By Timothy Ruppert
Draw a card, any card—you’ve nothing to lose but your life! Well, sort of.
Welcome to The Pittsburgh Savoyards’ current production of The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, Gilbert and Sullivan’s last and perhaps least-known opera. The secondary title refers to a strange tradition for settling disputes in the Grand Duchy of Pfennig-Halbpfennig: the selection of playing cards. The high card wins, entitling the victor to take the place of the vanquished, with all the privileges and responsibilities that such a substitution entails. The low card signifies death. The loser, though, does not shuffle off the mortal coil in the corporeal sense. Rather, the vanquished disappears for a time, unable to intervene directly in the new scheme of things (covert skullduggery, though, remains a viable option). When the comic actor Ludwig (Mike Goffus) bests the reviled Grand Duke Rudolph (Corey Nile Wingard) with an ace, the wine flows and the good times roll—until Ludwig realizes that he may be affianced to four different women.
With their production of The Grand Duke, The Pittsburgh Savoyards miss no opportunity to play up the terrific fun of Gilbert and Sullivan’s final piece as a duo. This show succeeds in all particulars, thanks in no small part to the superb guidance of Olivia Hartle (stage director) and Guy Russo (music director and conductor), as well as to the inestimable contributions of the Savoyards’ production staff and orchestra. The elements of spectacle—scenic design (Robert Hockenberry), costumes (Trace Swisher), choreography (Krista Kaley Strosnider), lighting (Garth Schafer)—prove perfectly companionate with Gilbert’s clever libretto and Sullivan’s vivacious score. To a person, this team impresses.
To commend the cast of The Grand Duke properly, I would need far more than the two hundred or so words still available to me in this review. I’ll begin with Goffus, who plays the love-beleaguered Ludwig with breathtaking skill. In numbers such as “Won’t it be a pretty wedding? / Pretty Lisa” (with Abigail Arhart as Lisa, singing with the ensemble) and “With fury indescribable I burn” (with Sally Denmead as Baroness von Krackenfeldt), Goffus gives a brilliant performance worthy of the Winter Garden Theatre.
While the words “Broadway-good” appeared in my notes regarding several performers, including Arhart and Denmead, I found Alessandra Gabbianelli as Julia Jellicoe and Katie Kirby as the Princess of Monte Carlo to be especially admirable. The conspiratorial acting troupe supervised by Ernest Dummkopf (Cecil Treleven) comes to life with wonderfully heartfelt contributions from Deborah Geary (Olga), Denise Allen (Elsa), Hannah Balash (Bertha), and Savannah Simeone (Gretchen). Note that, because many roles in this production are double cast, other keenly gifted actors appear as the parts alternate, meaning that some performances afford the audience a chance to see and hear more of top-tier actors such as Brienne Sharo (as Bertha), Amanda Leigh (as Gretchen), Hockenberry (as the Notary, played nicely by William Carter when I saw the show), and the incomparable Leah Grimm (as the Princess). The Savoyards bring together an astonishing group that reminds us how expressly fortunate Pittsburgh is in its arts community.
So draw a card, any card—you’ll have a royal time with this four-ace show.
-TR
“The Grand Duke” runs until March 29 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue, Carnegie, PA, 15106. For tickets and additional information, please visit https://pittsburghsavoyards.org/tickets/.
