‘Gondoliers’: A Memorable Trip

Repeating his guest appearance in “The Gondoliers” at Ambassador Auditorium, veteran Gilbert & Sullivan basso Donald Adams again made Don Alhambra, the Grand Inquisitor, one of his more memorable portrayals. This despite the fact that in his decades of Savoyard experience, Adams never sang the role with his late, lamented home company, the D’Oyly Carte Opera.

He did perform the part in a new production for Opera a la Carte, the Southern California budget company, at Ambassador in 1989, by all reports dominating the stage. Saturday, he did that again, savoring the part, the words, the facets of character, the healthy vocal sounds he still, at 65, makes resonate so potently.

Though Opera a la Carte cannot boast many strong performers--and few of long experience--Adams was nonetheless surrounded by willing and pleasant colleagues.

Most successful among them was company founder Richard Sheldon, who delivered a practiced and crisply pronounced, if far from charismatic, Duke of Plaza Toro. Eugenia Hamilton inhabited the part of the Duchess, vocally and histrionically, most comfortably. If Kris Kennedy--promoted upward from Gianetta five years ago--lacked the vocal amplitude and dramatic projection one expects in the part, she showed good promise for later. But her good-looking Luiz, the also-promising Benjamin Reckdahl, was simply overparted.

As the gondoliers/monarchs, Patrick Gallagher and Eli Villanueva, more effective as singers than as actors at this juncture, delivered strong down payments on future development. Also in vocal development limbo: Carol Winston (Gianetta) and Teresa Brown (Tessa), both of whom revealed voices of talent. None of the singers needed the amplification provided gratuitously in a hall built for natural sound.

After a scrappy overture, Frank Fetta’s Opera a la Carte Orchestra contributed confident playing. Sheldon provided the stage direction, effective and unimaginative by turns. The 18-member chorus sang bravely, often delivering words clearly.