©Allied Stars Ltd/Enigma Productions
What has the Olympics got to do with Gilbert and Sullivan.
Well… not a lot, but with the Olympics only a hop, skip and a jump away I have
managed to find a connection – 1924 Olympic Hundred Metres Champion
Harold
Abrahams. You will remember him from the 1981 film
Chariots of Fire which, with
excellent timing, has recently been given a new lease of life as a
new play
‘…stuffed full of patriotic anthems and lashings of
Gilbert and Sullivan…’
Natasha Tripney, Theatre Mania
If you remember the film (which is also being re-released in
British cinemas this month), you’ll remember that Abrahams was a huge G&S
fan and was a member of Cambridge Gilbert and Sullivan Society while studying at
Caius College. Along with plenty of Vangellis, the film had 5 G&S tunes in
the score, including “For He is an Englishman” from HMS Pinafore. In the film his
fiancée is wrongly depicted as D'Oyly Carte singer
Sybil Gordon,
shown singing Yum-Yum, a role which she never actually played. In reality
Abrahams married mezzo-soprano
Sybil Evers,
who sang small roles with D'Oyly Carte in the early thirties and who he met a
decade after his triumph at the Olympics. As a mezzo, she never played Yum-Yum
either. A muddle of identities which would have made Gilbert proud. At least they were both called ‘Sybil’ and film goers got a chance to
sample some G&S!
As well as being a G&S lover, Abrahams was born locally in Bedford!
If you like Gilbert and Sullivan with your Olympics and are
interested in the new play which tells the story of both Abrahams and Eric
Liddell,
Chariots of Fire premièred in May at the Hampstead Theatre and moved to the Gielgud
Theatre on June 22. The run continues until November 12. You will find a
selection of reviews
here and booking details
here. There is even an
on-line trailer for the play.
SW
.