Ruddigore: a look back
Jan. 31st, 2005 11:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
damontIt was 11 pm on January 31st of my freshman year in college. The curtain calls were being made. Soon we would strike the set. Sinfonicron was concluding a successful run of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore, or, The Witch's Curse.
I was a new brother in Phi Mu Alpha (one of the parent organizations of Sinfonicron). I had been a rehearsal pianist for the first 10 days of Camp Sinfonicron, as well as doing set construction along with everyone else and loading lights with the other acrophilic monkeys. During dress rehearsals and the actual run of the show, I worked on the props crew. I had been a techie of sorts in high school; this was the show where I found out how much I actually liked the backstage stuff.
The show itself is a sendup of the sort of melodrama popular in the 1880s. Luckily, the basic concepts wear well; the storyline and plot gadgets are near universal across time, and Gilbert wisely avoided making any topical references. This makes Ruddigore one of the least dated G&S plays, unlike some of their earlier works such as Patience and Princess Ida. It is also very much an ensemble piece, with solo arias for seven parts, and ten duets/trios. One of the trios is this play's patter song, which ends with the notorious meta-patter line: "This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter isn't generally heard, and if it is, it doesn't matter."
(WARNING: plot ahead. Could be construed as spoilers, though I do not reveal the ending.)
The show is set in a village in Cornwall. It opens with the Chorus of Professional Bridesmaids singing about about the village's fairest maid, Rose, and wondering when she will marry someone -- for all the men in town are waiting for Rose to make a choice before they start courting anyone else, and thus it has been six months since the bridesmaids' services have been required. They ask one of the older spinsters, Hannah, about it. They also ask her why she has never married. It turns out that over ten years previously, she promised herself to one who wooed her under an assumed name. When she found out he was Roderick Murgatroyd, the Baronet of Ruddigore, she refused to wed him. Roderick has been dead now for some years but Hannah still pines for him and cannot bring herself to marry another.
The bridesmaids ask Hannah what's so bad about being Baronet of Ruddigore, in answer to which she sings about the Legend of the Curse. The first Baronet enjoyed persecuting witches, but one survived long enough to lay a curse on him and every heir who held the title after him: that they must commit a crime every day or die in great agony.
Now Rose enters. As a babe she was left by dying parents in the village, with a book of etiquette as her only possession beyond her clothing. This etiquette book has become her Guide To Life (tm). While cute, Rose is not long in the brains department; she is very kind-hearted though. She sees Hannah looking a bit peaked from telling the bridesmaids about the curse, and offers her an apple from her basket. The apple has a bite taken out of it. (This was planned. It generates a chorus of chuckles from the audience, which was the desired reaction.)
Hannah asks her why she hasn't married yet. Rose replies that the single men in the village just don't inspire her to thoughts of romance, and even if they did, how could she make it known without violating one or another Rule Of Etiquette? (The latter done in song.) Hannah then asks her about Robin Oakapple, a young farmer in the vicinity. Well, okay, Rose admits an attraction there, but has never seen much interest in her coming from him.
Exeunt the ladies; enter Robin and his servant Adam, aho addresses him as Sir Rivven (short for Ruthven) Murgatroyd, much to Robin's distress. Ten years ago he ran away, leaving his younger brother Despard to inherit the baronetcy and its attendant curse. The only ones who know that Rivven is alive are Adam, Rivven/Robin himself, and R's foster brother Richard, who sails in the Royal Navy. Robin confesses to Adam an attraction to Rose, but is too shy to declare himself directly. Robin and Rose meet up, and sing to each other about how they know someone who is attracted to someone else but is scared to say so (yeah, RIGHT...) and each asks the other for advice, which is given. Now we all know that the youth and the maid being sung about are really the singers themselves... and if they would only ACT on the advice they just got, everything would be fine. But the play would be much too short and not nearly interesting enough... so they get cold feet again.
Richard enters, home from the sea. Robin asks him to court Rose on his (Robin's) behalf. Richard agrees, but then he sees Rose. (...with the help on closing night of several cue cards with rather, er, suggestive illustrations. To his credit, Richard did not completely lose it on stage.) Richard is tongue-tied momentarily as Rose enters. She interprets this as minor distress and offers him an apple out of her basket. (Now with half a dozen bites taken out of it. Louder laughter from the audience. Rose, whom we had NOT told in advance about the props crew continuing to eat the prop apple as the show wore on, is a bit nonplussed for a moment.) But Richard soon recovers, and decides to court Rose for himself instead of for Robin. Rose accepts.
Robin comes back, having fetched the bridesmaids, but there is considerable confusion over precisely who the bridegroom is (leading to several false starts of the song). Once Richard has finally made it clear what happened, Robin takes Rose aside and points out many of Richard's positive qualities in a most unflattering way; Rose changes her mind about marrying Richard, and Robin finally gets up the nerve to pop the question himself. Rose accepts, and everyone goes off to plan the wedding.
Enter Mad Margaret. She sings a sad song, with the help of some flowers. (These flowers were delivered up out of the orchestra pit. The first three nights they came up in the bell of a trumpet. Closing night they were delivered on the end of an extended trombone slide -- another unplanned change which caused Margaret to giggle a bit and the audience to laugh some more.) Rose comes back in, and sees Margaret sitting head in hands. Rose asks if she can help console her, and offers Margaret the apple. (Which is now nothing but a core. Audience is ROFL. Rose glares offstage at the props crew. If looks could kill I wouldn't be here to tell you about it.) It turns out that Margaret loves Despard (the current holder of the Ruddigore Baronetcy), and was betrothed to him, but was jilted by him which drove her bonkers. She thinks that Despard is throwing her over for someone else, and is out to GET said someone. That someone is Rose, but Margaret doesn't recognize her. Rose identifies herself and says she's never met Despard and has no designs on him.
Despard comes in; he explains that whenever he starts to soften in his criminal ways, his ancestors come out of their portraits in the gallery and torture him until he gives in and returns to crime. It turns out that his planned crime for this day is to abduct Rose. He meets up with Richard, who tells Despard that his brother Rivven is alive. (This is an attempt to keep Rose from marrying Robin.) Despard agrees to confront Rivven/Robin, and does so, interrupting the wedding ceremony. Rose's etiquette standards disallow her marrying anyone who must commit a crime every day, and so she throws Rivven/Robin over and offers herself first to Despard (who refuses, holding himself to his earlier promise to Margaret) and then to Richard, though they do not marry immediately.
One week later, Robin (I mean, RUTHven) is having a hard time settling in to his sudden change of status. He has been carrying out acts each day that are technically crimes. But his ancestors come out of their portraits (in what is perhaps the scariest musical number in all of G&S) and tell him he's got to commit more serious crimes. Hmmm... maybe he should carry off a lady, yes that's it, his next crime must be to carry off a lady, or else. Robin/Ruthven asks "or else what?" (silly boy!) and they give him a small taste, as the audience goes ROFL again. (The script says all the ghosts point at R/R, who falls on the floor in agony. This is FAR too tame and nobody ever does it. Sample tortures include tickling with feathers, which is what we did; or singing a G&S number, from this show or another show, in about six and a half clashing keys. This usually draws the biggest laughs from the audience.) R/R of course gives in and agrees, sending Adam out to find a lady to carry off.
Despard and Margaret reappear, now looking Eminently Respectable. Except that Margaret still has fits of madness, and they settle on using a particular word as a focus for her to calm herself with. They are here to see R/R and try to reform him -- even though it would mean his death, and Despard's regaining the unwanted baronetcy, but this uncomfortable fact seems to have escaped Despard at this time. They eventually get R/R to agree to confront Roderick (who is the lead ghost). But before the confrontation can happen, Adam returns with Hannah in tow. Hannah is not taking this abduction passively, and R/R is defending himself from her when Roderick shows up. You may recall that they were once betrothed? They sing a sad duet of love lost. In the meantime, R/R is researching a solution that might enable him to escape the curse and marry Rose after all.
When the set was struck and the strike party was over, I went back in to the theater and watched the Equity light burning all alone on the bare stage. It was a very emotional time for me (a lot of freshman year was like that) and I just sat there, sad that it was all over. I hope that some of the other people from that cast and crew remember it with fondness now, as I do.
I was a new brother in Phi Mu Alpha (one of the parent organizations of Sinfonicron). I had been a rehearsal pianist for the first 10 days of Camp Sinfonicron, as well as doing set construction along with everyone else and loading lights with the other acrophilic monkeys. During dress rehearsals and the actual run of the show, I worked on the props crew. I had been a techie of sorts in high school; this was the show where I found out how much I actually liked the backstage stuff.
The show itself is a sendup of the sort of melodrama popular in the 1880s. Luckily, the basic concepts wear well; the storyline and plot gadgets are near universal across time, and Gilbert wisely avoided making any topical references. This makes Ruddigore one of the least dated G&S plays, unlike some of their earlier works such as Patience and Princess Ida. It is also very much an ensemble piece, with solo arias for seven parts, and ten duets/trios. One of the trios is this play's patter song, which ends with the notorious meta-patter line: "This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter isn't generally heard, and if it is, it doesn't matter."
(WARNING: plot ahead. Could be construed as spoilers, though I do not reveal the ending.)
The show is set in a village in Cornwall. It opens with the Chorus of Professional Bridesmaids singing about about the village's fairest maid, Rose, and wondering when she will marry someone -- for all the men in town are waiting for Rose to make a choice before they start courting anyone else, and thus it has been six months since the bridesmaids' services have been required. They ask one of the older spinsters, Hannah, about it. They also ask her why she has never married. It turns out that over ten years previously, she promised herself to one who wooed her under an assumed name. When she found out he was Roderick Murgatroyd, the Baronet of Ruddigore, she refused to wed him. Roderick has been dead now for some years but Hannah still pines for him and cannot bring herself to marry another.
The bridesmaids ask Hannah what's so bad about being Baronet of Ruddigore, in answer to which she sings about the Legend of the Curse. The first Baronet enjoyed persecuting witches, but one survived long enough to lay a curse on him and every heir who held the title after him: that they must commit a crime every day or die in great agony.
Now Rose enters. As a babe she was left by dying parents in the village, with a book of etiquette as her only possession beyond her clothing. This etiquette book has become her Guide To Life (tm). While cute, Rose is not long in the brains department; she is very kind-hearted though. She sees Hannah looking a bit peaked from telling the bridesmaids about the curse, and offers her an apple from her basket. The apple has a bite taken out of it. (This was planned. It generates a chorus of chuckles from the audience, which was the desired reaction.)
Hannah asks her why she hasn't married yet. Rose replies that the single men in the village just don't inspire her to thoughts of romance, and even if they did, how could she make it known without violating one or another Rule Of Etiquette? (The latter done in song.) Hannah then asks her about Robin Oakapple, a young farmer in the vicinity. Well, okay, Rose admits an attraction there, but has never seen much interest in her coming from him.
Exeunt the ladies; enter Robin and his servant Adam, aho addresses him as Sir Rivven (short for Ruthven) Murgatroyd, much to Robin's distress. Ten years ago he ran away, leaving his younger brother Despard to inherit the baronetcy and its attendant curse. The only ones who know that Rivven is alive are Adam, Rivven/Robin himself, and R's foster brother Richard, who sails in the Royal Navy. Robin confesses to Adam an attraction to Rose, but is too shy to declare himself directly. Robin and Rose meet up, and sing to each other about how they know someone who is attracted to someone else but is scared to say so (yeah, RIGHT...) and each asks the other for advice, which is given. Now we all know that the youth and the maid being sung about are really the singers themselves... and if they would only ACT on the advice they just got, everything would be fine. But the play would be much too short and not nearly interesting enough... so they get cold feet again.
Richard enters, home from the sea. Robin asks him to court Rose on his (Robin's) behalf. Richard agrees, but then he sees Rose. (...with the help on closing night of several cue cards with rather, er, suggestive illustrations. To his credit, Richard did not completely lose it on stage.) Richard is tongue-tied momentarily as Rose enters. She interprets this as minor distress and offers him an apple out of her basket. (Now with half a dozen bites taken out of it. Louder laughter from the audience. Rose, whom we had NOT told in advance about the props crew continuing to eat the prop apple as the show wore on, is a bit nonplussed for a moment.) But Richard soon recovers, and decides to court Rose for himself instead of for Robin. Rose accepts.
Robin comes back, having fetched the bridesmaids, but there is considerable confusion over precisely who the bridegroom is (leading to several false starts of the song). Once Richard has finally made it clear what happened, Robin takes Rose aside and points out many of Richard's positive qualities in a most unflattering way; Rose changes her mind about marrying Richard, and Robin finally gets up the nerve to pop the question himself. Rose accepts, and everyone goes off to plan the wedding.
Enter Mad Margaret. She sings a sad song, with the help of some flowers. (These flowers were delivered up out of the orchestra pit. The first three nights they came up in the bell of a trumpet. Closing night they were delivered on the end of an extended trombone slide -- another unplanned change which caused Margaret to giggle a bit and the audience to laugh some more.) Rose comes back in, and sees Margaret sitting head in hands. Rose asks if she can help console her, and offers Margaret the apple. (Which is now nothing but a core. Audience is ROFL. Rose glares offstage at the props crew. If looks could kill I wouldn't be here to tell you about it.) It turns out that Margaret loves Despard (the current holder of the Ruddigore Baronetcy), and was betrothed to him, but was jilted by him which drove her bonkers. She thinks that Despard is throwing her over for someone else, and is out to GET said someone. That someone is Rose, but Margaret doesn't recognize her. Rose identifies herself and says she's never met Despard and has no designs on him.
Despard comes in; he explains that whenever he starts to soften in his criminal ways, his ancestors come out of their portraits in the gallery and torture him until he gives in and returns to crime. It turns out that his planned crime for this day is to abduct Rose. He meets up with Richard, who tells Despard that his brother Rivven is alive. (This is an attempt to keep Rose from marrying Robin.) Despard agrees to confront Rivven/Robin, and does so, interrupting the wedding ceremony. Rose's etiquette standards disallow her marrying anyone who must commit a crime every day, and so she throws Rivven/Robin over and offers herself first to Despard (who refuses, holding himself to his earlier promise to Margaret) and then to Richard, though they do not marry immediately.
One week later, Robin (I mean, RUTHven) is having a hard time settling in to his sudden change of status. He has been carrying out acts each day that are technically crimes. But his ancestors come out of their portraits (in what is perhaps the scariest musical number in all of G&S) and tell him he's got to commit more serious crimes. Hmmm... maybe he should carry off a lady, yes that's it, his next crime must be to carry off a lady, or else. Robin/Ruthven asks "or else what?" (silly boy!) and they give him a small taste, as the audience goes ROFL again. (The script says all the ghosts point at R/R, who falls on the floor in agony. This is FAR too tame and nobody ever does it. Sample tortures include tickling with feathers, which is what we did; or singing a G&S number, from this show or another show, in about six and a half clashing keys. This usually draws the biggest laughs from the audience.) R/R of course gives in and agrees, sending Adam out to find a lady to carry off.
Despard and Margaret reappear, now looking Eminently Respectable. Except that Margaret still has fits of madness, and they settle on using a particular word as a focus for her to calm herself with. They are here to see R/R and try to reform him -- even though it would mean his death, and Despard's regaining the unwanted baronetcy, but this uncomfortable fact seems to have escaped Despard at this time. They eventually get R/R to agree to confront Roderick (who is the lead ghost). But before the confrontation can happen, Adam returns with Hannah in tow. Hannah is not taking this abduction passively, and R/R is defending himself from her when Roderick shows up. You may recall that they were once betrothed? They sing a sad duet of love lost. In the meantime, R/R is researching a solution that might enable him to escape the curse and marry Rose after all.
When the set was struck and the strike party was over, I went back in to the theater and watched the Equity light burning all alone on the bare stage. It was a very emotional time for me (a lot of freshman year was like that) and I just sat there, sad that it was all over. I hope that some of the other people from that cast and crew remember it with fondness now, as I do.
