Utopia Limited

Are you kidding me?
Where to start? Since the show wasn't miked, the voices were fuzzy. There was only one camera, which didn't move through out the entire show. No cuts, no close ups. Also, they one showed the first half of the show. The second act was nowhere to be seen.

Seldom done show.
For a community, single camera production, this wasn't too bad. It begs the question as to why a company like this would find it important to market a DVD of their performance, but there are other concerns. The production is generally quite silly; "slapstick" is an understandment at times. One can't help thinking of Monty Python, the resemblence is striking. If you like that sort of treatment of G and S, this might be the production for you- I am not a fan of anything that clouds the simple elegance of the music and Gilbert's brilliance. To pause and wait for a laugh is to show that the original Gilbert is just not understood. Gilbert doesn't need any help, let alone from mugging and silliness. The staging is often confusing, I don't know if there are too many people in the cast, or it was simply confusing. The huge set pieces were funny, for about a second, the space they took up was hardly worth the titter of laughter. The music was well treated, the orchestra fought the...

A story of power, scandal, Love, and blowing things up!
I have long been a fan of Utopia Limited, as I'm a fan of all Gilbert & Sullivan. This particular play is unique in so many ways, and this production was quite interesting. It is made to look like a comic book or a cartoon, with crazy stage sets and mostly good singing on the part of the principles. It is not without problems. The photographer was not very good, the sound was often muffled and difficult to hear, and a lot of the original dialog was considerably edited down, and the villains continue to fight another day. But aside from these shortcomings, the cast was likable and appealing. King Paramount, who in this version has five kids instead of the traditional three, and he's the star of the show, as was intended. He a tallish, slightly paunchy man with a jolly, round little face and a big, booming laugh, and fancy tennis shoes - and he's a great Dad to his kids. The really surprising bunch of characters were to so-called "Flowers of Progress" from England, who are full...

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