Submitted by NZ Opera News on May 21, 2007 - 11:26.
Lorraine Isaacs speaks to Alan Spencer guest director for the Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust’s forthcoming production of The Mikado in Dunedin in June.
LI
Tell me about your background in the music theatre field.
AS
I studied dance in London and then went on to get a Teachers’ Diploma in Laban from Trent Park College. From there I went to the Royal Academy of Music where I studied voice part-time under Roy Henderson who also trained Kathleen Ferrier. I was successful in an audition for the Welsh National Opera as a chorister and used my dancing skills to choreograph pantomime and musical theatre in the provinces. I joined the D’Oyly Carte Opera in the chorus and toured eleven Gilbert and Sullivan shows. One interesting thing was that I formed my own dance group within the D’Oyly Carte and this was a first for any opera company. We toured cities in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - everywhere that Gilbert and Sullivan is loved. I was the choreographer for the D’Oyly Carte until their last season in 1981. The choreography I’ll use for the Dunedin Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust (RAGSPT)’s production of The Mikado will be that of my D’Oyly Carte production.
I also performed or directed other musical theatre: Hello Dolly, Chorus Line, Showboat, The Black and White Minstrel Show, pantomimes, The Music Man and lots of others. And I ventured into operetta with Die Fledermaus until eventually I became a professor in the Trinity College of Music, directing many operas from Wagner to Rossini.
Because of my association with the D’Oyly Carte, lots of amateur and professional companies asked me to direct Gilbert and Sullivan. But I directed other musicals as well, including Chess, West Side Story - in fact all the major musicals - as well as ballet, theatre and dance.
LI
What was your most challenging Gilbert and Sullivan experience?
AS
Undoubtedly directing for the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan International Festival. The time constraints are enormous: each opera is rehearsed and staged in five days including one day in the theatre and then opening that night. I start work at four in the morning and don’t finish until ten at night - quite exhausting! But I do it every year and it’s fun.
It’s also a challenge to direct Gilbert and Sullivan non-traditionally after my long association with the traditional operas of D’Oyly Carte: I have to think outside the square. I recently directed a complete update of Princess Ida with full camouflage gear, tanks, jeeps and battle scenes for the Plymouth Theatre Royal - now that was a challenge!
LI
What are your favourite Gilbert and Sullivan operas?
AS
Princess Ida is up there and I also love Iolanthe musically. But one of my favourites is The Gondoliers for which I’ve done about twenty versions with two principal sets. I love the exotic location and it’s an opera that I’ve had the most success with at Buxton.
But my all-time favourite is The Mikado. It’s like an old friend because it gave me my first big break in choreographing musical theatre. It’s very comfortable, very tuneful, well written and well structured, with wonderful comedy roles. It’s also the most popular of all the Gilbert and Sullivan. I’m really looking forward to stage directing it in Dunedin.
LI
What do you like about directing Gilbert and Sullivan operas?
AS
I like bringing new things to a traditional approach. Modern theatre audiences need a stimulating and exciting production and I can give this to them by the way I move and choreograph the show. I enjoy the greater scope of designing my own set - I go for structural simplicity and clear, structured direction: we need drama, but I keep it still and let the music talk. I believe in the compilation and building of the lyrics and dialogue with the stage movement. It’s the simplicity of style which I enjoy most.
LI
What are you looking forward to in this production of The Mikado?
AS
Meeting up with old friends with whom I worked on H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance in 2003, especially Michael Andrewes (Musical Director) and Hilary Norris (Associate Director). It was a great experience last time - such a buzz when the production is “up there”. And I’m particularly looking forward to recreating my famous Buxton production: it has not been done outside the United Kingdom before. The set is simple and most of the effects are done with lighting. When I went to Japan with Carmen, I was impressed by the wonderful bridges in the Japanese gardens which I visited. So Act I of my Mikado has a semicircular Japanese bridge with a staircase leading up to and down from the pagoda at the height of the bridge - it’s visually exciting to the audience. Then in Act II we use the same stairs with a willow tree replacing the pagoda, and lots of rocks around, like a Japanese sand garden. There will be back projection so that individuals can be isolated, beautiful costumes, dramatic colours and beams of light: no “fluffy” scenery for me! It will be a Mikado to remember.
LI
What have you been busy with recently?
AS
I did a production of Iolanthe for the Theatre Royal in Bath, set in the 1930s. The Queen of the Fairies was like Rita Hayworth, Phyllis was like Marilyn Monroe and all the fairies were tap-dancing follies! And for a contrast I directed 42nd Street in Bath.
LI
What’s in store for you after your Dunedin Mikado?
AS
I’ve got Patience, then The Mikado again at the Buxton Festival, followed by The Bernd in Plymouth and Thoroughly Modern Millie in Bath. But at the moment my mind is concentrating on the Dunedin Mikado. I found the auditioning process interesting: the first auditions I’ve done from the other side of the world by video. It will be good to concentrate on just one production for a few weeks - leaving behind in the United Kingdom the other four and, oh yes, my cell phone! Who knows? I might even manage a long weekend in my house in Spain.
