Word: merriment
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...first, Casaubon laughs at such lunacies. His merriment is shared by Belbo and Diotallevi, editors at a Milanese publishing house. Given his expertise, Casaubon is hired as a consultant to advise on the endless stream of Templar manuscripts that flood the editorial offices. Eventually, these three scoffers find an amusing way to waste their time. Using Belbo's new word processor, they concoct "the Plan," a plausible scenario revealing a Templar plot to unleash unimaginable powers from the center of the earth in order to rule the world...
Luckily for the audience, Hilarion usually appears in the company of the courtiers Cyril (Arthur Fuscaldo) and Florian (Steven Mooradian). And unlike Hilarion, the two of them are hilarious. When the trio dress up in ruffled academic gowns and pose as women, merriment overflows. Cyril in particular is a joy to watch as he hops, skips and boozes his way around the castle. In Cyril's company, Lady Psyche (Lisa Harris) recovers from a lackluster entrance scene and provides her mate-to-be with amusing counterpoint...
Only after their race is over, when they have lifted their boat out of the water and set it aside, do the rowers get to join in the merriment...
...these are nothing compared with the extremes in him, in brave, dumb Captain Midlife, jogging with the kids, exhaling frost; or out on the town, red-mufflered to the eyes, a Scotch ad beaming with conventional merriment. Inside his aching, brooding head, a mess of city-dump proportions. He crouches in the mind's attic like one of those soldiers who are never told that the war is over, and reads that Michael Korda, a modern adviser on how to live, says that by the time one reaches one's 40s, all emotional and professional problems should be settled...
...successful elements of the spring Yeomen mask its shortcomings. Musicals, no matter how dumb, always entertain if performed with a modicum of professionalism. This strange operetta claims only to be "an experiment in merriment," and though it doesn't quite illuminate all the author and composer might have hoped it would, the Gilbert & Sullivan Players have fulfilled their obligation to their namesakes with enjoyable artistry. Thanks to that effort, The Yeomen of the Guard won't have to be performed again, until all the present matriculants of the College are long gone away...