McAdo is the fourth Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company (GSVLO) production I have reviewed and it is my favorite. I’ve written before about the accessibility of Gilbert and Sullivan, how it seems like the bridge between traditional opera and musical theater. All of that is true here, if you like musicals, you’ll enjoy this. Yes, there will be some lyrics you will not catch, this is particularly true when a large portion of the cast all sings at once. But it’s in English and for the most part if you tune your ears in you catch more than enough. What you don’t catch you simply enjoy the beauty of the voices singing and the wonderful full orchestra performing Arthur Sullivan’s music. There are two completely different casts for the main roles for the show that alternate nights. I saw the Sullivan cast, I’m sure the Gilbert cast is great as well, but for myself, if I had time in my schedule to see it again, and I wish I did, I’d see the Sullivan cast again. There are Performers in roles that I cannot imagine anyone replacing them.
The Gilbert Cast and the Sullivan Cast Performance Schedule:
| The Gilbert Cast | The Sullivan Cast |
| Friday, November 1st, 7:30 pm | Saturday, November 2nd, 7:30 pm |
| Sunday, November 3rd, 2:00 pm | Saturday, November 9th, 2:00 pm |
| Friday, November 8th, 7:30 pm | Sunday, November 10th, 2:00 pm |
| Saturday, November 9th, 7:30 pm | Friday, November 15th, 7:30 pm |
| Saturday, November 16th, 2:00 pm | Saturday, November 16th, 7:30 pm |
| Sunday, November 17th, 2:00 pm | Friday, November 22nd, 7:30 pm |
| Saturday, November 23rd, 7:30 pm | Sunday, November 24th, 2:00 pm |
McAdo is Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado transplanted from Japan to Scotland thus removing a lot of troublesome and dated material. The adaption actually began with Gilbert and Sullivan Austin, as in Texas. Director Joe Andrews added some of his own tweaks including a hilarious prologue that was pure genius. This isn’t pure G&S, it’s possibly better, certainly for our times. The program contains a synopsis which I highly recommend you read before the play, it allows you to relax and enjoy the proceedings without worrying if you are catching everything. I’m not going to go into the plot here, it’s absurd, imagine Monty Python wrote an opera, well it’s not quite that silly, but it’s pretty damn silly. What is really great about it, is the two people you assume are the villains of the piece really aren’t. They play against the stereotypes of the Government official and the young lovers rival.
If you have never seen a Gilbert and Sullivan show, this is the one to see, it is so much fun and that is due to the wonderful direction of Joe Andrews, musical direction of Randal A. Buikema, and an energetic and playful cast. I can’t mention them all so I’m going to just give a nod to a couple of favorites. First off is Brandt Roberts as Coco, who is the guardian and fiance of Wynn Somme, the young love interest, we assume he’s going to be a villain, considering he’s also the town’s high Executioner. But no, he’s harmless and fairly good intentioned. Roberts is magnificent, his body language in itself creates a fully formed comedic character. He has the tone, the exact level of absurdity down, but he also has a great singing voice, that adds a sweetness to the character. Joe Allen plays Pubagh a town official…actually the only town official, he holds every office except that of the High Executioner. Here again is a character that we assume will be a villain, but by the end you really like him. I’m not sure we are really supposed to have that reaction, I think we are supposed to be indifferent at best, but I think this works better. Allen plays up the comic elements of the character his ambition and snobbery, but when the going gets rough and heads might roll, he’s in there with the rest of the characters trying to find the happy ending. Other performers that caught my eye and that were doing something special to draw the audience in or give us that extra laugh or surprised us with another dimension to their characters were Mallory Rabehl, Therese Kulas, Deb Haas, and Scott A.Gorman.
McAdo is a show I cannot recommend more highly, it’s such an enjoyable night at the theater, when I wasn’t laughing I was sitting there with a grin all over my face. The prologue really sets the tone on this one and I think will perfectly key those new to G&S into the vibe of the show. McAdo runs through November 24th at The Conn Theater in Minneapolis. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://gsvloc.org/
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