The North Coast Chorale takes on British musical satire with ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’

It’s something a little different for the North Coast Chorale, and some members chose to avoid it, but still a dedicated few will attempt their art in a brand new way this upcoming weekend.

That’s moving and singing at the same time.

The local chorale group will put on a full production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” or “The Lass That Loved a Sailor” at the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center.

Most of the chorale’s twice-per-season shows are music-only performances, but this production has combined the talents of music director Judith Markham Taylor and stage director Stewart Bell.

Written by the early 20th century English playwrights Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir W.S. Gilbert, “H.M.S. Pinafore” is a spoof on the rigid British class system that ruled society at that time. It was also a political jab at a titular head of the navy who had never served onboard a ship.

While today’s audiences may miss the parodies in some of the characters and songs, cast members say they will still delight in the show’s amusing spirit and political and social themes that still resonate today.

But for the choral members it has been a challenge to remember both their music and their blocking, said stage director Bell, who also plays Sir Joseph Porter (the admiral who has never been to sea).

“You work on your music and try to get comfortable with your actions and activities on the stage, and they’re sort of separate,” he said. “Chorus members in particular are used to concert singing, and so it’s stretching their experience quite a bit.”

He said some even chose not to join in this production because they felt the full show was a bit too much for them.

Yet, with “some really talented soloists” and other experienced players in the cast, Bell, who was one of the chorale’s first members when it began in 1990, said the show has been coming together wonderfully.

Bell actually performed “H.M.S. Pinafore” with a community college troupe on the Astoria High School stage about 11 years ago and said it has been a pleasure to redo the show, especially as a featured performer and not an understudy.

“I think it’s the plum role for a comedy,” he said. “Most of the other characters have straight and comedic sides … Sir Joseph is all ridiculous.”

He said the character is humorous in itself, but when the play was written, Gilbert and Sullivan gave the character a sharper edge of satire.

“They were skewering him with this character who really doesn’t know the bow from the stern, and it’s really quite amusing because he’s stuck up as well,” he said.

Music director Taylor said the show was an excellent opportunity for members of the chorale to challenge themselves.

“When you add theater to music it’s just a big, giant step forward,” she said.

Taylor’s cast, however, has risen to the challenge.

“This is a very nice group of singers, very talented.”

She said the chorale’s presentation of “H.M.S. Pinafore” follows two productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pirates of Penzance” done in the past two years.

Despite being written about a century ago, Taylor said the shows still relate extremely well with today’s audiences. Partly because the dialogue is genuinely funny at all levels.

“I laugh every time the same old lines come up,” she said. “You know they’re coming but you laugh anyway.”

Those wanting to join in some laughs can pick up tickets for the chorale’s two shows at the Clatsop Community College Library and Old Town Framing for $10, $6 and $4.50. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center, 16th Street and Franklin Avenue.

John Compere, a member of the chorale for five years, plays Captain Corcoran. He said he has been most pleased with the opportunity to work with some of the finest local talent. Of Genevieve Butenshon, who plays Jo-sephine, he said, “she can sing on any opera stage anywhere in the world, she’s just unbelievable.”

He added that chorale newcomer Richard Ellis has done a consummate job as the principal male character Ralph Rackstraw, and Deac Guidi, who plays Dick Deadeye, has a “wonderful stage presence and gorgeous voice.”

Other cast members include Janie Sexton playing Little Buttercup, LaMar Blackner as the boatswain’s mate and Dylan McMurty as the carpenter’s mate.

Compere said that playing a part in one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s classics has been great fun because of the high quality of talent and the timeless nature of the playwrights’ work.

“Even though the politics have changed, some of the same issues are still around,” he said.

If you go …What: ‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ performed by the North Coast Chorale

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 31 and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 1

Where: Clatsop Community College Performing Arts Center, 16th Street and Franklin Avenue

Admission: $10 for adults, $6 for students and seniors and $4.50 for children.

Trees featured in lobby exhibitArt lovers should come an hour early to the show to peruse an exhibit by Seaside photographer Andrea Kosharek who captures the “power and grace of nature in the form of trees and forests along the northern Oregon Coast.”

The lobby exhibit, “Trees That I have known,” opens before each performance of “H.M.S. Pinafore,” and will present photographs as a “tool to commune with nature.”

The Seaside Signal feature writer and photographer says she bleaches, tones and dyes each print until they shine as “a unique rendition of the negative that it evolved from.”