The New Sadler's Wells Pinafore (1987)

Cast Sir Joseph Porter Nickolas Grace Captain Corcoran Gordon Sandison Ralph Rackstraw Christopher Gillett Dick Deadeye Thomas Lawlor Bill Bobstay Paul Parfitt Bob Becket Paul Thomson Josephine Elizabeth Ritchie Little Buttercup Linda Ormiston Hebe Janine Roebuck New Sadler's Wells Opera Conductor: Simon Phipps

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This was the second of two recordings the New Sadler's Wells Opera made in 1987 (see the NSWO Ruddigore). Both were based on new performing texts by Dr. David Russell Hulme, who went back to Sullivan's autograph score and prepared an edition conforming as closely as possible to the composer's original orchestrations. The Ruddigore is clearly more important in this regard, since that opera has been far more subject to well-meaning "improvements" over the years. Nevertheless, Pinafore is not without its surprises. The concluding dialogue of the opera ("Here, take her sir, and mind you treat her kindly") is sung as recitative, as Sullivan originally wrote it, instead of spoken as in the definitive version.

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Three readings of the Act II finale are given:

• One that ends with "Rule, Britainnia," which Sullivan himself prepared for the 1887 revival that celebrated Victoria's golden jubilee. (This version was apparently retained in performances through the early years of the 20th century, as it is heard on the 1908 recording.)

• Another with Sullivan's original coda.

• Another with the four-bar coda that D'Oyly Carte used in modern performances.

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The New Sadlers Wells Opera brought this production of Pinafore to New York's City Center Theater in the late eighties. (Ruddigore was supposed to tour as well but was canceled due to budgetary problems that foreshadowed the company's ultimate demise.) The stage version was full of interpolated mugging for Nickolas Grace's Sir Joseph, including an entire added scene. None of this is incorporated in the recording, which is a sheer delight.

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