Really, how could ITQ be expected to turn down an opportunity to see Stockwell Day do Gilbert and Sullivan? The curtain goes up at 8pm, so check back tonight for the all the light operatic action.
7:37:20 PM
Well, I’m here – and so far, the whole event is exactly as dazzling and ever so slightly discombobulating as you might think, what with the tuxedos and the gowns and the many, many faces I almost but not quite recognize from your more elegant Hill function, which ITQ usually only ends up attending when she wanders in by mistake. It’s definitely a distinctly older crowd – which I guess isn’t really all that surprising, considering the scandalously slight exposure to Gilbert and Sullivan that most of us get these days. Anyway, I’m in the theatre now listening to the orchestra warm up, which never fails to boost that sense of delicious anticipation that you get just before partaking of a rarely-indulged pleasure. Eee!
I hope I don’t drive the lovely twin Miss Marples sitting next to me entirely crazy by typing away throughout the show. If I’m found stabbed to death with a knitting needle, you’ll know why.
7:53:17 PM
You know, I’m really not sure why box seats are considered so much more desireable than the orchestra pit. You’re so much further from the stage – and yes, I know you have the arial view to make up for it, but still. It would be different if this was, you know, the Globe Theatre, and we lower decksters were surrounded by slatterns and cutthroats and other disagreeable companions, but this is a pretty genteel crowd.
8:01:17 PM
The three gentlemen next to me are discussing “the Obama thing” in slightly frantic tones. Nobody tell Andrew Coyne.
8:02:01 PM
There we go — the official warning, telling us to turn off cell phones (but not liveblogging devices, ITQ presumes) and reminding us not to take photos.
8:02:42 PM
The conductor is here! That was quick.
8:03:56 PM
And there’s Don Newman – who is one of our hosts, and begins with — of course — a welcome to the broooooadcast, and an awesome bit of faux timefilling that must be particularly enjoyable given the nineteen or so hours that he was doing just that on O-Day.
8:06:47 PM
You know, I shouldn’t be the least bit surprised that there is such a crossover between Politics (and politics) fans, and Gilbert and Sullivan aficianados, as the reaction Don Is getting makes clear.
8:14:37 PM
Dancing! Apolitical dancing! Will update when toes stop twitching reflexively.
8:19:53 PM
Peter Mansbridge! On stage, but hasn’t yet spoken – he and Lloyd Robertson and – damn, I missed the last name – are at a faux newsdesk to the side of the stage.
8:21:12 PM
Ooh, they start with a pointed skit involving the infamous gala comment by the Prime Minister during the election — Mansbridge plays it perfectly straight, and the applause is wildly enthusiastic, if a little looking-over-your-shoulder-nervously.
8:25:12 PM
Oh, relax. They’re making Ignatieff jokes and Layton jokes too. And a Mike Duffy crack to boot — which leads to the promised Stockwell Day cameo, who interrupts him to say that, by order of the GG, “this joke has been prorogued” – and marches back off stage. Aww, that was adorable.
8:32:57 PM
Pirates song – can’t remember title but know the tune – with real (ie non-stunt political singers.
8:37:31 PM
Peter Mansbridge is really, really enjoying the show. He and Lloyd keep chatting behind their hands, but he’s absolutely rapt.
Poor, Wandering One! I can sing this! Well, in the sense that I know the words. Don’t worry, I won’t.
8:48:46 PM
Back to the fauxcast – Lloyd taking lead, although he and Mansbridge make a fabulous comedic duo, as it turns out.
8:56:37 PM
It’s unfortunate for at least one of the two that “Layton” rhymes so perfectly with “Satan”.
9:02:55 PM
Hockey book jokes: Never. Get. Old.
9:21:29 PM
Okay, my apologies for such sporadic updates; I am selfishly trying to soak up every bit of the show, and slightly less selfishly trying not to spoil the whole experience for the people stuck in my row. Perhaps this is one reason why there is such sparse liveblogging of theatrical events. Parliament excepted, of course.
Also, the last set was devoted to highlights from The Mikado, and you guys? Maybe I’ve just gotten old and cynical, but Nanki-Poo is kind of a jellyfish, and I actually feel bad for Katisha. She’s not a *monster*.
(Yes, it’s intermission, in case you wondered – I’m going to see if I can grab a Diet Coke before the second half kicks off.)
9:30:57 PM
Okay, I had no idea of the following fact when I came up with the idea of liveblogging this event, but after reading the programme, in the interests of full disclosure I should note that Colleague Feschuk is credited as a writer, and why it never occured to me that of *course* he would be, I have no earthly idea.
Oh, and the third host – alongside Peter and Lloyd, that is – is Bernard Derome.
9:39:02 PM
Okay, it looks like intermission is nearly over, so expect updates to go back to – well, not too spotty, I hope, but not quite as frequent you’d expect from, say, a committee meeting. (Oh look – there’s Ted Menzies! Looking much cheerier than he usually does when fielding questions for the Finance Minister in the House.)
10:44:12 PM
Okay, so I basically bailed on y’all, and I’m sorry, but it was just too much fun to watch instead of blog. Blame Colleague Feschuk and his co-conspirators. Anyway – short version — Craig Oliver gets the award for bravest cameo for actually singing; Jack Layton definitely had the funniest spoken word bit; Peter MacKay —– is a good sport. And I’d best scamper out of this theatre before they lock the doors after what was, without question, a seriously fabulous soiree from the good folks at Opera Lyra and the NAC.
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Comment
I am the very model of a modern Tory Minister,
My public views are circumscribed, my private views are sinister,
In wetsuits I look chiseled, for I’m hardly roly-poly, oh!
And that’s why they have given me this wonderful portfolio
On weekends you’ll appreciate my hardy grassroots-mustering
But weekdays I’m in Parliament and smugly filibustering
I can’t decide if Harper likes me only for my shyness or
Because I like to talk to my invisible pet dinosaur!
My public views are circumscribed, my private views are sinister,
I am the very model of a modern Tory Minister.
Classic! This must be framed and put permanently on the Maclean’s homepage.
Wonderful! Can you do the englishman number too? That’s a wonderful film by the way – An Engishman abroad.
Harper
I am a Tory true!
For in spite of this new budget,
I will not try and fudge it,
That I am a Tory true!
Caucus
That he is a Tory true!
Harper
For I might have been a Dipper,
A Green, or Jack the Ripper,
Or worn the Grit tattoo!
Caucus
Or worn the Grit tattoo!
Harper
But in spite of the attractions
Of embracing other factions,
I remain a Tory true!
I remain a Tory true!
Caucus
But in spite of the attractions
Of embracing other factions,
He remains a Tory true!
He remains a Tory true!
Needs a bit of music, by the bye.
I guess we can add Gilbert & Sullivan to Jack’s impressive repertoire.
Aw, shucks, amphibian one!
Actually IMO W. S. Gilbert is greatly underestimated in the history of English poetry. Did you ever see Topsy-Turvy, the Mike Leigh film about Gilbert & Sullivan? It didn’t dwell much on how he composed, which is what would especially fascinate someone like me, but it did portray him as a very complex person — and certainly as sensitive as, say, Keats about his art. He was probably the best satirist of Victorian society we had (e.g. the “He is an Englishman” song kc mentioned, which ridicules the idea that one can be proud of one’s nationality as one might be proud of a personal accomplishment). I wish there were more movies about poets, or historical films generally: where is the Amadeus about Goethe?
Alas, these days the Critics don’t rank Satire very high as a genre, the rationale being that what is not solemn cannot be serious; moreover, there is a real hostility to popularity among academics, so that verse like Gilbert’s, which remains popular 130 years after it was composed, is viewed with suspicion for that very reason. Ditto Tolkien, in my view the single most creative writer in English in the 20th C: the critics just can’t get over the fact that people like reading his books, as they don’t like reading, oh, Finnegans Wake. The good thing is that that will inevitably change in a few hundred years, when Conan Doyle and Stevenson and Tolkien and John Le Carré will still be being read and enjoyed and the faddish will have vanished.
Sorry, I seem to have gone on an unprovoked literary rant! Nothing duller . . .
As to the rant:
In a past life you were evidently my literature prof.
And I mean that in as nice a way as is possible.
JM
Not dull at all! Gd pt re: good literature and popularity. Lecarre is one of my fav examples as isG. Greene. Unfortunately my repetoire is too limited to carry on. As far as film goes i do recommend An Englishman abroad. A little gem of a Brit film with Alan Bates. Hard to find though. Another example might be Rosencrantz and Guldenstern are dead, another beauty is an old Guiness film called The horses mouth -gentle satire.
LOL, Sophie! I was briefly a prof, and it’s awfully hard to shake the didactic impulse. Something to do with the barometer.
Thanks for the tip about An Englishman Aborad, kc, I will look for it tomorrow at my local video store (which should have it). I should read more Graham Greene! Right now I’m reading A Perfect Spy by Le Carré, which I’m really liking so far though it’s got more deep background so far than what I’m used to from Le Carré.
Ah, I *wondered* what occupation allowed one to rise at noon. ;)
: ) Well, I’m not a prof anymore! And I was a Greek prof so I had to get up ridiculously early (6:30am) to teach Intro Greek — for some mysterious reason Intro Greek is scheduled at 8:30am the world over . . .
JM
Makes sense to me as everything is Greek to me before 8.30. By the way if you like Lecarre try one of his later works [ i prefer his earlier cold war stuff. The Spy who came in from the cold almost reads like a fable it's that powerfull.] Oh the newer book is The Misson Song. It’s partially set in te Congo and the protaganist is an African. Not really sure that he pulls it off, but it’s very good. His latest book concerns renditions and is good but depressing.
Sorry, I seem to have gone on an unprovoked literary rant! Nothing duller . . .
Not at all, Jack. Your digressions are always fun to read. I haven’t seen Topsy Turvy, but I’ll have to check it out. I completely agree with your point about popular but untrendy craftsmen such as Conan Doyle, Stevenson, Tolkien and Le Carré. In the end, the popular verdict prevails.
Bravo! And the encore.
Can you dance and sing too? Rick Mercer could use your talent for a segment, weekly.
I. Kid. You. Not.
Jack’s a national treasure!
Hey, that’s a plan! But, no, I can’t dance more than adequately and my singing has often been publicly denounced.
“I hope I don’t drive the lovely twin Miss Marples sitting next to me entirely crazy by typing away throughout the show”
As they say on Weekend Update, “Really?!”
Sounds like one big happy family up in Ottawa. Maybe Potter had a point, afterall.
Sorry to sound completely out of the loop but what is Gilbert and Sullivan? Is this a play or a musical? And what are politicians doing there?
Sorry for all the questions but I am wondering.
They were a team of playwrights in Victorian London: Gilbert wrote the words (about half in verse and half in prose) and Sullivan wrote the music. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, you’d really enjoy Topsy-Turvy, a movie about them that came out in, I think, 1999. They were a huge hit at the time and are still very popular; you’d probably recognise some of Sullivan’s tunes if you heard them, though you might not be familiar with Gilbert’s words (which are very funny though often extremely silly).
Actually Jack nailed it perfectly, not only the incredibly witty (a deformation familiale!) alternate lyrics to familiar G&S works but also the Topsy-Turvy reference since the toffs in the penguin suits who attended the post-performance reception hosted by Bell were each presented with a copy of the DVD in question. Agree with Kady re Craig Oliver’s star turn besworded and kitted out as comic opera general. Not only his singing and dance steps but his melodic final appeal for a Senate seat, “Whose ass do I kiss?”.
Thanks for the liveblog, Kady! Sounds like it was awesome, wish I’d been there.
Thank you for the impromptu – and characteristically brilliant – bonus G&Sizing in the comments!
G&S are fine – but we have moved on…Flanders and Swan and the Hippopotamus song come to mind…and Bowser and Blue here in Canadiana break me up with the song about the Colorectal Surgeon…
Kady – glad you enjoyed it…though the fact that you blogged it makes me think someone should talk to you about ‘Berry OCD tendencies…
Being an uncultured rabble my closest brush to G and S is this. And it must qualify for Canadian content on some level because there are Mounties in it.
Parliament: The Musical would be an unimaginably amazing experience!!
I saw we petition for one!!
Your fame ( if not fortune ) spreads , Jack. First you take Ottawa ……. uh, or was that Iowa ….
http://davidakin.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2009/2/22/4101452.html
When I was young ( er ) a lot of the towns in the area where I lived had their own G&S societies and would have at least one performance annually.
Good Lord….sounds like you must be a(nother) relocated Brit…
Good heavens – linked!
Bravo! Bravo! Jack.
G & S would be proud. How about something to honour the GG?
I read all the writs so carefully
now I am the one who is the Queen’s GG
No doubt you can improve on this :)
Nice idea! Though there’s a slight risk of lèse-majesté . . . onward, for a few stanzas at least!
When I was a girl I spent all day
In learning what Epicurus and Plato say
I studied Aristotle ‘neath the Haitian pines
And Schoepenhauer later on in Thetford Mines
And I grew so accomplished at philosophy
That now they all salute me as the Queen’s GG
In school I was so eager to philosophise
That soon I found I had grown so wise
As to study Spanish rather, for it less disturbs
A mind that sees the beauty of regular verbs
I studied all the verbs so patiently
That now they all salute me as the Queen’s GG
With Spanish, French, and Ital-i-an,
I naturally married a Romantic man,
As Romantic a man as few surpass
And soon we had adopted a charming lass
So charming a lass indeed was she
That now they all salute me as the Queen’s GG