|
Pioneer Artists 84-074 (Laserdisc)
Notice misspelling of the opera's title. |
This Yeomen is easily one of the most reviled entries in the
Brent Walker video series.
Generally well-cast, marvellously appointed, and directed by
a G&S veteran (Besch), this should have been
a superb production. However, it is killed by the
horrible choice of Joel Grey as Jack Point. Grey's dull-as-dishwater
performance misses all the fun in the part, and his death at the
end comes as a relief for all the wrong reasons. Grey also speaks
in an American accent, which jars with the spirit of the piece
and with all of the other actors. Many of the
remaining roles are far more successful, such as Alfred Marks's
Wilfred and Claire Powell's Phoebe. The overall impression,
however, is of a golden opportunity missed.
Stan German's assessment of Grey is kinder than most I have received,
but he still reaches the same ultimate conclusion:
Grey is hopelessly under-rehearsed in this production, to the point that he
actually flubs lines from time to time (spoken and sung). He has,
nonetheless, a vulnerable quality of a good, if totally ordinary, man who
has never gotten a break. He is not that good a jester; he is an absolute
failure as a lover; his health is questionable; he is a man who does not do
unto, but in turn is done unto.
My first reaction on hearing that he was going to be playing the part was
something along the lines of "Oh really!" But in spite of an American
approach, if not more specifically New York, I am convinced that given
sufficient time to prepare the role, he could have done truly memorable
things.
Bruce Miller added:
It is overstating, in my opinion, to say that Grey "kills" the performance. I
agree substantially with Stan German's comments. To these, I would add that
Grey's performance is a moving one, although it certainly is not informed by the
tradition. His American accent bothers many people; for me, it merely
emphasizes his outsider status. What you can't take away from Grey is his
sincerity and his integrity.
The production seems to exist in at least three versions, and possibly
more. As broadcast in the U.S. on PBS, the production was heavily cut,
omitting considerable amounts of dialogue, the first verse of "When
maiden loves," and the following six numbers in their entirety.
Alas, I waver to and fro
Is Life a Boon
Free from his fetters grim
Strange adventure
When a wooer goes a wooing
Rapture, rapture
All versions sold on home video also have these cuts.
However, as originally broadcast on the BBC in 1986, four of the six numbers
(all except "Alas, I waver to and fro" and "Free from his fetters grim")
were included. Peter Parker performed a detailed
comparison of the BBC broadcast and several of the commercial videos.
It seems clear that the cuts in the PBS version were not originally intended,
and were made only to bring the production within PBS's two-hour time requirement.
For example, the soloists position themselves as if they are
about to sing "Strange adventure," but then the camera cuts to the next scene. The
elimination of Elsie's dialogue scene with Fairfax and Meryll's scene with Carruthers
makes the final pairings seem totally unmotivated.
Furthermore, as Michael Walters has observed, Michael Bulman (Leonard Meryll)
is a well known tenor. At the point when he was engaged, the producers must
have intended to include "Alas, I waver to and fro"; otherwise, an actor would
have sufficed (and would have been much cheaper).
Peter Parker did not have access to the Pioneer Artists videodisc version, in which
some of the cuts were restored. Jeff Johnson reported:
I wrote the liner notes for the four Walker G&S productions
that were issued on Pioneer LaserDiscs in the 1980's. In the case of
Yeomen, I structured my whole essay around "Is life a boon," and then
when I received the videos was shocked to see it was not included. Ron Rich who
was in charge of Pioneer Laser at that time, contacted Judith DePaul, and
we recieved out-takes of "Is life a boon," which is on the Pioneer LaserDisc
issue.
In fact, the Pioneer version restores three of the missing songs, as Bruce Miller
reported:
"Is life a boon," "Strange adventure," and "When a wooer goes a-wooing"
are all listed on the Side1/Side 2 table of contents. Also,
they are contained in their entirety within the performance,
although they show signs of being edited into it.
"Rapture, rapture" is missing. Because of Dame Curruthers's brief appearance
through a window during which she is shown overhearing everything, as well as a
jarring cut in the dialogue, it obviously was intended to be there.
Total running time is given as 115 minutes. We can probably
conclude that had "Rapture, rapture" been included, it
would have been an even 120 minutes.
The insertion of "Is life a boon" may also contain dialogue
which was cut from the VHS version. Following Fairfax's line,
"...gives due notice of his advent, that one might not
be taken unawares," there is a bad cut, after which we
have Phoebe's "Father, I cannot bear it." The video quality
seems to improve from this line onward, through more
dialogue and the song. The new material seems to end with
Fairfax's "And now, Sir Richard, I have a boon to beg."
Apparent cut. He continues, "I am in that strait..."
The insertion of "Strange adventure" and "When a wooer
goes a-wooing" are both done identically. Following the
dialogue scene, the groups are faded in from a distant
angle, although they have not moved, apparently. The
music for both also ends similarly, with fades to closeups,
and dialogue.
From the existing continuity, is seems likely that neither
"Alas, I waver" nor "Free from his feters grim" were
ever intended to be included in this production. The
dialogue and movement move seamlessly forward.
These musical numbers may well have been contemplated, and perhaps
even staged, but unless alternate versions were filmed
(given the circumstances of the production schedule,
not likely), they did not even make it to the cutting room
floor.
By the way, the only verse of "When maiden loves" included
is the second verse; the first verse is omitted. There
is a fade/cut which makes it difficult to say this conclusively,
but it appears that the first verse was not filmed from the
continuity on the laser disc.
It seems apparent that there are other dialogue cuts as well,
but I did not go through it for this purpose.
So, to summarize: the three known versions, in order of decreasing
length, are the original BBC broadcast, the Pioneer videodisc issue,
and the PBS/home video version. The casting of a tenor as Leonard
Meryll suggests that "Alas, I waver to and fro" could have
been taped, but it probably never made it into any edit of the
production.
Peter Parker made some very diligent efforts to locate
the producers, to see if the original version could be salvaged, but
to no avail. The Brent Walker company was liquidated long ago, and
the producers have dispersed to the four winds.
| 
