HMS Pinafore
English National Opera
London Coliseum
by Gilbert & Sullivan
With Les Dennis, John Savournin, Elgan Llyr Thomas, Henry Waddington, Marcus Farnsworth, Ossian Huskinson, Alexandra Oomens, Bethan Langford, Hilary Summers, Flick Ferdinando, Spencer Darlaston-Jones and Rufus Bateman.
Conducted by Chris Hopkins
Directed by Cal McCrystal
Set and Costume Design by takis - Nominated for 2022 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.
Lighting Design by Tim Mitchell
Choreography by Lizzi Gee
Additional Material by Cal McCrystal and Toby Davies
PRESS
Mail on Sunday ★★★★★
English National Opera let McCrystal loose on Iolanthe back in 2018. Now he returns with more captivating Gilbert & Sullivan that looks good, sounds good, and by golly will do you good.
The Spectator
"we were finally seeing G&S the way it is meant to be seen: virtuoso musical comedy, bursting with colour and drenched in laughter from a capacity crowd."
Sunday Times ★★★★
“This is one of McCrystal’s brightest innovations”
London Unattached
“A first-class, rollicking production. It’s great to see the ENO back at the top of its game with this vibrant take on the Gilbert and Sullivan classic with production values as strong as any West End musical."
The Times ★★★★
“Only the resolutely curmudgeonly and perhaps a few Gilbert and Sullivan purists will fail the leave English National Opera’s Sparkling production of HMS Pinafore without a smile on their face.”
British Theatre Guide
"If you want a tongue-in-cheek take on Gilbert and Sullivan’s foot-tapping 1878 HMS Pinafore, look no further.”
The Observer ★★★
“The ENO delights with a lavish staging of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera.”
Mark Shenton
“ENO’s utterly shipshape new production of the G&S campathon HMS PINAFORE, rendered with a nearly continuous stream of laugh-out loud funny moments by director Cal McCrystal. Some may frown — the laughs sometimes bury the music — but it’s both lavish & riotous. A visual as well as musical treat.”
Limelight Magazine ★★★★
“What makes this new Pinafore so entertaining – apart from a first-rate cast and smartly judged reading of the score – is the funny business. McCrystal is a genius when it comes to physical comedy and visual gags”
inews.co.uk ★★★★
“Cal McCrystal’s silly spectacle is colourful and distinctly naughty. This operatic pantomime is a cut above, even from below decks.”
Trevor Phillips The Times
“ENO should issue a trigger warning that you might laugh yourself to death”
londonology.co.uk
“HMS Pinafore is a glorious and sumptuous spectacle. Cal McCrystal directs this opera for laughs.”
timeandleisure.co.uk ★★★★
“Above all, this production is enormous fun. McCrystal ensures it cracks along at a great pace, always with something new to marvel or chuckle at. Thoroughly recommended.”
FamilyAffairsAndOtherMatters.com
“This comic opera has been reinvented by the director Cal McCrystal with one aim in mind:- FUN. It’s so entertaining I want to see it again and again. He plays it for laughs and uses every trick in the book to entertain the audience.”
SeenandHeard
“Puritans stay away: this ENO HMS Pinafore is pure unadulterated fun”
markaspen.com
“There were momentous curtain calls and many encores. I would really recommend director Cal McCrystal’s classy production on so many levels, especially as a pre-Christmas outing. Make it a surprise: “Oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen”
The Express ★★★
“Like most G&S, Pinafore is rather outdated and needs a good director to introduce some twists that appeal to a modern audience and on past performance, Cal McCrystal had all the right credentials”
OperaWire
“There’s a fusillade of classic West End spectacle in McCrystal’s show”
The Stage ★★★★
“McCrystal – a comic director with a touch of genius”
Evening Standard ★★★
“McCrystal misses few opportunities to skewer our current hapless administration.”
YEAR
2021