When first I obtained this VHS from the library I was hopeful that opera world would be able to give a decent presentation of this classic Operetta. I was sorely disappointed. I will start with Frankie Howard's performance of Sir Joseph. I cannot say that he preformed the part badly, because that would imply that he actually did the part. He said very few of Gilbert's words (he seemed to ad-lib most of the duologue) and he sang none of Sulivan's notes. If one does not say the lines of a part, or sing the music of it, it cannot be said that one performed the part at all. What he did do, was not very entertaining. As Captain Corcoran, Peter Marshal was not nearly as horrendous as Mr. Howard, but was still far from good. He sang the part well, but his acting, both in his interpretation of his lines and his facial expression, was very annoying and of a rather silly nature. Alan Watt was a mediocre Dick Deadeye at best. He would randomly make oddly silly faces for no real reason taking any power from his lines. He also popped our from random objects for no apparent reason. For the character to have any humorous effect he must be serious about what he is doing, and between the random jumping, and odd faces, it was obvious that he was little more than a clown. Ralph and Josphine were both decently portrayed, singing well and acting sufficiently. As a whole however this production had very few good scenes and many that made me wince. Therefore I cannot recommend it to anyone.
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