G and S Sunken Vessel The Pirates of Penzance at Agassiz until next Saturday

THE PRODUCTION of Pirates of Penzance which opened at Agassiz last night is a lot like the claws of a Maine lobster: there are a few enjoyable morsels buried inside, but you have to wade through a pile of crud to get at them. The Harvard Gilbert and Sullivan Players have patched together the most remarkably uneven performance they have given in recent years.

I am not one of those purists who believe that only Isidore Godfrey can conduct G and S; I have even heard Malcolm Sargent do a good job of it. But one thing I do maintain is that Terrence Tobias cannot conduct G and S-he proved that last night. The pit orchestra's job on the overture was a disaster. The violins were out of tune, the winds were loud and over-represented, the whole piece was taken at a ridiculously slow pace, and nobody seemed to want to come in on cue. This interpretation (if you can call it that) of one of the liveliest overtures in the literature of operetta left the viewer ready to walk out.

Very little in the first act would have induced any reasonable audience to stay past intermission. The male chorus in competent in the opening scene, but only exemplary insofar as it drowns out the orchestra. Sully Bonn as Ruth has exactly the right singing voice for the part, but, alas, her acting is lackluster, and the conductor has made her opening song into an almost endless and boring dirge. Ronald Remy, as Frederic, is also the perfect singer for the role, but he can't act to save his life.

The big disappointment of the first act is Mabel's air, Poor Wandering One. This is the most stunningly impressive piece for soprano Sir Arthur Sullivan ever wrote, and usually acts as the bellwether of a performance. The last time I saw Pirates, it stopped the show for more than five minutes. The directors of this production, how-

Two decades later, with a change in architectural belief. Obsessed with the idea that everything in G and S has to be funny, they have transformed a soprano showpiece into a mindless burlesque. Barbara Menaker, as Mabel, goes along with the gag, and gives an adequate but useless performance.

There are good things in the first act; Jeffrey Wayne Davies' General Stanley is perfectly marvelous, and his version of the General's great song ("I am the very model of a modern major general") is quite fine. Nicholas Wyman as the Pirate King has a particularly good basso, which he uses to advantage. His acting, while good, could use improvement.

The whole police scene in Act II is handled as a broad farce, and one cannot help thinking that it might have been better played straightforwardly. Mark Baker as the Sergeant postured just a little too much to be comfortable. The second act in general hangs together more nicely, although the orchestra, once again, is embarrassing. Unless they learn to play in tune and to take their cues, the whole production would be measurably improved if it were done without them.