HMS Pinafore at The Coliseum

This was a Christmas outing, shunted on to February because I tried too late to book tickets. 

Mid-week, rainy (oh so rainy), dark and gloomy outside! The Coliseum, home of the English National Opera, was bustling with throngs of people. We took our places, centre of the circle, fielding the grumpy people at the end of the row who didn't think they should have to stand up to let people slip past to their seats beyond them. Gloomheads!

The sound of an orchestra tuning up is a lovely sound; even that along makes a night out seeing live music productions really special. The delicate, miniature sounds of the violins, the assertive parp of the bassoon, the trill of the clarinet (yes! it still plays). The audience rustles.

The performance begins with a skit between Mel Giedroyc, who pops up at intervals within the production, and John Savournin, the multitalented Captain of the Pinafore. The tone is set: this is going to be carry on up the G&S. 

Parodying a parody? Will we like it? You bet we will! 

As soon as the curtain rises, we are blasted with joyful colour. The jolly crew are immaculately dressed in blue and white stripes and from the first sung note, you realise that this is going to be a fabulous production. The quality of the singing was something else; God only know how many rehearsals it took to get the harmonies and diction so crisp and crunchy. It was absolutely faultless, and so was the very camp but tight choreography. There were nods to Busby Berkley (even a bit of tap), and again this was flawlessly executed. Special mention to Henna Mun for an absolutely gorgeous voice, as clear as a bell. She was so sweet that even I fell in love with her, and I'm as straight as a die. 

The costumes were lovely: when the sisters, cousins and aunts appeared, the stage was crammed with gigantic crinolines in every imaginable colour. Raining outside? Pah! We were immersed in every colour of the rainbow and more; the choreography took full advantage of the mechanics of the dresses, which revolved and swung in perfect time with the score.

My criticism? At times there were so many visual gags you missed stuff. But this was counterbalanced by so many things: waiting till three quarters of the way through the production to realise that what's known as the 'Jonathan Ross R', a trope used by the Admiwal, was a set up for the 'high ranking' gag that had the audience in fits of laughter. Other moments of genius included the scenery that carried on revolving and necessitated a song being sung twice as the Captain, the Admiwal and Josephine negotiated the stairs up to the poop deck (fnurr, fnurr) and back down again, twice. Another was Rafe setting the Admiwal's song to music: they muttered in a huddle for a moment, said 'Got it', then took the scrap of paper over to the orchestra pit; the musicians scrabbled for a moment, said 'Got it', and then carried on with the song.

Stars of the show were the chorus, whose whole performance was perfectly pitched and detailed. They didn't miss a beat, didn't get distracted, and gave it all 100%. The audience can see when performers are going through the motions, and a surreal operetta like this works particularly well when it's performed for real, which this definitely was. We were completely drawn into their world of remarkably pertinent nonsense. It completely transformed our slightly miserable February moods, and we went home with rosy cheeks and warm hearts. Brilliant.