Yes, no big surprise, I'm sure - I am a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, and waiting patiently for the film (delightful, from all I've read) based on their lives, Topsy-Turvy to finally become available on Netflix. (Been waiting for ages, but I persevere.) I don't buy films without watching them at least once to see if I like them or not - makes sense to me. Anyway, in the meantime I've discovered that I can watch snips of Gilbert and Sullivan on youtube, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite G&S songs from: Yeoman of the Guard
Aaaahhh! Greatly enjoyed!
ReplyDeleteI see your 'Yeoman' and raise you a 'Major General!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSGWoXDFM64&feature=related
:-) :-)
Oh, but of course, Sue. I'm in! I LOVE A Modern Major General. "I am the very model of a modern Major General...lalalalalala!!" :) Or: "Three little maids from school are we...lalalalala!"
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that there was a movie out about Gilbert & Sullivan.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful song, beautifully sung! I never saw this movie. There is so mnay wonderful things to watch on Youtube -- I can get quite lost on it!
ReplyDeleteAlyce: Oh yes, I've been waiting forever to see it on Netflix. Hmmmm, I wonder if my library might have it. You never know.
ReplyDeletePat: It's funny, it just never occurred to me to look for Gilbert and Sullivan on there until very recently. Topsy-Turvy got excellent reviews if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteI dearly love "Yeoman," with its tragicomic ending. I was curious to see, on a couple of YouTube performances of the end of the opera (the reprise of "I Have a Song to Sing-O") that the performances there do NOT end as Gilbert wrote it. In the final three repetitions of the chorus, the rest of the cast is supposed to leave the stage singing, leaving Jack Point onstage alone, and, at the conclusion, as I recall the stage directions, he falls "senseless" to the stage. It's a powerful ending.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about YEOMAN. I don't think I've ever seen it - just excerpts. I'm going to check around youtube for more G&S.
ReplyDelete"Yeoman" is, I think, the most "serious" of the G&S operas. There's plenty of humor. And at the end, there's sort of a happy ending - for the girl, who finds she has married the man she loves. But the opera revolves around Jack Point, the bitter jester and the man who, ultimately, loses the girl. There is marvelous music, and I think the entire opera is available as an audio CD - it's one of my favorites, with some of Sullivan's best music and Gilbert's usual wit.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to see if the library has it. If not, I'll have to add it to my Christmas wish list. Sounds like something I want to listen to. Thanks, Les. Have you seen the movie TOPSY TURVY, by the way? For whatever reason it is not available on Netflix even now.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen it - in fact, until you wrote about it, I hadn't heard of it. In 1953, however, there was an excellent movie bio, called "The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan" (or, in the US, "The Great Gilbert and Sullivan,") starring Maurice Evans as Sullivan and Robert Morley as Gilbert, with LOTS of excerpts, many featuring the phenomenal G&S actor Martyn Green. It doesn't seem to be available - at least not through Amazon - but if you ever get a chance to see it, do so. You'll really enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteNow that you've got me nosing around on YouTube, I did find a pretty good version of the end of Yeoman on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgr-953aK_c&NR=1 . Elsie Maynard (originally betrothed to the jester Jack Point, now married to the hero, leonard Merrill without knowing who he is) discovers Leonard's identity. The two are deliriously happy, but as they leave, the heartbroken jester sings - for the last time - his "I Have a Song to Sing, O"...it's the most ambiguous ending to any of the operas.
ReplyDeleteLes, I'm going to try and track down that Robert Morley film - sounds great! Thanks for the link to the Yeoman video. I tend to stay away from youtube unless I have blocks of free time! You can get lost there, that's for sure! It's another world. :) I have the I HAVE A SONG, O on an old cd I still play. (I actually still own an 'boom box' that is still perfectly good and I see no reason for upgrading.) Well, it's a highlight of G&S thing, and their version of the song is wonderful. I didn't know the story of the opera, but it still moved me.
ReplyDelete(It has a great back-up chorus.)
I sing it to my granddaughter - well, I hum it.