No 4 -- March 1976 Edited by Michael Walters
REPORTS OF AMATEUR PRODUCTIONS - GEOIDS OP. SOC - PIRATES
On Friday and Saturday 12-13 March Geoids Operatic Society produced a semi-staged, semi-concert version of Pirates in the London Nautical School, Stamford Street. Bernard Farenden was the MD and Michael Round was at the piano. The costumes, needless to say, were makeshift, the ladies being in modern dress; this caused producer Peggy Tierney to make a couple of alterations to the text: - 2040 for 1940 and "Our Dear Monarch's Name" (accompanied by the unfurling of a diminutive Union Jack) for "Queen Victoria's Name". The alterations were harmless, but, I felt, unnecessary. The chief virtue of the performance was the magnificent Mabel of Meriel Beeden, vocally she surpassed herself, particularly in "Poor Wandering One" which was one of the best renderings I have ever heard of the song. The audience, however, clapped politely throughout, and seemed not to be sufficiently musically aware to realise that this number was head and shoulders above anything else in the evening. John Roebuck gave a splendidly idiosyncratic rendering of the Major General, though the legato of "Softly sighing to the river" was lost. Barbara Nicholls was a sterling Ruth (which almost goes without saying) but both she and Meriel were hampered in their duets by having an unromantic, plump tenor with a vibrato (imported from Grosvenor Op. Soc). The rest were mostly competent but little more; Ron Pocock, however, phrased badly as Samuel, and unfortunately he does not have the sort of face that suits a pirates earring! Michael Round played with great aplomb and style (though he hit a few wrong notes), his overture was a splendid piece of playing; but on the whole the evening was unexciting. Eddie Goffron, prompting, had nothing to do on Saturday, when I attended, but I gather he had quite a bit of work the previous night. MICHAEL WALTERS.
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