Princess Ida

Pat and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Bagley Wright Theater last night, for the 64th (I think?) season's production of the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society -- this year, Princess Ida.

Arthur Sullivan always considered himself a serious musician, a notch above the comic operas he orchestrated in partnership with W. S. Gilbert.  After the successful production of Iolanthe, still playing in 1883, Sullivan wanted to jump ship and go off on his own.  But, as is so often the case, financial constraints forced him to sign a five-year contract, together with Gilbert, with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre in January 1884.

Gilbert had written a libretto for Princess Ida in 1870, based on an 1847 poem by Tennyson, but he rewrote it for his collaboration with Sullivan.  Attendance was poor, for a number of reasons, and its season was short.  It was not performed again until 1919.  Nevertheless, it is considered one of their better comic operas.

The plot is a spoof on feminism and education for women, which were hot topics in Victorian England. 

Prince Hilarion was betrothed at birth to Princess Ida, of a neighboring kingdom.  But now that the hour for marriage is at hand, Hilarion's father, King Hildebrand, discovers that Ida has decided to have nothing to do with men, and has founded a women's university.  Hildebrand threatens his counterpart, King Gama, with war if Gama's daughter doesn't come to her senses.

The two kings send Hilarion off to decided the matter by force.  But Hilarion, a typically dreamy-eyed G&S hero, hopes to somehow woo his reluctant fiancée, charming her into marriage.  With two buddies, he sneaks into the university -- nicely staged by the Seattle company -- and is appalled by what he sees:  The female students are taught that men are stupid apes, and that women are superior.

The three men don women's student robes to disguise themselves, allowing them to mingle with the students, but one of the boys gets drunk during dinner and gives away their secret.  They are seized and held prisoner, with death looming as their punishment.  However, it becomes increasingly clear that many of the students, as well as some of the faculty, consider the handsome "manliness" of Hilarion, his friends, and his soldiers a true and startling revelation.

King Hildebrand arrives on the scene with his soldiers, and the women who were intended to defend the university fade away at the thought of actual, rather than theoretical, fighting.   Ida is left only with the three sons of King Gama to defend her.  A brief struggle ensues, Ida's forces are defeated, and Ida agrees to the marriage, accepting it only after it is pointed out to her that if women avoid all men, they will have no posterity.  "I never thought of that," she exclaims with wide eyes. 

As in so many G&S operas, the final scene is one of joy on behalf of the entire company, with ensemble singing, as all of the men pair up with all of the women, and everyone plans to live happily ever after.

The plot may sound a bit, um, "dated," as well as farcical, to our modern, enlightened ears, but it is farce, after all and not to be taken seriously.  Our local production was very well sung and acted.  More so, perhaps, than in Victorian times, there was an almost Shakespearean premium placed on cross-dressing and gender confusion.  It is surprising that King Gama has sired three sons and a daughter, as he flounces around the stage, emanating elegance, and flirting with both young men and young women. 

Gama's three sons turn out to be -- in this production, but not traditionally -- three daughters, revealed when they remove their helmets and let their long hair blow free.  They fight with more hilarious gusto and defiance than the soldiers who defeat them, leaving their gender with at least a moral victory.  In fact, to me it appeared they had defeated their opponents, but that's not how the plot reads.

Not really one of my favorite G&S operas -- Pirates of Penzance is next year, yippee! -- but funny, quite musical, and only superficially topical.  Excellent acting.  See it if you're in town between now and July 28.