I saw Topsy Turvy last week and while I enjoyed parts
of it a great deal, I can only assume that critical infatuation
for the man's prior work is responsible for the excessive praise
this film has received.
The story involves the rift that occurred between Sullivan and
Gilbert when they were at a creative lull--their operas were
still doing well, but Sullivan wanted to go be a "serious
musician" (odd, how so many artists throughout history don't
recognize where their gifts lie). Gilbert, cranky and remote, is
ignoring the rift and just doing his job. Sullivan refuses to the
point of breach of contract. Gilbert's wife talks him into going
to a Japanese festival, he gets the idea for the Mikado, and
Sullivan loves it. The rest of the movie involves the rehearsal
and production of The Mikado, probably their best known opera--and
possibly their best.
The performances are marvellous; Broadbent, as the wonderfully
acerbic Gilbert, stands out, but everyone was firstrate. I
particularly enjoyed Ron Cook as D'Oyly Carte, the founder of the
Savoy Theater, Wendy Nottingham as his partner (and later, his
wife) Helen Renoir, and thought Leslie Manville brought a sweet,
funny sadness to her role as Lucy Gilbert. All the G&S
character performances were gems; I could have done with much
more of them.
Some scenes are a joy, particularly the Mikado rehearsal
scenes. All of a sudden, you realize that Gilbert and Sullivan
aren't just cranky collaborators who happened to write a few good
light operas; they are masters and innovators in direction and
production. An extended reading scene with Gilbert, three actors
and a supremely deadpan stage manager is a great deal of fun. I
also enjoyed a non-negotiation between Gilbert, an outraged actor
in a short skirt and no corset, and an indignant costume
designer, a song runthrough with Sullivan and three men, and the
delightful moment when Gilbert brings three Japanese women to the
theater to show his actresses how to walk.
Why Leigh didn't focus more on the creation and rehearsal
process, instead of pissing away an hour on idiocies, is more
than I can figure. He wastes an inordinate amount of time on
Sullivan's love life--he had an affair with a married American
woman and the scenes involving her seemed to be introduced to
balance the time spent on Gilbert. But Gilbert's relationship
with his wife not only developed the character, it introduced a
key plot point--it was her insistence that he go to the Japanese
festival, they had conversations about the poor box office take,
etc. The scenes with Sullivan and his mistress do nothing--zip,
zilch, nada--to develop the plot and are neither funny,
interesting, or explanatory--and the scene with the two nude
dancers and the tenor probably made Niner's investment
worthwhile, but I found it a waste. Likewise several sequences
involving Gilbert's parents must go; they are not only
irrelevant, they are misleading--I kept thinking they had some
tie-in to the story, but no. And what on earth is the point of
four production numbers from prior G&S works?
If you add up all the time saved by eliminating this nonsense
and toss out half the scenes of Gilbert and Sullivan's break
prior to Mikado, you end up with an hour less playing time, and a
much tighter and enjoyable movie.
I will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD, which it
was made for. I'll be even happier when I can cue up scenes like
I can now do with songs, leaving out the stuff I don't like.
