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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
I discovered this production about 10 years ago (on good, old fashioned VHS) but what a delight to rediscover it on DVD! A G&S fan friend once told me with a sorry shake of his head that Patience was 'not much fun'. Ha! This production makes best use of every shred of humour. The mechanics of the production are a delight - the pre-Raphaelite lovesick maidens, the wonderfully stylised set of Act II, wonderfully bitter Bunthorne, Archibald the Alright, and the divine Lady Jane - who not content to play the 'cello at the opening of Act II, plays the double bass! It's just jam packed with vibrant, good fun. It is true that Patience herself has clearly travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain and Northern Ireland accumulating accents, but if this is the only criticism I can make of the show then it's a really great show!
I recommend this to anyone - G&S fans should love the attention to the text and to the great music - and people who have never heard G&S will find a production that is both humourous and inviting.
I recommend this to anyone - G&S fans should love the attention to the text and to the great music - and people who have never heard G&S will find a production that is both humourous and inviting.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
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The singing is good, the acting is good, although one of the star moments appears too be unplanned (near the end of Act II, Lady Jane barges into Bunthorne and sends him sprawling - and then can't control her laughter). It's a live performance in front of an audience at the Sydney Opera House, so accidents like that can't be cut or redone, but this is a comic opera after all, it's supposed to be funny, and Gilbert once told an actor to make a regular feature of a similar accident in the Mikado because the audience loved it so much.
Patience contains some of Sullivan's best music, and Gilbert's work is excellent too. As a satire of the aesthetic movements that were running around in the late 1800s, you will enjoy it more if you understand something about them, but The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan (available here on Amazon) explains a lot of the refences, and the opera is very funny even if you don't know anything about the Pre-Raphaelites, Oscar Wilde, etc.
The performance sticks very closely to Gilbert's original words, with only a very few lines being cut.
The biggest complaint is the Patience has a weird accent - or she does in the spoken dialogue, it's not so noticeable in any of the songs.
Patience contains some of Sullivan's best music, and Gilbert's work is excellent too. As a satire of the aesthetic movements that were running around in the late 1800s, you will enjoy it more if you understand something about them, but The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan (available here on Amazon) explains a lot of the refences, and the opera is very funny even if you don't know anything about the Pre-Raphaelites, Oscar Wilde, etc.
The performance sticks very closely to Gilbert's original words, with only a very few lines being cut.
The biggest complaint is the Patience has a weird accent - or she does in the spoken dialogue, it's not so noticeable in any of the songs.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Over the years I have grown accustomed to many tired and poor performances of the Gilbert & Sullivan operas but this production by Australian Opera is a revelation! Having seen Mike Leigh's film of the G & S partnership, Topsy-Turvy, with its inspiring reconstructions of the first performances I decided to chance my arm again and try to find a really good production of one of their operas on DVD.
I can agree with the other reviewers opinions as to the quality of this production with good clear diction, correct British Army salutes, fine ensemble work and crisp liveley playing from the orchestra.
Strongly recommended.
I can agree with the other reviewers opinions as to the quality of this production with good clear diction, correct British Army salutes, fine ensemble work and crisp liveley playing from the orchestra.
Strongly recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent
Well - what can I say - Anthony Warlow in Pink Tights!!! Wonderful he lights up the stage when he comes on. All the cast had beautiful singing voices. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Cher
Patience Down Under
This production by Opera Australia has a freshness to it whilst avoiding any "updating" for a "modern audience". Read more
Published 4 months ago by Beejaygee
Patience
My first viewing of this Gilbert & Sullivan classic was on television as was this Opera Australia version. Read more
Published 5 months ago by fred
Beautifully staged, sung, and filmed
Gilbert & Sullivan Operettas are performed by many opera companaies world wide, but when Opera Austalia mounts a production you can be certain of seeing an absolutely beautiful... Read more
Published 9 months ago by John Lewis
Competent but unenthralling
It should be a national embarrassment that there are no filmed performances by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, other than the 1967 Mikado. Read more
Published 12 months ago by S. Devereux
Great fun and pleasure.
Only Australian opera can add another dimension to the much loved G and S operas and not bowdlerise them. Read more
Published 13 months ago by E. M. Thompson
Hidden gem
Despite being a G&S aficionado for many years, I had never seen Patience. Encouraged by the other reviews I decided to watch it for the first time on this DVD. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Wichenford Wolf
pity about Patience
This is cerainly beautifully produced. All the intrinsic humour is stylishly extracted from the lyrics and the action. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Harvey
The best performance of Gilbert and Sullivan available on DVD
SOURCE:
Live performance recorded at the Sydney Opera House in 1995. The production is based on the 1967 production of the English National Opera (as was the Brent Walker... Read more
Live performance recorded at the Sydney Opera House in 1995. The production is based on the 1967 production of the English National Opera (as was the Brent Walker... Read more
Published 21 months ago by L. E. Cantrell
Gilbert and Sullivan DVD ( Faveo) Australian Opera Company
An excellent performance of this Operetta, I would recommend it to any G & S enthusiast.
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. S. Welford
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