyrics by W. S. Gilbert. Performed by the Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players, Saturday April 15, 2000, at 2 p.m. at the Agassiz Theatre, Radcliffe Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Produced by Elizabeth Little and Lane Shadgett. Directed by Sarah Meyers. Music directed by Jonathan Girard. Cast: Kevin Angle (Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd), Franics Crick (Richard Dauntless), Neil Davidon (Sir Despard Murgatroyd), Robert Hughes (Sir Roderic Murgatroyd), Sean McGrath (Old Adam Goodheart), Callan Barrett (Rose Maybud), Karoun Demirjian (Mad Margaret), Sol Kim (Dame Hannah); Andrew Obus, Jeffrey Dubner, Jason Tsomides, Timothy Jezek, and Ari Vander Walde (Chorus of Gentry (alive) and of Baronets (dead)); Susannah Graves, Carla Seidl, Amy Lenander, Kristin Hennings, Lisa Olmos, Jessamyn Berniker, Emily Donaldson, and Anne Johnson (Professional Bridesmaids).
The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players put on nine performances of Ruddigore from April 6 to April 15, 2000. I attended the matinee performance on Saturday April 15.
Ruddigore is one of the less popular of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, but it does contain some pleasant music, humor, and stirring dramatic effects. Gilbert intended it as a satire of nineteenth-century melodramas. Among the characters are a sweet and virtuous maiden, bad baronets (including one whose identity is hidden), a passionate sailor, a woman who has gone mad after unhappiness in love, and spectral apparitions.
The performance was an enjoyable one, very good for an amateur performance. The orchestra played competently snd enthusiastically, though without the beauty of tone one might encounter from students at a conservatory of music. The singers were all adequate, some quite good. Delivery of the text was generally good, but at times could have been much clearer. Kevin Angle as Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, who in the first act is posing as Robin Oakapple, a young farmer, was the star of the show. A tall young man with endearing facial expressions, he has a voice well suited to the the music of Gilbert and Sullivan and a good stage presence. Callan Barrett has a pretty voice and appearance, and acted appropriately insipid as Rose Murgatroyd, the village beauty. Francis Crick was amusing in his comic overacting as the seafaring Richard Dauntless. Sean McGrath also acted well as the lugubrious servant Old Adam Goodheart. Sol Kim sang clearly as Dame Hannah, who, early in the first act, tells the bridesmaids and the audience about the curse on the Murgatroyd baronets of Ruddigore, a curse that requires the holder of the baronetcy to perform a crime every day or suffer a painful death. Karoun Demirjian looked quite bizarre as Mad Margaret in the first act, but turned out to be quite attractive in the second act after she had regained her sanity.
The costumes were very good for an amateur production.
I look forward to the group's "Pirates of Penzance" in the fall.
Performance dates of Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players' Patience in Spring 2002
Ruddigore, New Sadler's Wells Opera Orhcestra and Chorus, buy.com
