Preview Gershwin: Of Thee I Sing
A look at Opera North's latest Leeds performance
Preview: Gershwin: Of Thee I Sing
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One of the many extraordinary aspects of Leeds-based Opera North is their keenness to stage West End and Broadway musicals in addition to classical opera. Furthermore, works by the likes of Stephen Sondheim and Kurt Weill have new productions lavished upon them with the same meticulous care as the company’s treatment of Mozart or Verdi.
The sensation of 1932, Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing was the first musical comedy to win the Pulitzer Prize and ran for 441 performances. The New York Times hailed it as “a taut and lethal satire … funnier than the government, and not nearly so dangerous.” It was just shaded by Duck Soup as the choice for a Marx Brothers film and the two storylines have certain parallels. Opera North’s intention here is to have it coincide with this year’s US Presidential Election.
John P Wintergreen (‘Wintergreen for President’) uses love as his simplistic, but successful, campaign idea in his pursuit of the White House, “the man the people choose” who “loves the Irish and the Jews”. The choice of First Lady is to be decided by a beauty contest and is duly won by the delectable Southern belle, “Ah could throw mah arms right around yo’ necks”, Diana Devereaux. This cosy arrangement, however, is scuppered by Wintergreen when he falls instead for the corn muffins of Mary Turner, one of his secretaries. Legal and diplomatic complexities ensue which involve both the US Supreme Court and the French government. Ms Devereaux turns out to be the “illegitimate daughter of the illegitimate son of the illegitimate nephew of Napoleon”. Wintergreen faces impeachment. By way of a sub-plot, Throttlebottom, the nominated Vice President, endeavours firstly to get noticed and then to find out what his job entails. The score crackles with wit and sparkle throughout and even manages an hilarious number about taxation.
Opera North had success with a 1998 semi-staging, and William Dazeley, Heather Shipp and Steven Beard renew their roles as, respectively, Wintergreen, Devereaux and Throttlebottom. Caroline Gawn will again direct Of Thee I Sing and Gershwin’s intended sequel, Let ‘em Eat Cake, is also the subject for a new production for the forthcoming Winter season. Mark Dorell, veteran of such notable West End productions as Candide and Lady in the Dark for the National Theatre, conducts.
4-29 October, Leeds Grand Theatre. Part of Opera North’s ‘The American Connection’ which includes America Over The Water With Shirley Collins, 11 October, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Mercy And Grand: The Tom Waits Project, 25-26 October, West Yorkshire Playhouse
Posted on Wednesday 1st October 2008
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