Review: HMS Pinafore - Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society, Swan Theatre, Worcester.

IT'S party time as the gallant crew of WODS get a fair wind in their sails for Gilbert and Sullivan's hit comic opera.

Specially chosen for this year's 125th anniversary celebrations - it was the first show the company staged in 1892 - this is a stirring production with some excellent lead performances.

Once again with this company, though, it is the strength in depth from the set dressing to the chorus and choreography that makes the show work so well.

The orchestra, conducted by Sheila Bratt, takes the centre of the single setting, the main deck of the ship, with a backing chorus and the action cleverly taking place all around it.

The simple story of the Captain's daughter destined to be wed to the Ruler of the Queen's Navy but really in love with a humble sailor carries Gilbert's witty broadside at society, mainly the class divide and people in high places.

One target is Sir Joseph Porter, superbly played by Andrew Rawle with just the right balance of pomposity and foppishness. He is followed everywhere by a lively gathering led by his first cousin (Suzanne Millington) and his other cousins, sisters and aunts and clashes with Michael Staiger standing tall despite everything as Captain Corcoran. Chris Holloway is outstanding as Ralph Rackstraw and veteran John Clay produces a suitably dastardly Dick Deadeye.

Though the work is best known for its patter and comic songs like When I Was A Lad and A British Tar, it also has some delightful solos beautifully sung here by Lynsey Squair as Josephine and Kimberley Kainey as Little Buttercup.

The show is subtitled ..And Other Infernal Nonsense, and the second half opens with a charity concert ostensibly being held on board for the WODS celebrations featuring some nautical numbers including a dazzling tap routine to Anything Goes and a great turn by Glynis Smith with Joyce Grenfell's Stately As A Galleon.

Add on a sailor's hornpipe and a flag-waving rendition of Rule Britannia as a finale and it's a rousing evening's entertainment.

As a review of the first production in 1892 put it - "the cordial appreciation displayed was thoroughly well deserved." That's as true now as it was then.

Paul Francis