Up-close performance of Yeomen of the Guard from Thespis, Etc.

Theater: Thespis, Etc.
Show Title: The Yeomen of the Guard
Opened: February 15, 2008
Seen: February 16, 2008
Reviewer: Ryan Bunch
Submitted: February 17, 2008

If you like your Gilbert and Sullivan up close and personal, don’t miss your opportunity to see Thespis Etc.’s Yeomen of the Guard at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County in Media. Here, in a very small and intimate space, with a single piano for accompaniment, you will see some fine performances at short range by some of the veteran (and not so veteran!) performers on the community-theater Gilbert and Sullivan circuit.

Yeomen of the Guard is one of G&S’s later works, and among those they created together it is considered to be the most “serious” because of the way it departs from the strict musical comedy formula, in which every guy ends up with the girl and vice versa. Don’t misunderstand; it is a musical comedy and is as funny and entertaining as you would expect, but it has more than the usual share of pathos as well, and not quite everyone ends up as happily as usual.

It’s the story of Colonel Fairfax, who is condemned to die by execution at the Tower of London, a locale ably conjured by set designer R. Bruce Warner and his team, given the unusual challenges of working in a small room in the rear of the church. Luckily for Colonel Fairfax, he is fancied by Phoebe Meryll, a sergeant’s daughter who makes arrangements to save him—but not without some degree of maneuvering, impostering and disguising, of course. Add the fact that Fairfax has procured a hasty marriage to a random maiden before his presumed demise in order to divert inheritance funds from a “scoundrelly kinsman,” and you have the makings of an operetta.

There’s a whole grass roots community of people in our area devoted to producing and performing the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, and many of the folks involved in this production, on stage and behind the scenes, are very much part of it. However, it is relative newcomers Gabor Kari and Cathy Gibbons Mostek who take the lead roles at the beginning of Yeomen. Kari has a strong, clear singing voice which serves him well in his musical numbers as Fairfax. As Phoebe, Mostek brings a modern, ironic sensibility; she disarmingly combines spunky defiance with more sprightly moments and a light, warbling singing voice. No mere blushing ingénue is she! Her scenes with Wilfred, the Head Jailor and Assistant Tormentor, played by Michael Dutka, are the funniest in the show. Dutka is simply uproarious in this comedic role, and the physical gags between them are terrific. Martha Smylie is pretty much a hoot herself as Dame Carruthers the Tower Housekeeper.

Edwin Neally as the jester Jack Point is a pleasant baritone with the ability to tickle your funny bone and break your heart. He is in love with his traveling companion, the strolling singer Elsie Maynard (Mary Punshon), who finds herself instead married to Colonel Fairfax. Punshon is in a class by herself—an accomplished classical singer and a wonderful actor, she is the consummate artist in the role of Elsie.

Musically the whole thing is held together by music director Emilie Moyer and piano accompanist Susan T. Bullock, playing on a rather clunky but unobtrusive upright, which somehow both adds to the charm of the production and allows the singers’ vocal performances to be emphasized. The chorus is small, but so is the room, and they have no problem filling it with sound when they hit the harmonies just right. Everyone is smartly costumed by Beth Youse and Mary Punshon.

Many a Gilbert and Sullivan show will make you laugh. So will Yeomen of the Guard, but it just might make you cry, too. The intimacy of this performance only serves to bring the audience closer to that emotion on stage. If you have any inclination to see a G&S show in this kind of setting, I’d recommend this one.

The Yeomen of the Guard runs through February 24th at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County in Media. For information and tickets call 610-565-1699 or visit www.thespis-etc.org.

Ryan Bunch is a vocal instructor, writer and composer specializing in musical theater and theater for young audiences. He has provided voice training, musical direction, songwriting, script development and educational services for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Mainstage Center for the Arts, Center Stage Productions, Chichester School District, West Chester Summer Stage, Renaissance Artist Puppet Company, and the Players Board of Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School. For additional information visit www.ryanbunch.com.