The Seckerson Tapes: Opera North's Ruddigore

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Gilbert & Sullivan's audacious parody of Victorian melodrama, Ruddigore, is as spirited a piece of topsy-turvy confection as the celebrated Savoyards ever produced. It arrives at Opera North in a brand-new production directed by Jo Davies and conducted by John Wilson, whose loving restorations of MGM musicals proved such a sensation at last year's BBC Proms season. Edward Seckerson went behind the scenes to meet them both and his exclusive podcast whets the appetite for an evening of cunning disguises, dastardly deeds, and an abundance of cracking good tunes.

Click here to listen to The Seckerson Tape

The opera, premiered in January 1887 at the Savoy Theatre - where it ran for 288 performances - concerns the curse of the House of Ruddigore, which commits all Baronets to live a life of crime, or suffer terrible consequences.

Below, thanks to the Gilbert & Sullivan Web Archive, are photographs of the original cast: from left, young farmer Robin Oakapple (played by George Grossmith) - who is really the Baronet of Ruddigore in disguise, attempting to flee the curse; his evil brother Sir Despard (Rutland Barrington), who has usurped the baronetcy; Rose Maybud (Leonora Braham), beloved of Robin; Richard Dauntless (Durward Lely), Robin's foster brother who contrives to steal Rose's affections. Complicating this love-plot is the pursuit of a crime a day that the Ruddigore ghosts insist must be carried out...

Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore opens at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, on 30 January. The tour starts on 24 February at The Lowry, Salford Quays, reaching the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, on 3 March, and the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, on 10 March.

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