Hall -- October 10-19.

For whatever reason (though a few spring to mind), the Gilbert & Sullivan Society decided to stage Joseph Papp's Broadway version of `The Pirates of Penzance' for its 25th anniversary offering.

With a cheerful mish-mash of theatrical styles that owed more to silent movies than to theatre, it was an evening of rollicking, even coarse fun, with pirates swinging leggily from nautical ropes, and policemen cavorting about with kick-lines and cartwheels.

Sets in this $80,000 production were lavish, with a life-scale pirate boat, cannons a-blazing, heaving into sight as the curtain rose, was impressive. The audience soon got into the swing of things, too, laughing uproariously throughout, applauding ecstatically and affording the hard-working cast a standing ovation at the end. Still, it should be remembered that this is basically the same audience that claps in the middle of a symphony (presumably hoping it's the end) and, as one jaded acquaintance rather naughtily observed, "In Bermuda you get a standing ovation just for showing up.'' While there is certainly nothing wrong, or even unusual in having a new look at an old opera, sometimes setting them in different centuries and different countries, the sanctity of the music is never, ever in question.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in this latest Gilbert & Sullivan effort.

The honky-tonk twang of the electronic keyboards provided a clearly ominous `silent movie' intro to the Overture which set the musical signature for the evening.

Musical director Elisabeth Weber produced a bright enough sound from her no-strings band, but in this production, the musical requirements -- both orchestral and vocal -- played a very firm second place to the unfolding drama. This, in itself, is a bizarre departure for a society founded to perform musical productions.

It is perhaps even harder to understand just why the brilliant verbal satire of W.S. Gilbert -- whose wit, incidentally, influenced both Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw -- has been given the `dumbing down' treatment and reduced to the level of American vaudeville which, of course, depends heavily on visual rather than verbal humour. Gilbert, whose purposefully preposterous plots poked fun at the Establishment and poured ridicule on the hypocrisy of the `upper classes' is as relevant today as he ever was. The quintessentially English `Savoy' Operas are masterpieces of erudite charm and subtle wit -- it is the American sledgehammer approach that kicks them into the realm of the ridiculous.

Director Richard Fell and choreographer Barbara Frith certainly know how to wring every last laugh from an audience: the sense of vitality and pace could not be faulted and it was encouraging to see so many new, young faces in the male chorus. They coped extremely well with the famously catchy tunes, whether it was the Rollicking Band of Pirates, or bemoaning that A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One.

There was a new line-up of mostly new female singers in the chorus, as well.

Musically they did not fare as well, producing some harsh-sounding choral singing, at times almost shouted rather than sung. They obviously suffered too, from a fatal decision to lower some of the key registers.

Of the principals, Gordon Campbell leapt with spectacular effect into the swashbuckling spirit of things, even looking like Kevin Kline (the Pirate King in the Papp movie version) and investing plenty of Kline's slapstick humour in between some excellent singing.

There was a `star' performance, too, from John Ross who took on the role of the Major General, bringing marvellous articulation to the tongue-twisting show-stopper, `I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General'. He alone of all the characters, was allowed to let the gloriously satirical lines speak for themselves.

Ruth Vallender, with her strong, clear voice and excellently cast as nurse Ruth, was attractive enough to give some plausibility to the fact that her charge, Frederick thought her beautiful until he met the fair Mabel and her sisters.

Mark Hamilton, who has a pleasant tenor voice, played Frederick, doing as much as is possible with the frankly thankless task of competing as a straight young hero in company with some very forceful, not to say, eccentric characters. One of the highlights of the evening was his amusing little trio, `A Paradox', with Gordon Campbell and Ruth Vallender. In the lesser roles, Wayne Holt, one of Bermuda's exciting new musical talents, sang superbly as the Pirate King's mate, Samuel.

Nancy Thompson, apart from her striking good looks, was hopelessly miscast as the heroine Mabel: it really seems quite extraordinary that with the exceptional musical talent that abounds on this Island, a soprano could not be found to sing this role. Sullivan was a technically demanding musician and never more so than in the aria he devised for Mabel, `Poor Wand'ring One' which is full of very difficult scales and trills. This musical inadequacy was all too apparent, as well, in the lovely duet, `Stay Frederick, Stay', and in what should have been the triumphant climax to `When the Foeman Bares his Steel' with the soprano's voice ringing out above the `Ta-ran-ta-ras' of the Policemen. This, alas, was not to be, thus further compromising the musical validity of this production.

All the more reason, then, to heave a sigh of relief for the appearance of Keith Madeiros as the Police Sergeant, confidently leading his troops in a whacky display of song and dance; while their antics were frankly `over the top', Madeiros is an actor with a brilliant sense of wit, who can hold any audience in the palm of his hand. This he proceeded to do, well backed by the chorus who had been rigorously drilled by Barbara Frith.

It was largely thanks to Madeiros and his fellow Policemen that the second act closed on such a happily comical note: even Gilbert and Sullivan's severest detractors could not argue that they knew a thing or two about cranking out hit numbers which will almost certainly resound through the next century.

What this so-called Gilbert & Sullivan Society must surely be debating in light of this somewhat tarnished silver anniversary production, is whether this kind of supercilious lip-service to the two maestros is quite what the founders had in mind. I would think not and, probably, the sooner they drop all pretences and start rolling out an undemanding diet of Andrew Lloyd Webber extravaganzas, the better.

PATRICIA CALNAN A CONSPIRACY OF PIRACY -- Planning an attack on the wicked Pirates are (left to right):- Frederick (Mark Hamilton), his newly-beloved Mabel (Nancy Thompson) and the very model of a modern Major-General (John Ross) in the Gilbert & Sullivan Society's 25th anniversary production of `The Pirates of Penzance' at City Hall.

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