Photo Credit: Mark Frohna
To brighten up the dreary days of January, I recommend the whipped-up fun of Ruddigore, a joint production of Skylight Music Theatre and Milwaukee Opera Theatre. It is one of the least produced of the operettas by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, splendidly adapted in this inventive production.
This deliberately silly parody of 19th-century melodrama has a plot built around a witch’s curse on several generations of the House of Murgatroyd. The cursed one must commit one crime per day or face an agonizing death. The current baronet is a reluctant criminal and wants instead to marry. This being comic operetta, the plot twists in several knots until the happy ending.
Music director and conductor Tim Rebers has created a bold and highly successful abridgement and arrangement of the score, eliminating the orchestra entirely(!) and replacing it with a cappella singing for the most part. Lean accompaniment of celeste, guitar, viola or accordion―each played by one of the actors―adds spice to the texture of the sound at times. This approach makes big demands on the capable cast of 11 singers, who pull it off with aplomb.
Co-directors Jill Anna Ponasik and Catie O’Donnell set the show in the 1920s, inspired by silent movies, which allows for an exaggerated acting style; a wonderful idea that works very well. It’s an intricately designed production, with constantly moving parts and delicious touches. Costumes by Molly Mason—illustrating the look of silent movies—are all in blacks, whites and grays, helped by lighting and projection design by Nathan W. Scheuer.
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Susie Robinson sings the ingénue lead role with a lovely voice and colorful acting. Skylight veteran Diane Lane performs the juicy role of Mad Margaret with absurd and delightful abandon. Doug Clemons is an entertaining pleasure as the cursed Murgatroyd. Adam Qutaishat made much of his dumb-bloke sailor role. Baritone Shayne Steliga played his part with gleeful relish.
The rest of the cast adds plenty, having a ball with this invitation to play broadly with no limits.
Through Jan. 19 at Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway.
