Toronto Operetta Theatre opened the concluding show of their 2024/25 season at the Jane Mallett Theatre on Friday evening.  It’s Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers directed and choreographed by Guillermo Silva-Marin.  It’s pretty decent and, besides, TOT is about the only chance to see G&S in Toronto; whatever one thinks of their approach.  For those who have seen TOT’s G&S before it’s fair to say this is a very typical TOT G&S production.

So what do I mean by that?  It’s cast with (mostly) young singers with varying degrees of familiarity and experience with the rather specific demands of G&S and with limited rehearsal time there’s not much one can do about that.  And. it’s pretty predictable; especially the choreography.   That said, this show has some very accomplished performances plus some ones that are enjoyable, if less polished.  Also, there’s a real orchestra, albeit small, rather than piano.  It’s a decent night at the theatre.

Probably the most experienced Gilbertian in the cast is Greg Finney, here playing, of course, the Duke of Plaza-Toro.  He has made almost an entire career out of singing Major General Sir Joseph Plaza-Toro so no surprise that he nailed this with proper treatment of his big number and excellent, slightly sardonic, comic timing.  He’s nicely backed up by Meghan Symon as his Duchess and Alyssa Bartholomew as his daughter and putative Queen of Barataria.

The two female romantic leads; Lissy Meyerowitz, as Tessa, and Brooke Mitchell, as Gianetta, are indicative of the variations one gets in a show like this.  Meyerowitz has a fine operatic mezzo and a real penchant for handling Gilbertian humour.  Mitchell is charming, a fantastic mover, and has a pleasant, not especially operatic voice, but while she’s great to look at she doesn’t have quite the same grasp of the style.  Their boyfriends; Giuseppe (Sebastien Belcourt) and Marco (Yanik Gosselin), however both sing and clown quite nicely.

Marcus Tranquilli as Luiz (and we discover, the real king of Baratria) is quite stylish and I really liked Austin Larusson’s Grand Inquisitor which had just the right amount of pomposity.  I do wonder about the decision to costume him as a prelate though.  A rather sinister looking Franciscan (quite proper for an inquisitor) would make for a fun comic contrast.

There’s a chorus of assorted gondoliers and their girlfriends.  They are very enthusiastic but crisper diction would have been welcome.  In G&S one should be able to hear the words, even from the chorus.  The nine piece band conducted by Matheus Coelho is excellent.

If you are a G&S aficionado you’ll likely find plenty to enjoy in this show and if you are not familiar it’s not a bad introduction.  There are two more performances; Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm.

Photo credits: Gary Beechey, BDS Studios