Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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The other auspicious debut was Jeffrey Craham's Pirate King. He had good presence, and was highly successful in striking the necessary balance between the character's sham blustering and innate pleasantncss. llc sang vigorously falthough alarmingly sharp at timcslj. and infected everyone with his own huge enjoyment of the whole thing. It was a pity that John Macdonald. another seasoned veteran of these affairs. should have found himself miscast in his final appearance. He has done excellent work in past productions in the nice boy type of part. but the nice boy characteristic won't do for the Major-General. and he seemed nervous and ill at ease - particularly in the famous land extremely difficultj patter song. Even so. his past achievements mean that he is another who will be much missed in the future. In smaller parts Jane Ginsberg. Jane Hampson. Ingrid Sorensen and Bill Stratton all acquitted themselves well. The three factions of the chorus were all good in their various ways. The Ashbury boys made splendid pirates. and some of the lechcrous glee displayed by the younger ones. when told that they could help themselves to the Major- General's daughters. was so convincingly natural that one wonders if the Grade Nine curriculum needs careful scrutiny! The policemen were por- trayed ably fand aptlylj by Ashbury masters. The girls looked as charming as always. but seemed just a little more inhibited than some of their prede- cessorsg they were less successful than the boys in the vital job of reacting to dramatic situations and staying in character. and their singing. although pretty and accurate. was somewhat muted. The sets were adequate. but the lighting was poor. Costumes were good. and make-up was better than ever before. Mrs. Lorna Harwood-Jones was a tower of strength at the piano. and was always ready to save musical situations on the stage which threatened to become critical: fortunately she did not have to render this all-important service very often. Mr. Geoffrey Thomson. Producer and Musical Director. is to be congrat- ulated on his firm musical and dramatic command. without which this production could not have reached so high a standard. The Critic 21

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THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE AT ELMWOOD For the fifth year in succession Ashbury joined forces with Elmwood to present a Gilbert and Sullivan opera - this time The Pirates of Penzance . Although this is one of the shorter Savoy operas, it poses problems to an amateur company. There is very little spoken dialogue, much of the story is told through recitative and arioso, and it is essential that every point should get across clearly. lt is also one of the best known and frequently performed of all comic operas, consequently every production runs far more risk of comparison with other productions. It is pleasant to be able to report that the Ashbury-Elmwood team solved these problems successfully. We were able to follow the story with no trouble, and the production did not have to fear comparison with others. Indeed, one member of the audience, who has had much to do with both amateur and professional theatre, was heard to say that this was the best school presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan she had ever seen. It was certainly far and away the best of the five which this company has mounted. It had pace, clarity, good movement and grouping, and mainly excellent performances in the leading roles. It is, however, time that Mr. Geoffrey Thomson discovered some new dance steps, or looked for a profes- sional choreographer! Of the principals, pride of place must be given to the hero and heroine - Dell Hallett and Jacqueline Hurd. They have both had plenty of experience in past productions, and this obviously paid dividends. There was no gauche- ness or embarrassment in their love scenes, and they both acted with sincerity, conviction and assurance. Jacqueline Hurd's singing voice is small, but she uses it musically and intelligently, and she shows a promising com- mand of coloratura technique - a technique which is called for pretty often in this part. Dell Hallett showed that he is a rare phenomenon among teen-agers for adults, for that matterj - a natural tenor. He encompassed his high notes easily and with no sign of strain or effort, his enunciation was excellent, and he caught to perfection all the many and varied moods of his immensely long part. Both these two show very real promise. We regret that this was their fare- well appearance in Rockcliffe Park, and it is to be hoped that they will lose no opportunity of gaining further musical and dramatic experience, indeed, they ought to study singing seriously. But perhaps the finest all-round performance of the evening came from Jennifer Chance as Ruth - Gilbert's usual old maid. unloved and on the shelf. Her facial expressions and sense of timing were superb. particularly in the long duet with Frederick, when he accuses her of deception. Jennifer Chance is another who will be a great loss to the company. and who should not let her talents go to waste. There were two very promising debuts. The first was Sean Power as the Sergeant of Police. He is a natural clown: he tended to overdo the buffoonery at times. but it is far easier for a producer to curb excesses than to get blood out of a stone! Sean Power is no stone, and we look forward to further manifestations of his great gift for comedy. 20

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