Playfulness Meets Pastries in Gilbert and Sullivan at the ENO | Theatre | Entertainment

Pastries and Pinafore may seem naturally well-matched, but adding a TV Bake Off presenter to the cast of HMS Pinafore sounds like a risky recipe. Thanks to inspired direction by Cal McCrystal, however, Mel Giedroyc proved to be the perfect ingredient to add flavour and modernity to the mix.

The ENO has recently got into the dubious habit of introducing stars from popular culture into Gilbert and Sullivan with the laudable motive of attracting a wider audience to opera. Usually, however, this results in a noticeable drop in standards, particularly in the singing. When this production of HMS Pinafore first appeared four years ago, Les Dennis appeared as Minister for the Navy, Sir Joseph Porter. His acting talents and comic timing were fine, but his vocal performance was rather dodgy. This time, Porter was played by award-winning bass-baritone Neal Davies who was excellent in the role.

Also on this occasion, McCrystal put his guest star to much better use by building a new role – indeed a set of roles – around the talents of Mel Giedroyc, who clearly enjoyed herself enormously, adding greatly to the humour of the piece and showing fine comic energy whenever she appeared on stage. Even before the opera itself began, Giedroyc appeared on stage with John Savournin, who has long been our greatest G&S exponent, who introduced her, making a fine comic double-act. Later she appeared in the supposedly non-speaking role of Cabin Boy, delivering cakes and drinks to Porter and the captain of the Pinafore, played by Savournin, when she was unable to stop herself lapsing into Bake Off mode and talking about the cakes.

G&S operettas were written in the late 19th century and despite their joyous music by Arthur Sullivan and brilliantly funny lyrics by William Gilbert (both of whom, incidentally, were knighted for their endeavours) they are often disparaged for being out-of-date, trivial and too imperialistic. Jonathan Miller even referred to G&S as “UKIP set to music”. Much of their reputation, however, has been due to their popularity among amateur groups who have delivered uninspired performances. Cal McCrystal’s production, however, shows how good they can be, especially when updated and performed by an outstanding cast as we see on this occasion.

Apart from those already mentioned, the leading role of Ralph Rackstraw was sung by Thomas Atkins, whose rich tenor voice was most impressive and well-suited to the part while proclaiming his hopeless love for the captain’s daughter Josephine, played by South Korean soprano Henna Nunn. New Zealand contralto Rhonda Browne was formidable as Buttercup, particularly as she revealed the ludicrous plot-change that saved the day, while the ENO chorus contributed greatly to the fun as deck-hands, especially when they were performing some very amusing hornpipe choreography and tap-dancing. The ENO orchestra was conducted at a brisk tempo by Matthew Kofi-Waldren, holding everything together as the performers enjoyed themselves.

The infectious humour of Mel Giedroyc seemed to transmit itself to everyone, including a woman sitting behind me who was giggling and laughing throughout. Under normal circumstances, I would disapprove of such behaviour, but in this case it seemed totally justified. I have long been a great fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, but this time was perhaps the most enjoyable of all.