Contributor: Matthew Campbell

Many people today tend to disregard the light operetta as a form of musical theatre, or even forget that it is in fact an early form of musical theatre rather than a different genre. It cannot be classed as purely opera if we are to compare it to say Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ for example, and William Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan) once remarked during a rehearsal for ‘HMS Pinafore’ that “unfortunately this is not Italian Opera, but only a burlesque of the worst possible kind” (Gilbert, Gilbert & Sullivan; A Biography, 1935) however there is no doubt that the early works of Gilbert & Sullivan do indeed resemble an operatic style even if they are not to be considered so.

What we are subsequently faced with is a new genre under the title ‘Musical Theatre’ that many regard to have begun in 1927 with the publishing of Jerome Kerne’s ‘Showboat’. This new era of music theatre seemed to be much more appealing to a wider audience of both spectators and performers and indeed the volume of works that have emerged since is quite remarkable if compared to those under the genre of light operetta. This genre within itself appears to be uncapped as even today new musicals are written and categorised as musical theatre meaning that the genre spans almost a century with no sign of it slowing down.

Why do I mention this? Well as I was examining a list of past productions by Downpatrick Choral Society, I noticed something rather strange along the timeline. From 1964 – 1981, all of the productions staged were of an early music theatre or light operetta genre (works such as The Mikado, Iolanthe & The Gondoliers). However, in 1982 the society staged a production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, a musical planted quite firmly in a sub-genre that is now know as ‘The Golden Age’ of musical theatre (works written between 1943 – 1959).
See http://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/timelines/1943-1959/ for more information on ‘The Golden Age’ of musical theatre,

I found this abrupt shift in genres quite surprising and indeed the timeline that followed did provoke some questions.

1982 – Oklahoma
1983 – The Pirates of Penzance
1984 – Patience
1985 – Waltzes from Vienna
1986 – The Gondoliers
1987 – Fiddler On The Roof
1988 – Carousel
1989 – Ham
1990 – The Sound of Music

Notice how after Oklahoma in 1982, the society returned to older, more familiar repertoire of an earlier genre for the following four years and I am intrigued as to why. Was it that the audience reaction did not agree with a new genre of work and therefore they retreated to a safer option, or perhaps the performers themselves did not like the new style of work and preferred to return to what they were more comfortable with. Either way it seems rather strange that after one production they company then retired the idea for at least four years before attempting something ‘different’ again.

Now in 1987 when they staged ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, there appears to be a more consistent trail of the works which followed as they at this point had taken to performing several works from the new ‘Golden Age’ of musical theatre. I can only assume by this stage that the reception of these newer genre style pieces was more welcoming as from that moment moving forward there appeared to be a turning point in the types of work being staged, all of which was newer more commercial material that wouldn’t be out of place on the West End of Broadway stage today.

I must point out that in 1989 the company were months into rehearsals for a production of ‘South Pacific’ when the licensing company withdrew the performance rights to the production without warning. At this point the director at the time, Peter Kennedy, produced a script for a piece called ‘Ham’ which he had written himself. With three weeks to go until opening night, the company took to learning this brand new piece which by all accounts went down very well with the local audience.

Image courtesy of Downpatrick Choral Society archive

Sources
Hesketh, Pearson, Gilbert & Sullivan; A Biography (Hamish Hamilton LTD. 1935)
Fiddler on The Roof – 50th Anniversary production programme (2012)