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By GIANNI TRUZZI
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER
PATIENCE
Because devotion to romantic
ideals seems so remote, the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society's staging
of "Patience" occasionally may require a bit of yours. But think of sham
poet Bunthorne as a rock star and his travails as a 19th-century "Spinal
Tap" and these comic archetypes become contemporary.
The Pre-Raphaelite aestheticism
firing the passions of 1880s youth produced the high-minded romanticism of
Dante Gabriel Rossetti's paintings and the poetry of Keats. Inflated with
Victorian self-importance, the artistic movement practically begged for
the soak of Gilbert & Sullivan's dampening parody.
A corps of Royal Dragoons is
flummoxed by their former fiancees' droopy worship of a pompous poet,
Richard Bunthorne. This unworthy object of the ladies' affection spurns
them in turn for Patience, a common-sense milkmaid who cares nothing for
poetry. Bunthorne despises it too, but soon discovers a rival in
Archibald, a genuine poet brimming with vanity and devoid of talent.
As the adoration-addicted
Bunthorne, Dave Ross dresses his character's dramatics with his own slices
of ham, slamming wrist to forehead to falsify sincerity. Skilled soprano
Cristina Villareale renders Patience as a bubble-eyed West Yorkshire naif
whose parsing of the "unselfish" rules of love makes her deny the mincing
Archibald (John Brookes in a blond page-boy) for loutish Bunthorne.
Alyce Rogers steals the show as
Lady Jane, her lovesick contralto laments threatening with her imposing
figure. Scott Rittenhouse commands his crisp tenor solos as the Duke
slumming in the cavalry, and baritone William J. Darkow sparks laughs as
the properly baffled colonel.
Director Christine Goff
arranges her maidens in tableau or the chaste lovers in idyllic pose to
bring to life the overtly emotional style of pre-Raphaelite art, then
gives their bubble-heads a sound drubbing. She is aided by Nathan Rodda's
impressively rotating set and costumes by Carl Bronsdon so dandified they
would make even Oscar Wilde wince. Bernie Kwiram's musical direction,
paced for maximum jest, complete a delightfully silly production.
"Patience" runs through July
30 at the Bagley Wright Theatre at Seattle Center. Tickets: $25-$29, $12
for juniors and discounts for seniors; 206-341-9612 or
www.ticketmaster.com.
Gianni Truzzi is a freelance
writer who covers film, theater and the arts. He may be e-mailed at
gtruzzi@comcast.net.
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